Is my Vista install huge?

Hi all,

My vista 64 install is 36Gb at the moment. Without programs, its about 20.

Heres a pic of the windows directory. For some reason, the second pic, showing the winsxs directory doesn't show where all the space is used. (It show the largest folder as backup at 6%, even though the pie chart shows otherwise)






Not a huge issue, but any ideas appreciated!

ben

 

I think it's something to do with x64 versions of Vista, after a quick google, it looks like lots of people are asking the same question but nobody seems to have an . Sorry I can't be of more help, and good luck finding out what it is.

 

Hey what program is that you're using to view the disk usage?

Anyway, if you installed SP1 (i.e. if it didn't come on the install disk), then you can run the SP1 cleaner program to free up some space.

Do you actually need more disk space? If not, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

Thanks for comments. I'm using the disk utility in TuneUp Utilities 2008.

It's strange that its so bloated. I've done a vlite install on my other laptop and it's only 9Gb, but I can't be arsed putting all my programs back on and setting up, when I've got a perfect- yet for some reason bloated- system.

Does anybody know if it's safe to remove any files from C:\Windows (like pre-installed drivers for 3rd party hardware) on an existing installation?

 

Curious, I didn't give this a second thought until i read your post. My Vista Home Prem 64 install is roughly 15.4 GB with 8.7 GB in the winxsx folder. Oh well, not too worried about it as I've got plenty of space on the HDD.

 

My 32 bit Vista has a Windows directory of 14gb and 6.5 gb of that is WinSXS. I think this whole WINSXS thing is ridiculous. I understand why it exists, it allows for multiple versions of the same DLL to exist side by side, hence the name WinSXS. It was supposed to be the answer to DLL hell. But it has created a HUGE amount of bloat in the process. For example I have 17 versions of the IE AntiPhishing filter. Do I really need 17 freaking versions? Is some antiquated piece of software REALLY going to need a specific version? The problem with WinSXS is it is a black hole. Once something is placed there, there is NOTHING to ever take it out.

Hello, Microsoft. Please give us a utility to periodically archive and clean WinSXS this eternal growth pattern is STUPID.

What's worse is if I were to do a clean install right now and reinstall all my applications, the size of WinSXS would shrink DRAMATICALLY. So why can't there be a utility that examines the current manifests of all installed apps and pare down the WinSXS to include ONLY the versions of DLL's currently in those manifests? Hmmm. I wish I had the time to pursue this. It does sound doable now that I think about it.

Gary

 

I agree completely. winsxs solved one problem but created another. MS will have to address this someday. Maybe they can keep the old versions on the internet and/or on a DVD to be fetched as needed.

 

Yeah, but the thing is if a particular item in WinSXS does not show up in the current mainfest of any application installed on your machine, it realy is no longer needed in WinSXS. It really is that simple. Without being associated with a application there is no way for the item to ever be referenced.

Gary

 

I guess my first question is if you are constrained in some way for disk space. I mean, unless you have some other use for the space does not data occupy the same space as free space? Unless you have some imminent use for the space, what's the urgency?

 

Not sure I follow the bit about "data occupy the same space as free space"???

It's not so much the urgency, as it is that WinSXS appears to grow and NEVER contract. Right now it represents almost 50% of my entire Windows directory which is 14 gb in total. And I am guessing that WinSXS is at least 50% full of redundant unusable entries. That is TOTALLY a SWAG (serious wildass guess).

Gary

 

The space on your hard drive is finite. Therefore, data and free space are the same thing. Only difference is your perception of how the finite space resource is being utilized.

If data utilization is growing it is most likely restore points and/or indexing.

 

I see what you are saying, but in this case a portion of WinSXS represents "dead" space. It is space occupied by a copy of a DLL that will never ever be used. It is not free space and it is not data space any longer. It is space lost.

This has nothing to do with indexing or restore points. No, we are talking SPECIFICALLY about the space occupied by WinSXS. Take a look on your own machine. Look at C:/Windows/WinSXS note its size relative to the size of your entire Windows directory.

This quote from wikipedia might help clarify what WinSXS is for:

And the issue with the implementation is that once a version goes in, there appears to be nothing to ever remove it. Lets say for example you have a program called "WidgetMaker". It registers a DLL called "WidgetFoo.DLL" as version 1.23. Six months latter, you get another app "WidgetStuffer". It includes a new copy of WidgetFoo.DLL as version 2.3. In the old DLL hell days the new one overwrote the old one even if WidgetMaker would not work with the new dll. WidgetStuffer would work but WidgetMaker was caught in DLL hell.

Enter WinSXS. It would keep BOTH copies of WidgetFoo.DLL and when either WidgetMaker or WidgetStuffer needed WidgetFoo.DLL the proper version would be given to the app. Cool!!!! Or so we thought. Now for the problem. Let's say you get a new version of WidgetMaker and with it comes WidgetFoo.DLL version 2.5. It appears that there is nothing to tell Windows that you now no longer need WidgetFoo.DLL version 1.23, even though it is now an orphan. You will have all three instance of the dll in WinSXS. So WinSXS grows and never shrinks.

As I said earlier, I have 17 versions of the IE antiphising DLL, despite the fact that I have only one instance of Internet Explorer. And since Internet Explorer is the only application that would ever use this IE antiphising DLL, how could I possibly ever need 17 versions? If I did a clean install right now, I would wind up with only one instance of this DLL.

WinSXS fixed one big headache we had, but at the expense of eating away at disk space that we can only recover by a clean install.

Browse your own WinSXS folder and you will see what I mean. Expand the filename column so you can see the amount of redundant space being occupied. Now mind you, some of this is NOT redundant and is necessary to combat DLL hell. I understand that. As a programmer myself, trust me, I know all to well the pain of DLL hell. But, what I'd like to see is a utility that enumerates the application manifests and removes the orphans in WinSXS.

Gary

 

I do know what you are saying. And agree that an unbridled WINSXS growth that becomes larger than a fresh install of Vista itself over time is unacceptable. At some point either some intrepid developer will write a maintenance utility or we all will be forced to do fresh installs of Vista because our hard drives are full of gas pockets.

 

Click on the Slimming vista guide in my sig. if you want to reduce the size of the windows directory.

 

I apologize for dredging up an old topic.
However, it doesn't seem the WinSxS directory actually takes up all the space it reports that it does. So no need to worry about its supposed ever increasing size
http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space.aspx

 

Please do not bring up old posts that are 6 months or older. Make another thread instead. Thread closed.