42GB Windows Folder

WuMyster · 29 Feb 2016 at 12:23

Is there anything I can do/a program to help clean the Windows Directory out?

I'm looking at an Installer folder at 17.6GB and winsxs at 13.5GB.

TIA

marc2003 · 29 Feb 2016 at 12:37

You certainly don't want to touch anything in the winsxs folder.

As for installer, I had a quick google and found this mentioned a few times. I certainly cannot vouch for it....

http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner

bazzabear · 29 Feb 2016 at 12:39

Doesn't ccleaner also identify disk space you can free up?

ED209 · 29 Feb 2016 at 12:41

have you ran disk clean up as this has a option to remove old windows update files which are left behind.

darael · 29 Feb 2016 at 12:46

Run Disk Clean-up then PatchCleaner.

WuMyster · 29 Feb 2016 at 17:38

CCleaner and Disk Cleanup don't detect anything wrong.

PatchCleaner has removed about 12GB but still 30GB left. Might just upgrade/fresh install to W10...

darael · 29 Feb 2016 at 18:49

How big is the Download folder in SoftwareDistribution? I usually empty this manually every few months.

WuMyster · 29 Feb 2016 at 21:29

darael said:
How big is the Download folder in SoftwareDistribution? I usually empty this manually every few months.

1.2GB. Is this safe to clear?

darael · 29 Feb 2016 at 22:45

WuMyster said:
1.2GB. Is this safe to clear?

You can safely delete the entire contents of the SoftwareDistribution folder, but it's quite likely that any Windows Updates you've chosen to hide will return and nee re-hiding. That's why I just delete the Downloads folder.

this_is_gav · 1 Mar 2016 at 09:38

Just use Disk Cleanup to remove the Windows Update cache.

I tend to do it manually on my base images at work to allow deployed PCs to force a full check on the first check. If you do do it manually stop the Windows Update service first before deleting the contents of SoftwareDistribution.

ecksmen · 1 Mar 2016 at 19:38

Windows 8 and above can use inbuilt tools to clean up the disk.

Code:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

More details can be found here

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/dn251565.aspx

Columbo · 1 Mar 2016 at 19:52

Another brilliant little utility for looking at folder sizes is Treesize.
https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/