My winsxs directory got up to 13GB before I reinstalled (Win7) and it's already at 6GB. Maybe they'll fix it for Win8...

or 9...

or 10

Fix what?

In reference to blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2008/09/17/what-is-the-winsxs-d...:

All of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder � in fact we call this location the component store. Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. 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. 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.

Fix the fact that you cannot get rid of the crud that is stored there. You don't really think that Windows needs everything stored in that directory, do you?

There's a lot of misunderstanding about winsxs, as BatBoy points out. I guess that Windows users aren't really up to speed on the concept of hard links or symbolic links.

I think you should buy a bigger HD tbh.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

As did I, however the average person with a home computer would not know what a file system let along the pros and cons of the different ones. Why are manufacturers still formatting their new drives in FAT-32? Is it to do with MAC compatibility?

One of the reasons. I don't use any removable media without formatting it as NTFS first.

FAT32 is not worth the risk, or trouble!

MS have stated that they believe the disk consumption used by winsxs is worth what benefits it gives. I'm inclined to agree with them tbh.

It's adaptive afterall, if you don't install loads of [censored] it doesn't grow as much. I'm not singling you out, my winsxs folder is fairly large, but it's there to help me go about my business on the PC.

When you see computers where it has grown very large there are always underlying problems with the computer, malware, junk installations etc.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

I think you should buy a bigger HD tbh.

I've just got myself a 128GB SSD for my C: drive. It's already half-full and I haven't installed that much software. So much for Win 7 only needing a 16GB disk drive.

Edited by micksharpe (Sat 17-Mar-12 00:39:55)

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

MS have stated that they believe the disk consumption used by winsxs is worth what benefits it gives.

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

It's adaptive afterall, if you don't install loads of [censored] it doesn't grow as much.

As I understand, it will grow with every Windows update that is installed.

I know a kludge when I see one and Windows SxS is a kludge imo.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

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.

I'm not convinced by that, for instance:

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\System32

12/04/2011 16:07 892,416 kernel32.dll

vs.

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-kernel32_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6002.18449_none_9582275d538a1db6

12/04/2011 16:07 892,416 kernel32.dll

If they were linked one of them would show as a <JUNCTION>.