![]() ![]() The second phase replaces all the old versions of each file in winsxs, That are exactly identical to files in the winsxs folder. The first phase searches the Program Files and Windows folders for files, WinsxsLite is meant as a tool to help reduce the size of winsxs in Vista. ![]() Windows Vista users may be able to reduce the size of the Winsxs folder by running a third party application WinsxsLite This can only be done because by making the Service Pack permanent we can guarantee that we won’t ever need the RTM versions. Service Pack 1 contains a binary called VSP1CLN.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that will make the Service Pack package permanent (not removable) on your system, and remove the RTM versions of all superseded components. This can be done by uninstalling superseded versions of packages that are on your system. The only way to safely reduce the size of the WinSxS folder is to reduce the set of possible actions that the system can take – the easiest way to do that is to remove the packages that installed the components in the first place. The only option to reduce the file size of that folder safely is to remove software from the operating system that is not needed anymore, but even that won't drop the file size considerably. Jeff's post gives an answer to the question if it is safe to delete files in the winsxs folder, in short: It is not. This also accounts for why you will no longer be prompted for media when running operations such as System File Checker (SFC), or when installing additional features and roles. So looked at from that perspective, the WinSxS folder is really the entirety of the whole OS, referred to as a "flat" in down-level operating systems. Let me repeat that last point – there is only one instance (or full data copy) of each version of each file in the OS, and that instance is located in the WinSxS folder. The WinSxS folder is the only location that the component is found on the system, all other instances of the files that you see on the system are “projected†by hard linking from the component store. Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. The backup folder is displayed as the largest folder in the Winsxs folder, followed by the naturallanguage6 folder and Manifests.Ī Technet blog post by Jeff Hugh explains the move from an INF described OS to componentization in Windows Vista.Īll of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder – in fact we call this location the component store. Winsxs, stands for Windows Side by Side, referring to the concept of hosting the same files in different versions in the operating system. Folders that begin with the same name host different versions of the same dll, there are sometimes five or more folders that host different versions of the same dynamic link library. If you open the folder in Windows Explorer you will notice a huge folder list, with each folder containing at least one file, but often multiple files. It was not until Windows Vista that this technology was turned into what Vista and Windows 7 users are experiencing today. Then in Windows ME, Microsoft began to include options to store multiple dll versions using the same name in the operating system. ![]() There was simply no way to store multiple versions of a dll, which led to incompatibilities and other problems. Back in Windows 9x, the operating system had troubles with dynamic link libraries, more precisely with different versions of the same dll. It is important to take a look back in time. Internet search engines and message boards are full with questions about the folder, many users want to know if it is safe to delete the Winsxs folder, if it needs to be included in operating system backups or why it has such an enormous size compared to other Windows folders. The folder usually has a size of about 5 to 8 Gigabytes on Windows Vista and Windows 7 or newer, there are however reports of bigger folders, up to 16 Gigabytes and more.Įspecially Windows XP users who recently switched to Windows 7 may have asked themselves why the size of the folder increased from a few Megabytes to Gigabytes. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |