What Is WinSxS Folder: Clean Up Space on Windows 10 Easily

June 13, 2019

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What Is WinSxS Folder: Clean Up Space on Windows 10 Easily

One of the most frequently asked questions: Can I delete WinSxS folder to free up some disk space?

The answer is, no. Nor can you delete everything in the WinSxS folder, because some of the files are important for Windows to run an update. In this article, we are going to explain all about WinSxS Folder and How to Clean Up Space on Windows 10 Easily.

What Is WinSxS Folder:

he WinSxS folder is located in the Windows folder, for example, c:\Windows\WinSxS. It’s the location for Windows Component Store files. The Windows Component Store is used to support the functions needed for the customization and updating of Windows. Here are some examples of how the Windows Component Store files are used:

Step by step clean up WinSxS Folder:

There are many ways you can use to reduce the size for your WinSxS folder on Windows 10. In this post, you will get to know two of them to have at least one option that works.

Use Disk Cleanup
Use DISM Tool

WARNING: It is never suggested that you use a third-party tool to clean up your WinSxS file since faulty deleting the whole folder or some files in the folder might end up breaking your computer, making it impossible to boot or update.

1. Use Disk Cleanup

Disk cleanup is a built-in tool that helps you delete temporary files. To run it, just follow:

1) On your keyboard, press Windows logo button, then type in disk cleanup. Then choose Disk Cleanup from the list.

2) If you haven’t changed the location where you placed your system file, choose (C:) and click OK. If you have changed the file location before, choose the correct file directory accordingly.

3) Under Files to delete sector, tick the boxes before the files you don’t need anymore and then hit OK to delete them. Select to highlight the file name to see more detailed information if you want.

4) If you need to free more space, you can also choose Clean up system files.

Then you will be prompted to choose which system drive you want to clean up. Choose accordingly and the clean process will start right away.

2. Use DISM Tool

DISM stands for Deployment Image & Servicing Management. It is a tool that allows you to make changes to Windows features, packages, drivers, and international settings. In this case, we will use it to help us clean up our WinSxS folder.

The process may take a long time. It some cases, it could take up to 30 minutes. Please don’t worry when it’s not finished after a long time. Please be patient until the process finishes.(Microsoft)

1) On your keyboard, press Windows logo key and X at the same time, then choose Command Prompt (Admin).

When prompted with the UAC, hit Yes to continue.

2) Type in or copy and paste in the following command: Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

This command helps you clean up files when your system is not in use. Before this command tr to run sfc/scan now command.

3) In the same DISM window, type in or copy and paste in the following command:

This command helps you to remove all superseded versions of every component in the component store.

4)Make sure you have made no typo and hit Enter. Wait for it to finish.

5) Still, in the same window, type in or copy and paste in the following command:

This command helps you reduce the amount of space used by a Service Pack.

7) Make sure that you have made no typo and hit Enter.

Hope Your Methods were helpful enough to solve your WinSxS Folder: Clean Up and Save Space on Windows 10.

Also, check our article How to Stop Windows 10 From Using So Much Data