i updated the guide

i test it and its wasnt good the system wont load up

cos the backup and Manifests dirs

but now its update-able but need to save the backup files of Iexplorer too to make it perfect

i checked how much space its save

32bit 800mb [ my windows dir is 1.6giga]
64bit 1600mb [ didnt test it cos dont have VT so i guess the install size would be 3giga from 4.4giga ofc my settings]

im not sure if its recommand to do on wim file cos there a files that wont delete [system use them]

the best is do updating and then remove them [so u wont need to guess what the backup files of Iexplorer ]

check picture to more info

This post has been edited by aviv00: Jun 1 2008, 09:05 AM

I tried the scripts to give admin rights but the deletion step still did not work (very good instructions on this thread - the scripts run perfectly) - the OS still denies access to the directories. And 'whereisit' is a very useful product, I'll use it more than windows search (which whether you have indexing switched on or off is a woefull component of this lame operating system). Various people on this thread have warned that certain updates and hotfixes may not work, this doesn't seem to be a serious threat to me as windows update seem to only work 50% of the time anyway. As one person has already commented, it's already broken so we aren't going to make it any worse. It took me 3 attempts to get SP1 to load for example. As before on this thread, the spirit of having all versions of DLL's and other unique files for applications has some merit, but why do I need 5 copies of the games? And why protect all 5 copies of the games and prevent deletion? Besides, I have original disks for everything so worst case I can reload it all anyway....

As this is the performance and maintenance forum, is there anyone out there writing a clean up utility for this directory? I'd help fund it as a piece of shareware!

I'm seriously considering regressing back to XP.....

here a forum that u could say it

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/showpo...4&siteid=17

and about the updates use WUD to get those updates
integrate them with vlite or waik [ duno if vlite integrate then with "Permanent" performance ]
to save space

the OS still denies access

as i remember 32bit os wont let u delete around 20mb or more but really not that much!


and vlite could delete winsxs efficiently in extreme mode

What about a winsxs folder that has gone to 200 GB on a 250GB disk?

if u really have winsxs 200giga big
post it here and in ms forum

cost its really weird / bad

Ok. I have solved the problem. I have completely given up on Vista and upgraded (and yes, the word is upgraded) to XP. My Dell XPS is now a fabulous, fast and easy to use machine. Can't understand why Dell recommends Vista, their kit is sooo much better without the additional burden. All my software now works again, I've got back 40Gb of disk space (30% of my hard drice capacity). I recommend this solution, if I had done this when I first had the problem I would have saved a week of my life trying to fix the Vista problems. After my initial post in August last year, I put my 'problem' machine aside while I tried to fix it and used an old machine, it finally had a hard disk crash last week, forcing me to do something about the Vista machine.

Don't hesitate, just get out your copy of XP and do it!

The process mentioned above might cause serious system issues. You might want to try the following procedure instead:

http://windowsfixup.com/2009/05/winsxs-fol...disk-space-fix/

Agreed, this tool was able to delete 600 MB in my winsxs reducing a vlited 7 RC installation to a fantastic 3.2 GB !

64bit ?
i did 3.2gb too with 32bit but not with the tool

btw the guide is meant to be post-install

This post has been edited by aviv00: May 7 2009, 07:07 AM

64bit ultimate.
Vlited with this conf.
Removed hiberfil and pagefile.
Then used winsxslite.
I think I used your guide but made the system instable.
No problem with this tool AFAIK.

I think this is the slimmest installed size I know.
BTW if someone knows how to remove other components (IE, firewall, update) please let me know.

sorry duno if its possible maybe sidebar but firewall ...

anyways this footprint really nice how much it in iso file ?

another thing i dont understand the hard linking with winsxslite

does it already hard linked ?

This post has been edited by aviv00: May 7 2009, 01:51 PM

ISO is about 1.8 GB.
I don't understand completely the hard linking.
For what I know the links show as the real files increasing a lot the size on disk.
Reducing is made AFTER installation, but there's a way to make it before using imagex (I'm trying right now).

Quack. What are "feathers"?

hey level
sorry meant features in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features

This post has been edited by aviv00: Aug 20 2009, 07:20 AM

Is there any chances it can support windows 7 too?

how u mean ?

this guide can do on any os u like

just remember remove all the dupes are not safe so make backup for few days
so if will have problem u could restore it

or make checkpoint of dupes removal so u will see when the os getting unstable for ur demands

This post has been edited by aviv00: Aug 24 2009, 11:05 AM

As far as I know, all the component files in WinSxS are hard links to the files in other directories, i.e. different file entry in the file system but pointing to the same data blocks. If you just remove one entry (the ones under the WinSxS directory), the actual data are not erased, and you should not get any extra free space. How do you manage to get the cut off? Thanks!

You can view the hard links in your file system by installing Link Shell Extension.

Here's Wikipedia page about hard link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link

vista didnt work well with hard link
the file process on it was very slow

windows 7 got improved and know to handle it better

NTFS system duno to handle it good enuf and show the right space that used

anyways this guide is good for who use lot of MS apps
and his winsxs dir is going high cos that

the iso wont change cos the dupe deletion
but its will improve installation time

its will improve AV scan time

i duno if its improve the performance of the Windows
maybe less files make the windows work faster less dll to load and search

but its improve the feeling when ur windows is dupeless and save 4 giga hard links of dupes
like movies sound drivers langs and more stuff that not needed to back-upped


and i really dont understand how hard link supposed to fix the hell DLL problem
or recover the system from damage failures
if the file damage the dupe will damage too cos its the same

and if u have DLL hell problem why its need to be 2 files that are the same [sometime there are dupes 4 times]
if there another file that is diff then other dll files then its should be
one dll for original one another for updated dll file

in reality they have 1 original in system32 one in winsxs for dupe
and one updated in winsxs and system32
if the os need the original go directly to winsxs original dir if to the update go directly to system32

the hard link system is not needed at all!

This post has been edited by aviv00: Aug 25 2009, 01:43 AM

Point me out if I understand you incorrectly. Since the files under System32 and the files under WinSxS are hard links, and based on the definition of hard link, once the WinSxS files change, the System32 files change automatically, since they are pointing to the same data block. Therefore you will never get an updated file in System32 while still have the original one in WinSxS.

I'm not Microsoft people. In my opinion, WinSxS is what they use to do package and version controls, as well as some level of backup. As the softwares are becoming bigger and bigger, we need multiple library files to collaborate with each other, and we need to make sure they always have the compatible version. Without WinSxS, the system cannot have two "msvcp.dll" files with different versions in System32. Rather, they have to name them msvcp80.dll and msvcp90.dll respectively, which is not scalable solution.

I mean, WinSxS is not a bad solution, and it does not take extra space. I do not know how bad does Vista support hard links (since I never had problem with it), but removing dupe in WinSxS is not always good. Use it when you are sure you will not need those files.

This post has been edited by CrendKing: Aug 25 2009, 03:45 AM

This post has been edited by aviv00: Aug 26 2009, 07:22 AM