1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Installer Folder Cleanup
2. Windows 2008 R2 Delete Installer Folder
3. Windows Server 2008 Delete Installer Folder
4. Clean Installer Folder Windows 2008 R2

How do you remove Windows Update uninstall files from Windows Server 2008? Question 2 I also found lots of files in C:/Windows/Installer folder. Is it possible to determine which.msp file goes with which patch? I would like to delete some of them, because they do take a lot of space.

How do you remove Windows Update uninstall files from Windows Server 2008? Question 2 I also found lots of files in C:/Windows/Installer folder. Is it possible to determine which.msp file goes with which patch? I would like to delete some of them, because they do take a lot of space. I need to free up space from my C drive and see that C: Windows Installer files are more than 2 years old in most cases. What is the best way to remove these files so I can free up space? SOLUTION What is the best way to remove Windows Installer files from Server 2008 R2 Standard? How to address disk space issues that are caused by a large Windows component store (WinSxS) directory Content provided by Microsoft Applies to: Windows Vista Enterprise Windows 7 Enterprise Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 More.

I added the tags windows-server-2008-r2 and windows-server-2008 because I didn't see a tag for Windows Server Enterprise SP2.

I've seen many articles on using Disk Cleanup with Windows Server 2008 R2 but unfortunately they don't apply to us.

We have Windows Server Enterprise SP2 (Copyright is 2007) with two folders (winsxs and Installer) that are 11GB and 5GB in size, respectively. That's over 16GB right there.

When I run Windows' Disk Cleanup utility, I notice that the option Windows Update Cleanup is not in the list. I also don't see an option that refers to Installer.

Is there another way to delete these folders? There are folders in there from 2008. There are literally 10,000 folder under winsxs that were created in years 2008 & 2009.

Here's a screenshot of the version of the OS we're using:

Thanks.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Installer Folder Cleanup

3 Answers

Don't ever manually delete anything in those folders.

The first one contains multiple versions of system files and DLLs, so that any program can find the exact version it requires, thus solving the long-dreaded 'DLL hell' problem. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of the folder contents growing in size each time any update is installed. But manually deleting anything from there can and will harm your system, possibly to the point of rendering it unusable.

The second folder stores the Windows Installer files for installed applications, so that they are available if you (or the system) need to repair, modify or uninstall an application. If you remove files from there, next time you try to repair, modify or uninstall an application you will be asked to provide its Windows Installer package, which you will probably not have anymore, or which could be quite difficult to extract from the original installation media or setup files.

Just don't touch anything there, even if it takes up some space. Those files need to be there in order for your system to work as intended.

MassimoMassimo

I added the tags windows-server-2008-r2 and windows-server-2008 because I didn't see a tag for Windows Server Enterprise SP2. - That's because there is no such thing. It's either Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition or it's Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition. It isn't just Windows Server Enterprise Edition. If you're going to ask a question the least you can do is figure out how to figure out what version of Windows you're running.

As for your question, you can use the Windows Component Clean Tool - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd351467%28v=WS.10%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396#BKMK_COMPCLN

EDIT:

OK, I get it. Microsoft didn't make it particularly intuitive in Windows Server 2008 to see the Windows version. You can find out by clicking Help..About in the screen you posted a picture of or you can find it by running ver from a command prompt and cross referencing the build number.

joeqwertyjoeqwerty

The Windows Update Cleanup is only available for Windows Server 2008 R2 (Windows 7 counterpart) after installing this update, you use the the counterpart of Windows Vista which never gets this feature.

To cleanup WinSxS you have to manually uninstall old updates.

To know which updates are no longer needed (superseded), open regedit, and go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionComponent Based ServicingComponentDetect Windows stores here each installed component + installed updates. Good candidates are Internet Explorer updates under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionComponent Based ServicingComponentDetectamd64_microsoft-windows-ie-htmlrendering_31bf3856ad364e35_0.0.0.0_none_933ba3cd22b12888

Each new update replaces ALL older GDR Updates. So look for the highest version number and uninstall the older updates. I did this in Vista/7 time and it saved a large amount of space.

To cleanup the WindowsInstaller folder you can try the 3rd party tool PatchCleaner which allows to cleanup old unused MSI/MSP files.

Click on Move to move the no longer needed files to a network drive, so that in case, the tool has a bug and removing/updating a software requires a MSI/MSP file, you can copy it back.

magicandre1981magicandre1981

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Aug 13, 2015

How to Squeeze More Space on Your Windows C drive

As a system administrator you are always fighting the battle to keep the C: drive as clean as possible, which at times can be a job in itself. In this post we will discuss a few places where you can get a few more MB or GB from the drive. These tricks apply on Windows 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2.

Compress c:windowsinstaller directory

Windows 2008 R2 Delete Installer Folder

You can gain about half the space used by this folder by compressing it. First we need to unhide the folder then compress it.

Un-Hide the folder

• Click on the C:Windows folder and click Organize> Folder and search options.
• Un-check Hide Protected operating system files (Recommended)
• Check Show Hidden files, folders and drives.
• Apply and Apply to All Folders.

Now let’s compress the folder.

• Right-click the installer folder
• Properties
• Click on Advanced button

• Click on Compress folder. Click OK
  
• Apply for all files and folder. You may receive a popup.

Note: After done make sure to go back and re-check Hide Protected operating system files (Recommended).

Remove Recycle Bin

This cleanup has been covered in a previous post found here.

Reduce System Volume drive

This is another topic that has been discussed in a previous post also referred to as disappearing space. This is usually caused by Volume Shadow Storage space and is easily rectified by defining how much space can be used by a drive for Shadow Storage.

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IIS Logs

The IIS logs are notorious for silently filling up the C: drive on systems. You can delete them manually or from a command line.

Windows 2003

The IIS Logs are located in c:windowssystem32LogFiles directory. There will be directories starting with W3SVC in the name and for FTP will have MSFTPSVC in the name. Delete the log files in the directories with the exception of the current date logfile if you are so inclined. Another way is to use command line and a utility called forfiles. The nice thing about command line is that you create a cmd file and schedule it to run nightly. At the bottom of this post there will be an example cmd file and the syntax to add it as a scheduled task running as system

This command line example shows how to delete files ending in .log that are older than 14 days and the /s switch allows it to handle sub-directories.

forfiles/p%SYSTEMROOT%system32LogFiles/s/m *.log/d-14/c'cmd /c del @file'

Windows 2008 R2 / 2012 R2

As with Windows 2003 example the same goes for Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2, only difference is the log file location is changed to C:inetpublogs . You can delete them manually or use the command line.

forfiles/pC:inetpublogs/s/m *.log/d-14/c'cmd /c del @file'

C:WindowsTemp directory Cleanup

There are several places where you can reclaim some space in c:windowstemp directory. The following list is some of the files that can be deleted safely, there are always more. You can also ad many to a script and run as a scheduled task.

• psscript_output*.txt
• *.tmp
• Any directories with KB in the name
• Any KB*.txt
• Any KB*.html
• Any Microsoft* directories (Usually Microsoft Visual C++ and others similar in name.
• Any Microsoft*.txt files
• Any Microsoft*.html files
• Any *.sqm files

Want to do it from the command line, Here you go. this example shows 0 days and no sub-directories.

forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m psscript_output*.txt /d -1 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m *.tmp /d -1 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m KB*.txt /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m KB*.html /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m Microsoft*.txt /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m Microsoft*.html /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m *.sqm /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”

The C:windowswinsxs directory

This is the directory that gets the most questions which also leads to the most disappointment. You can recover space from this directory by using Disk Cleanup tool. To use it you must have the Windows Desktop Experience installed. Refer to this post on how to enable and use Disk Cleanup.

User Profiles

Another place to look for space is in old user profiles from long gone admins or users. These are easy to remove.

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• Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
• In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
• Under User Profiles, click Settings.
• Click the user profile that you want to delete, and then click Delete. Do not delete any service accounts or builtin accounts (Administrator, Guest).

Sample Script

So let’s take this a bit farther and create a command script and run it as a scheduled task for some of the files and log it to the Application log so there is a record.

REM ****************************************************************************
REM FILE: Cleanup.cmd
REM PURPOSE: To delete old logs and files after XX days
REM USAGE: Cleanup.cmd
REM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 2003/2008/2012
REM HISTORY: v1.0
REM *****************************************************************************

REM ** put Starting message in Application Log
%SYSTEMROOT%system32eventcreate.exe /T INFORMATION /L APPLICATION /SO Cleanup /ID 101 /D Starting-Scheduled-Task-to-maintain-Drive-files

REM ************************************
REM * Clean up logs older than 14 days
REM ************************************
forfiles /p %SYSTEMROOT%system32LogFiles /s /m *.log /d -14 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:inetpublogs /s /m *.log /d -14 /c “cmd /c del @file”

REM Clear out files out of c:windowstemp
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m psscript_output*.txt /d -1 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m *.tmp /d -1 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m KB*.txt /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m KB*.html /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m Microsoft*.txt /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m Microsoft*.html /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”
forfiles /p C:WindowsTemp /m *.sqm /d -0 /c “cmd /c del @file”

REM ** put Completion message in Application Log
%SYSTEMROOT%system32eventcreate.exe /T INFORMATION /L APPLICATION /SO Cleanup /ID 201 /D Completed-Scheduled-Task-to-maintain-Drive-files

Save the script as Cleanup.cmd or what name you desire. and now to add it to run nightly. In this example we will run the script from the c:scripts directory as SYSTEM at 4:15 am.

schtasks /Create /SC DAILY /RU “SYSTEM” /TN Cleanup /ST 04:15 /TR c:scriptsCleanup.cmd

As you can see there are several places and ways to get more space available on your C drive in Windows.

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1. Very helpful information! Thank you for taking the time to create this 🙂

Windows Server 2008 Delete Installer Folder

Clean Installer Folder Windows 2008 R2

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