[ANSWERED] how can I reduce "assembly" and "Microsoft.NET" ?

Hello,

which components must I choose, to reduce the size of the directories "assembly" and "Microsoft.NET" ?
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Reomove net framework 4.0 could do that. But DON'T choose it or delete anything in those folders, it could cause many problems to your windows.

Do you mean to remove the feature "Net Framework 4.5 Network Advanced Services" ?
(in the *.wccf file the line   <Element Category="Features" Name="Net Framework 4.5 Network Advanced Services" Selected="false" Value="enable" />   )

That's it. Sorry for 4.0 mistake 

Thank you. I'll try it this evening, but I'm sure it will work fine.

Interesting thread. I used to remove both of the "NativeImages..." folders from my Windows 7 images, and absolutely nothing went wrong. Doing this saves like half a gigabyte at the moment of installation, and like a quarter gigabyte from the ISO itself. 

I haven't tried this on a Windows 8 image, but I guess it will work too. I'm assuming you're looking at the Assembly folder with an external software like 7-Zip or UltraISO, because trying to open the Assembly folder with the Windows Explorer will show up a list of the actual assemblies, not the folders it contains. To watch the actual folders like you do with the external software, you need to apply this registry tweak to your PC:

Create a new dword key under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion\ with the name DisableCacheViewer and set its [DWORD] value to 1.

One you've done this, you should be able to see the Assembly folder like a normal folder instead of a list of inaccessible data. After this, you just mount your image using WinReducer and erase both of the folders. You do this BEFORE saving the image, and make sure you just remove the "NativeImages..." folders. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE. All this is for reducing the Assembly folder. As for the Microsoft.NET folder, I don't know if it can be reduced .

I would like you to try this and report feedback so we can know if doing so is safe for Windows 8 (as it presented no problems in Windows 7).

billybully wrote:

Interesting thread. I used to remove both of the "NativeImages..." folders from my Windows 7 images, and absolutely nothing went wrong. Doing this saves like half a gigabyte at the moment of installation, and like a quarter gigabyte from the ISO itself.

Hmmm. I never knew that one. Got any others :-)
I will have some time this weekend, so I can try it also.

Are the "NativeImages..." folders related to .NET or something else?

Yes, the NativeImages* folders are belong to .Net, you can think they're some kind of .Net cache for running .Net programs, to increase performance.
You can safely remove them but they'll be recreated soon right when you run a .Net program, and you must be waiting so long to start it. 

OK,

I choosed these two settings in my *.wccf file:

    <Element Category="Features" Name="Net Framework 3.5" Selected="OK" Value="remove" />
    <Element Category="Features" Name="Net Framework 4.5 Network Advanced Services" Selected="true" Value="remove" />

and the result looks like this

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- "assembly" becomes 34MB smaller
- no change in "Microsoft.NET"
- "WinSxS" becomes 0,5GB smaller

@theKramer They, indeed, are part of .NET Framework. Those folders act like a cache for .NET applications so they can run fast and smooth since day one. If you remove them, .NET applications will be somewhat slow. But both folders are rebuilt as soon as you launch a .NET Framework application (only that with WAY less crap than before), so they will be slow only at first. Once you have used .NET applications for a little time, they will be as fast as if you had never touched the folders.

Hello guys,

Really interesting thread !

I will try to remove those "NativesImages" folders before installation as it seems to save 500Mo during installation, that could be faster (less files to install).

I will let you know ... If you find something else let me know ...

GREAT ! 

OK, guys, It works perfectly ... Here are a quick x64 test :

All components removed :

. x64 ISO = 1.22 Go

. x64 Installation = 3.00 Go !

Congratulation for your excellent idea !!!!  

And if there will be others ideas like this, I'm really interesting !  

How much did it reduce the ISO size?

Around 220 Mo for a x64 so the wim size is 998 Mo ...

I will also post another screenshot with the results after installing w8.1 with beta8.

Excellent idea !  

winterstorm2050 wrote:

Around 220 Mo for a x64 so the wim size is 998 Mo ...

Holy crap. That's what I call a milestone!!  

Here is the result with beta8:

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-530 MB !!!

Great work Winterstorm !!!

Thank you

Thanks to you !  

And good news I'm trying to remove more files in these folders ... maybe it could save around 150-200 Mo more !

So will this removal be an option we can select by itself, or is it lumped underneath a more general title, like "Remove Unneeded Files"?

It would be extremely helpful is some of those titles mentioned what directories they are removing, for debugging purposes, and maybe show how many megabyte they save both on iso and install.

Hello,

All information are in this thread : https://forum.winreducer.net/t380-optimizations-windows-winsxs-files-cleanup-extreme

This WinReducer Component is separated from others because it's highly experimental and we don't exactly know the consequences for Net framework depending software are with other ones...

hi friends i am beginner with this i only remove this 4.5 network services and save into wim. now i cant open install.wim with 7zip it show cant open as archive also i cant unpack this      

before that i see my install.wim on saved iso  is 1.43GB my assembly folder has  209 266 968
my winsxs has 2 751 187 614

What is your ambition ?
To look into a wim file you should mount it with dism.

i mount it but it always show me cant open   and also i want remove some files from winsxs assembly but i dont know how

i see on forum that it can be install.wim less than 900 MB-

You have to remove .net 4.5 and 3.5 under "Features" and you have to choose "Windows - WinSXS Backup Folder Cleanup" and "Windows - WinSXS Folder Compression" under "Optimizations".

But be aware. With this removement there will be many other things, which won't work after that.

 ahaa ok thanks uff wont work

No idea what you are doing, but it is not possible to test this in 8 minutes  

ok so i remove this 3.5 and 4.5 now i make this WinSXS Backup Folder Cleanup" and "Windows - WinSXS Folder Compression" 
also cleanup net framework folder 

now i see on install.wim 


windows/assembly/ 0mb
microsoft.net 313936MB still  (assembly - gacmsil is there only )
framework folder 193990MB still


there is v 2.0 0MB
v 1.1            493
v 1.03          100 265 
v 4.0            193 790 242       




so any solution how reduce this 2 folders or delete ?

I realize this is an old thread, but I was wondering if there has been any progress on slimming the microsoft.net folder. Winter suggested that he would look into reducing its size, but as I understand, he put it under one of the 'extreme' presets or 'experimental' options.

Has anybody figured out what can be safely deleted from that folder? As others have noted above, all the native assemblies in windows\assembly can be safely deleted to reclaim a lot of space.