WinSxS minimized

Hey Guys,

like in Windows 7 I have slimmed down the huge WinSxS folder for Windows 10 from 5,5 GB ( 49569 files ) to 42,7 MB ( 105 files ).
I have used the official Windows 10 Pro x64 EN-US ISO without any integrated updates. Installation works flawless and I didn't spot any issues so far.

The required folders and files for WinSxS for Windows 10 in the install.wim:

amd64_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_88e323712fabe0b2
amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_08e47e47a83d53d6
amd64_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_en-us_181e3563e72d5073       - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
amd64_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_en-us_0a2ac40d83f72130         - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_none_0212ec7eba871e86
amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_f41f7b285750ef43
amd64_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_35b8ff2918dd8f6a
amd64_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.1.10240.16384_none_89a94c179af51f83
amd64_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_115fd2f761f7c508

Catalogs ( empty folder need for Windows installation )
InstallTemp ( empty folder need for Visual C++ installation )

Manifests ( 41 manifest files )
              amd64_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_88e323712fabe0b2.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_08e47e47a83d53d6.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_en-us_181e3563e72d5073.manifest   - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
              amd64_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_en-us_0a2ac40d83f72130.manifest     - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
              amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_none_0212ec7eba871e86.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_f41f7b285750ef43.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_35b8ff2918dd8f6a.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.1.10240.16384_none_89a94c179af51f83.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.i..utomation.proxystub_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_4f227bdbe4a4657f.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.isolationautomation_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_a5ab2aa8859a4b6b.manifest
              amd64_microsoft.windows.systemcompatible_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_fbbbbe0c13e7dd4a.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-deployment_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_03ef687987fb4cc7.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-explorer_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_59b518c11469b963.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-i..national-core-winpe_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_602917fa3a22e734.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-international-core_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_f1aad637746e4ada.manifest  
              amd64_microsoft-windows-r..-service.deployment_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_f34f2343f03568f3.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-security-spp-ux_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_63c2106a397f7c1c.manifest               
              amd64_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_115fd2f761f7c508.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_6a41256e10264d9d.manifest
              amd64_microsoft-windows-shell-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_da5b445a844d7940.manifest 
              amd64_microsoft-windows-unattendedjoin_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_bb15564e0781e8d0.manifest
              amd64_policy.8.0.microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_09c3d431faca05fb.manifest
              amd64_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_acd1eec7e1d9fa24.manifest
              x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_d0905a48442809b8.manifest
              x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_5091b51ebcb97cdc.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_en-us_5fcb6c3afba97979.manifest      - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
              x86_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_en-us_51d7fae498734a36.manifest       - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
              x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_none_49c02355cf03478c.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_3bccb1ff6bcd1849.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_7d6636002d59b870.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.1.10240.16384_none_d15682eeaf714889.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.i..utomation.proxystub_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_96cfb2b2f9208e85.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.isolationautomation_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_ed58617f9a167471.manifest
              x86_microsoft.windows.systemcompatible_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_4368f4e328640650.manifest
              x86_microsoft-windows-deployment_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_a7d0ccf5cf9ddb91.manifest
              x86_microsoft-windows-i..national-core-winpe_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_040a7c7681c575fe.manifest
              x86_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_b5413773a99a53d2.manifest
              x86_microsoft-windows-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_0e2289ea57c8dc67.manifest
              x86_microsoft-windows-shell-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_7e3ca8d6cbf0080a.manifest 
              x86_policy.8.0.microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_51710b090f462f01.manifest
              x86_policy.9.0.microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_f47f259ef656232a.manifest

x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.9185_none_d0905a48442809b8
x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.9158_none_5091b51ebcb97cdc
x86_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_en-us_5fcb6c3afba97979        - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
x86_microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_en-us_51d7fae498734a36         - This is for US English , for other languages find the specific abbreviation!
x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.10240.16384_none_49c02355cf03478c
x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10240.16384_none_3bccb1ff6bcd1849
x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.10240.16384_none_7d6636002d59b870
x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.1.10240.16384_none_d15682eeaf714889
x86_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_b5413773a99a53d2


In total the WinSxS folder is 42,7 MB big and contains 21 folders and 105 files

Last edited by Torrentus on Mon 28 Sep 2015 - 15:24; edited 2 times in total

Hey torrentus,

That's excellent ... thank you very much for the sharing ... I will add changes, if there are, in the next EX-100 build ... thank you very much for the sharing and the detailed information !

That's seems to be pretty much the same things ...

Holy smokes, so out of 5.5 Gb, more than 5.45 Gb is unnecessary? Makes me wonder whether MS knows what they are doing. Are you sure that no functionality is lost?

And do you have a similar list for Win 8.1?

Well only Windows Update functionality is lost. This means you can't download and update on a live running Windows OS. 
I don't care about that because I integrate Windows Updates offline into the ISO so they will be automatically installed on the next
Windows installation. Also for me I don't use the official Windows Update functionality because you are all the time connected to MS
server that sends your information. So it's spyware and a security leak that needs to be killed anyways

P.S No, I only did the WinSxS minimal list for Windows 7 and now for Windows 10 but Winterstorm already built it in Winreducer EX-81 ( WinSxS Expert Cleanup ).

aymanalz wrote:

Holy smokes, so out of 5.5 Gb, more than 5.45 Gb is unnecessary? Makes me wonder whether MS knows what they are doing.

You think a huge company like MS that has thousands of people working on a line of operating systems for the past decade somehow overlooked the fact that there's an entire huge folder with useless data? Please, be serious.

The WinSxS-folder is essential for keeping different versions of system files to avoid the DLL-hell users of Win9x probably still remember. This guarantees that software that will require different versions of the same file will work along with other software that does require different versions on the same system. That's also where its name comes from: Windows Side by Side, or WinSxS in short. Before that, a software may have overwritten or "updated" the files in question and therefore broke other programs in the process.

The WinSxS folder certainly seems to be huge, but lets put things in perspective. Firstly, Windows makes heavy use of hard links which results in the files using much less space on your storage device than its reported size might lead you to believe. Secondly, thanks to that its impact on your overall installation is minimal. I slimmed Windows down, kicked out all the ModernUI-Apps among some other things and kept most of the WinSXS folder intact (Version 1, includes NetFX 2-4). Then I slimmed down the folder to the files of the OP's list (Version 2) for the most part.

Let's compare both versions:

Version 1:
Wim-Size: 1,86GB
reported WinSXS-Size: 4,05GB
Installed Windows Size: 4,07GB

Version 2:
Wim-Size: 1,58GB
reported WinSXS-Size: 94MB
Installed Windows Size: 3,58GB

So in effect, killing almost the entire WinSxS-Folder only saved me roughly 500MB. And yes, functionality is of course lost. NetFramework for example was effectively destroyed. If I had kept the necessary NetFramework-files to keep it intact, the size differences would have been even smaller. Non-NetFX-Software might also be affected to some degree, but I didn't care to explore that indepth. That being said, it makes sense to remove the files in WinSxS to components that have been removed anyway. Anything else should be considered with caution, especially if you can't distinguish between the reported size of the files and the actual space they occupy on your hard drive. In the end, half a gigabyte of data should be negligible enough to keep, especially if you plan on using a variety of software.

Anyway, thanks to Torrentus for slimming down the folder to its bare bones. This is especially useful when using Windows in a VM with a specific tools that have been verified to work with it.

Last edited by Xiaopang on Sun 30 Aug 2015 - 13:01; edited 1 time in total

Hello,

Xiaopang, have you tried the "Optimizations - EXPERT - WinSXS Folder Cleanup (install.wim)" in EX-100 ?

Yes, I did. I used Winreducer with basically all optimizations intact and then went on and did the rest manually. The results are accurate. That's the magic of hard links

Btw, while we're talking about it: The option to clean up the WinSxS-backup-folder is broken. It does absolutely nothing. I had to delete those files manually. Also did a comparison between a before and after version of that folder and not a single file was deleted.

Hey,

Yes, there are still many lacks in removing with v0.4.3.0, but I'm improving this in the next build with a huge list (and interesting) of improvements and optimizations ...

Looking forward to it

Yeah, me too with all your feedbacks ...

I just tried the Winsxs removal method with Winreducer 4.3.0 and it reduced my ISO from 2.21GB to 1.91GB and install from 4.40GB to 3.80GB. Build 10532 x64. Winsxs folder is like 50MB.

All Netframework stuff still seems to be working. Windows Update downloads the updates but there are errors installing them. Which honestly isn't a big deal since there are new Windows 10 builds so often anyway. Worst comes to worst. I'll just integrated the Updates too.

Note: I removed all the Windows components I didn't need and integrated Netframework 3.5 into the image first and then applied the Winsxs removal after.

Scratch that. Xbox App doesn't update/work with WinSxS minimised. So I'm sure other Apps would also be effected and probably other programs too in the long run.

Hey Guys, I have created an answer file ( autounattend.xml ) for automated Windows installation and had errors during installation.
I found out that you need to keep 4 additional manifest files in your WinSxS\Manifests folder:

amd64_microsoft-windows-international-core_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_f1aad637746e4ada.manifest  
amd64_microsoft-windows-security-spp-ux_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_63c2106a397f7c1c.manifest 
amd64_microsoft-windows-shell-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_da5b445a844d7940.manifest 
x86_microsoft-windows-shell-setup_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10240.16384_none_7e3ca8d6cbf0080a.manifest 

I have updated the list with these above. Cheers!

Tobe404 wrote:

Scratch that. Xbox App doesn't update/work with WinSxS minimised. So I'm sure other Apps would also be effected and probably other programs too in the long run.

You could try to keep all files and folders in the WinSxS folder related to the Xbox App you want to function. Search for *xbox and copy those files and folders back.
Maybe it will update then...

Xiaopang wrote:

aymanalz wrote:

Holy smokes, so out of 5.5 Gb, more than 5.45 Gb is unnecessary? Makes me wonder whether MS knows what they are doing.

You think a huge company like MS that has thousands of people working on a line of operating systems for the past decade somehow overlooked the fact that there's an entire huge folder with useless data? Please, be serious.

Sheesh, try not to take an off the cuff remark so seriously. In your own style: Do you think that I am unaware of the fact that the world's largest OS makers who have made OSes used by billions of people for decades, will not be aware of the biggest folder in their OS?

Xiaopang wrote:

The WinSxS-folder is essential for keeping different versions of system files to avoid the DLL-hell users of Win9x probably still remember. This guarantees that software that will require different versions of the same file will work along with other software that does require different versions on the same system. That's also where its name comes from: Windows Side by Side, or WinSxS in short. Before that, a software may have overwritten or "updated" the files in question and therefore broke other programs in the process.

The WinSxS folder certainly seems to be huge, but lets put things in perspective. Firstly, Windows makes heavy use of hard links which results in the files using much less space on your storage device than its reported size might lead you to believe. Secondly, thanks to that its impact on your overall installation is minimal. I slimmed Windows down, kicked out all the ModernUI-Apps among some other things and kept most of the WinSXS folder intact (Version 1, includes NetFX 2-4). Then I slimmed down the folder to the files of the OP's list (Version 2) for the most part.

Let's compare both versions:

Version 1:
Wim-Size: 1,86GB
reported WinSXS-Size: 4,05GB
Installed Windows Size: 4,07GB

Version 2:
Wim-Size: 1,58GB
reported WinSXS-Size: 94MB
Installed Windows Size: 3,58GB

I am quite aware of the function of the winsxs folder. A google search for "winsxs" throws up all the info you provided, and some more. But there are problematic points to ponder, even with that knowledge:

1) Significantly reducing the winsxs folder does not cause any loss of functionality. My winsxs folder is, after months of use, only 1.5 GB large. Right after installation, it was less than a Gb. I have not encountered any difficulty with .net framework or updates or encountered any DLL errors.

2) Other operating systems manage to do mighty fine without a contrived solution like the winsxs folder.

3) Again, I am aware of the hardlinks, and the disparity in shown size and space occupied. However, file copy operations on the disk are not aware of this. If my 16 GB SSD is nearly full, I cannot copy more files into it if the Winsxs shows a reported size of 4 GB, despite the fact that memory occupied is a lot less.

You would do well to not assume that everybody is a novice, especially on a forum like this. And avoid condescending remarks like "Oh do you think that the great MS..."