Vista - WinSxS

its taken up 12 gigs on my harddrive, how do i safely remove it without hurting the system or make it smaller.

Hi Fuzz,

I quote Microsoft:
All of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder – Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. The WinSxS folder is the only location that the component is found on the system, all other instances of the files that you see on the system are “projected” by 'hard linking' from the component store. --- Let me repeat that last point –- there is only one instance (or copy) of each file in the OS and that instance is located in the WinSxS folder. So looked at from that perspective, the WinSxS folder is really the entire whole Windows OS in one location.

Vista/XP can store old DLLs and other OS library components in the WinSxS (Windows Side by Side) folder. If an application relies on an old DLL but a newer version is part of the operating system, Vista/XP will spot this and divert DLL calls as appropriate to the old version while leaving the new version in place for other software.


Changing or deleteing files in this location is I must personally say pure stupidity! ...WinSXS contains every dll and system file from Windows 95 to Windows 2008 Server, This is done so every application can be used on every new version of Windows...So, if you have lot of application installed, that folder may be large.

If you where to delete, rename or modify files in the WinSXS folder I can 100% guanantee, your system will become unstable or unusable

A 500GB Harddrive is only $100 these days, the size of the WinSXS folder is actually very miniture considering its only going to use 12GB

Checkout this Post from the Windows Core Team
Ask the Core Team : What is the WINSXS directory in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista and why is it so large?

Steven

You DON'T it is a vital part of Vista.

Best to just leave Vista alone. For most inexperienced folks, and your
question clearly labels you that, there is no simple way to determine what
is needed and what is not. The SXS folder is where all the system and
program drivers are located.

It would be easier to move your documents to a second disk drive to get
room. Disks are awfully cheap these days. You can get 500 GB for about $80,
and forget about running out of space.

Good luck.
"Fuzz-666" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:3b63ea2febd5d051e521a67b69cda71b@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

i had no plans on changing it unless it was a safe fix, 12gigs is massive but if theres no way to safely make it smaller or change it in anyway it looks like it gets to keep the space, thank you for your input a google check kept saying DDL or DLL hell fix but i wasnt sure if it could be made smaller.

Yeah man, I need help deleting this darn C:\WINDOWS folder. It's taking up a
TON of space, and I can't afford a hard drive made after 2001.


"Fuzz-666" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:3b63ea2febd5d051e521a67b69cda71b@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

There's no way to really reduce its size safely; best to leave it alone!


--
HappyAndyK

www.WinVistaClub.com
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no need to be rude about it you little prick, im not asking to remove the OS im asking how to remove or make a smaller size file of one thing. Worthless Trolls you fail!

Hi Fuzz,

I've written a batch file to clear winsxs of redundancies, and so far it's only been tested on Vista 32bit, since that's what I have.
But I would like to know if it works on Vista64 too.

If you're interested you can download and test it from:
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

hi there mate just to confirm it didnt work on my vista x64, let me know how you get on as i need to image my hdd and the 8gb folder needs triming really...

What went wrong exactly ?