Huge windows folder size

C

coder_t2

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Messages
1,166
Hey guys, I just reformatted my HTPC to Vista Home Premium and did all the updates, and my Windows folder is like 21 GB now. Is this normal? I normally don't keep track, but I have 60 GB of my HDD taken up and all I installed were updates and drivers.
 
Windows installation + page file +hibernate.sys = about 21GB. So yes it's normal.
 
These updates are taking forever, my computer has been shutting down for almost an hour now...
 
WinSxS.

Don't know why it is called that, but that is ALL previous versions of files to ensure full backward compatibility after a patch.
 
Ok, I have a windows.old folder too. I guess I did an upgrade on my current version of Vista Business and didn't realize this. Can I just delete this folder? Or does Windows actually rely on it for files?
 
You can delete Windows.old but it does contain your entire C: drive prior to your installation so it's handy if you want to pull out any files you didn't do so before hand.

OP: My Win7 says it is 13GB on disk.
 
I think my OS got messed up or something. I installed a bunch of Recommended x64 Windows updates. I then tried to shut down, and 3 hours, it was still saying, shutting down... So I turned it off, and rebooted. It's been over an hour on Configuring Updates. These aren't even the Service Packs.
 
Last edited:
Are you using SP2? Try running the compcln command to clean up any previous updates (NOTE: This will make any residing Windows SP or update permanent on your system).

I was able to free ~2GB on my system but YMMV.
 
Is there SP2 on Vista? I have been out of loop, I haven't had my desktop for like 8 months. And the updates were acting all screwy. It actually installed SP1 as the last update...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top