How to Manage the Huge WinSxS Folder in Windows 10
WinSxS Explained
WinSxS (Side-by-Side) was created in response to solve the “DLL Hell” problem in Windows OS. In simple terms, it involves instances when any program alters the dynamic link library (DLL) file to affect the critical function of other applications that need to use the same DLL.
For example, assume that an app requires a DLL with version number 1.0.2. If another app replaces the resource with a different version, say 1.0.3, then the previous app which relies on version 1.0.2 will either crash, cause compatibility issues or worse result in the Blue Screen of Death.
Importance of WinSxS
The component store plays a vital role in supporting the functions needed to customize and update Windows. These are as follows:
- Recover your system from boot failure or corruption
- Enable or disable Windows features on demand
- Move systems between different Windows editions
- Uninstall problematic updates
- To install the new component versions using Windows Update
WinSxS Folder Size
WinSxS contains all the files necessary to maintain compatibility with hardware and software on your PC. One of the biggest strengths of Windows is its capacity to run older hardware and apps. But this legacy compatibility comes at the cost of disk space and bugs.
Navigate to the C:\Windows\WinSxS, right-click it, and choose Properties. This folder consumes almost 7.3GB of disk space. But the thing is, that’s not the real size. The reason for that is “hard links” that File Explorer and other third-party tools don’t consider.
It counts each reference to a hard link as a single instance of the file for each location. So, if a system file resides in both WinSxS and System32 directory, File Explorer would inaccurately double the folder size.
Check the Actual Size of WinSxS
To check the Windows component store’s actual size, open an elevated command prompt window and type in
Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore
Note: The /AnalyzeComponentStore option isn’t recognized on Windows 8 and earlier.
After the analysis, the actual size of the component store comes down to 5.37GB. This value factors in hard links within the WinSxS folder. Shared with Windows gives you the size of hard-linked files. Date of the Last Cleanup is the date of the recently completed component store cleanup.
Methods to Reduce the Size of the WinSxS Folder
Many users often ask if it’s possible to manually delete the files from the WinSxS folder. The answer is a Big No.
It will most likely damage Windows and critical Windows Update may fail to install properly. Even if you’re successful in removing files from the WinSxS folder, you never know which app will stop working.
You can though reduce the size of the WinSxS folder with a few in-built tools. We’ll use tools like Disk Cleanup, DISM commands, and remove Features on Demand to trim the WinSxS folder.
Disk Cleanup Tool
In the search box, type in disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup. From this window, click the Cleanup system file button. That restarts the utility and unlock access to the full range of cleanup options. You can remove installation files, previous Windows versions, and more. Disk Cleanup tool is the starting point for cleaning up Windows 10.
Remove Features on Demand
Windows lets you enable or disable default Windows features on demand. You can add some useful features Hyper V, Print to PDF, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), and more.
Features that you uncheck remain in the WinSxS folder and take up disk space. Users with a low amount of storage might want to slim their Windows installation as much as possible. Open an elevated command prompt window, and type in
DISM.exe /Online /English /Get-Features /Format:Table
You’ll see a list of feature names and their status
To remove a feature from your system, type in
DISM.exe /Online /Disable-Feature /featurename:NAME /Remove
(Replace “NAME” with the name of the feature mentioned in the list)
If you run the /Get-Features command again, you will see the status as “Disabled with Payload Removed” instead of just “Disabled.” Later on, if you choose to install the removed components, Windows will prompt you to download the component files again. If you follow the techniques as described above, you can reduce the size of the WinSxS folder slightly.
