In Windows 10 and Windows 7 and 8, if you open the C: / Windows folder with Windows Explorer, in the midst of many elements that cannot be touched, there is a folder called WinSxS in which some system components, files are saved temporary and backup . Over time the size of this folder can grow a lot therefore, to recover space, it is worth every now and then to check it and clean it in case it is too large. In both Windows 10 and Windows 7 and 8 we have seen how you can delete files from previous installations to free up even 20 GB of space .
In Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 you can also use an automatic cleaning command that looks at the size of the WinSxS folder and suggests if it is appropriate to do a cleaning or not .
Meanwhile, it is worth saying that in Windows 10 the checking and cleaning of the WinSxS folder is automatic and occurs every 30 days. To verify that everything is working properly and that there is no need to clean manually, in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 have been added commands to be launched via the DOS prompt.
To open the Command Prompt in Windows 8.1, right-click the Start button and press the " Command Prompt (Administrator) "
In the black window that opens, enter the command:
Dism.exe / Online / Cleanup-Image / AnalyzeComponentStore
This starts the analysis to see how much space is occupied by the WinSxS folder .
If, at the end, you find written Recommended component archive cleaning: Yes, then you must also run the command to remove unnecessary files and recover space .
What you need to pay attention to is that the size reported for the WinSxS folder is not the space you are going to recover. In this folder there are also system files that should not be touched (marked as shared by windows ). For this reason, you cannot simply open the WinSxS folder and delete its contents.
If you have been advised to clean up, to remove unnecessary files, you must run the command at the same command prompt:
Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / StartComponentCleanup
If you want to recover more space on the Windows 10 C disk instead you can run the command that also eliminates the installation files of Windows updates and service packs.
Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / StartComponentCleanup / ResetBase
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