Shrink windows directory xp

EXE, a tool that will make the Service Pack package permanent not removable on your system, and remove the RTM versions of all superseded components. For the detailed information, please refer to the following Microsoft TechNet blog:. If there is no solution at least Microsoft could recommend to use minimum partitions for OS drive 50 GB for windows server , otherwise it is misleading.

The amount of space used by hardlinks is 2. Installing SP1 and then running the cleanup tool may help a bit, but it's not a permanent solution. A permanent solution would be to allow users to delete all that crap. Those that do can simply get this!

The current system is just absurd. Yes, it's nice to have a manifest of what version of what works with what. No, it's not necessary to actually store the damned unused files on the system drive when everyone is using a small partition, in accordance with MS's recommendations!

Let people get the files on their own if they need them. Windows update? OS DVD? Reinstalling the thing that gave them that component version? Of course, it's too late now. What can be done now is an option to clear out unused components and prevent them from being stored in the future. This works in Server R2 only if you have SP1 installed , since it deletes the roll-back files. Nothing to remove Updates installed in very little time. If you wanted to further reduce update times on Windows XP, you could just temporarily stop the System Restore service and updates would install at crazy speeds.

Note that this is not recommended for novice users who don't know advanced recovery methods, as some updates can sometimes cause your system to stop booting so you cannot even uninstall them. For files that were in use, a restart copied them from dllcache to the system32 folder. This is simple file-based servicing. The hotfix installer Update. Again, this is not recommended for novice users as some updates can screw your system even after the comprehensive testing Microsoft does before releasing them.

But if you won't be uninstalling any updates usually one only requires uninstalling updates if they cause problems , you could save a ton of disk space by not backing up the files it patched. When Microsoft was developing Windows Vista, they realized that components had gotten too many interdepencies on each other and to service each file reliably without breaking another component that relied on it, Microsoft introduced what they called as Component Based Servicing CBS.

You can read all about it in a much more technical way at The Servicing Guy's blog. This has the benefit of not having to insert the OS disc to add or remove any components, and some other advantages as well like offline servicing of a Windows Vista or Windows 7 image.

But the design introduces a major disadvantage of taking up a lot of hard disk space. Now, Windows keeps multiple copies of the same file but with different version in WinSxS if it is used by more than one Windows component.

When a Windows Vista update. MSU is installed, the components get updated, each and every one, instead of the files and the worst part is it still maintains the older superseded previous versions of components in WinSxS so the user would be able to uninstall updates. Microsoft does say that some sort of "scavenging" or deleting older copies of components takes place but is scarce on the details.

The scavenging seems to take place automatically at certain intervals in Windows 7 but not in Windows Vista. In Windows Vista, you have to add or remove any Windows component for the scavenging to take place.

And Microsoft says the scavenging will free up some disk space but in practice, on my system, I see my free disk space only decreasing on Vista as I remove or add any component. As as you install more and more updates on your system, they will take more and more disk space. This is one of the primary reasons Windows Vista and Windows 7 are so bloated. Another reason for them being so bloated is the DriverStore that these OSes store.

But let's not go there for now. Now, an important thing to note is that the size of the WinSxS folder is not what Explorer or the dir command report, it is far less but is misreported by Explorer because it counts the hard links more than once when calculating size.

Microsoft's ingenious recommendation to this problem of ever growing disk consumption is to install fewer updates to keep the size of the servicing store under control.

Of course, users cannot deny installing security updates and leave their system open to security holes. What they can do is install less optional updates, the ones that Microsoft releases on the fourth Tuesday of every month and also install less of the hotfixes that are available by request from a Knowledge Base article. In short, you have to trade the number of bugs fixed in the OS by installing hotfixes at the cost of enormous amounts of disk space.

The whole servicing stack is a total downgrade to Windows XP's update. Many systems are unable to boot because of failed updates. Another disadvantage of the "new" servicing stack and the redesigned Setup mechanism of Windows Vista is the inability to do a true slipstream of service packs and hotfixes.

The time it takes to actually install these hotfixes online compared to Windows XP is also completely unacceptable. When you start installing an MSU update, it spends a lot of time determining whether the update applies to your system. These patches look like they're old and orphaned.

Is there a microsoft tool to check whether any of these files are necessary? If most of the folder is junk, then they need to be removed for future updates. Are there any tools that can help me, and is microsoft doing anything to remove old installer patches? I searched the community and for every similar question there was a generic response from microsoft stating not to delete anything as that could screw something up.

My other newer computer's Installer folder is tiny, so this is a problem on your end. I should note that I did run Disk Cleanup as an admin and clicked every option. It only found 73 MB to free up.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. All the disk partitions in Windows XP will be displayed as below:. In the pop-up window, position the mouse pointer on the left handle and drag the slider bar rightwards to shrink Windows XP partition as shown below:.

Click "OK". You can find there is contiguous unallocated space behind C drive. Then, select C drive and drag the right handle rightwards to extend Windows XP partition as shown below:. To save changes, do remember click " Apply " on the toolbar.

With several clicks and drags, you can extend and shrink partition in Windows XP without losing data. Learn more features or free download to try it out.