{"id":161,"date":"2015-05-15T13:21:43","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T20:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.riptidehosting.com\/blog\/?p=161"},"modified":"2019-10-18T15:33:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T15:33:47","slug":"reducing-size-of-winsxs-directory-on-windows-server-2008-r2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.RiptideHosting.com\/blog\/reducing-size-of-winsxs-directory-on-windows-server-2008-r2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing size of WinSxS directory on Windows Server 2008 R2"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE FOR 2012 R2: The Desktop Experience feature is still required to be installed for Disk Cleanup to be available.\u00a0 The Desktop Experience feature is listed under \u201cUser Interfaces and Infrastructure\u201d when installing the feature – see Microsoft TechNet link here:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/blogs.technet.com\/b\/rmilne\/archive\/2013\/07\/11\/install-desktop-experience-on-windows-server-2012.aspx<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disk Cleanup can then be found on the Tools menu in Server Manager.<\/p>\n

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As noted on the Microsoft technet link below, a Disk Cleanup option on Windows Server 2008 R2 is available to clean up the WinSxS directory which will reduce its size by cleaning up previous versions of Windows Update files.<\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/blogs.technet.com\/b\/askpfeplat\/archive\/2014\/05\/13\/how-to-clean-up-the-winsxs-directory-and-free-up-disk-space-on-windows-server-2008-r2-with-new-update.aspx<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Disk Cleanup is a component of the Desktop Experience feature which is not installed by default on Windows Server 2008 R2 so if you haven\u2019t installed it already, you are generally required to do so (see alternative below although MS recommends installing Desktop Experience).<\/p>\n

Here is a link to an overview of Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 https:\/\/technet.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/dd759187.aspx<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

(Note:\u00a0 You can run cleanmgr.exe by following the steps in this article without installing Desktop Experience. https:\/\/technet.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/ff630161%28v=ws.10%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396<\/u><\/a>
\nSEE LINK – Cleanmgr.exe should go in c:WindowsSystem32.
\nSEE LINK – Cleanmgr.exe.mui should go in c:WindowsSystem32en-US.
\nAfter copying files, you can run cleanmgr.exe by typing it into the start box. This may be a good option to get Disk Cleanup without all the other components of Desktop Experience.)<\/p>\n

To Cleanup WinSxS directory:<\/u><\/strong>
\nRun Disk Cleanup
\nSelect c: and click on Clean Up System Files
\nYou should see a row labeled \u201cWindows Update Cleanup\u201d with potential space savings of X GB.
\nRun \u2013 takes several minutes to clean up files.
\nThen on reboot (which was not forced immediately), it reboots to a Windows screen message \u201ccleaning up\u201d for several minutes<\/p>\n

From our experience,<\/p>\n