[winxp] GUIDE: Making your windows folder smaller!

[NeoMayhem]

[GUIDE]: Making your windows folder smaller!

By: NeoMayhem ([email protected]) for Neowin.net

Original Thread: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=...11&t=62837&st=0

Why would I want to do this?

There are many reasons for making your windows folder smaller, first it saves space and removes windows features you will probably never use that are just slowing down your computer.

What can you delete?

That is what this article is about, I will explain everything I know is safe to delete, and what happens if you do!

Everything I explain in this article has been done on my main system and my other systems for at least 3 months now, my systems have been perfectly stable, and I don?t think I have got a fatal error or BSOD yet this year!

Will this really improve the speed of my system?

I don?t have any results to prove it, but I think it does improve boot time a little, and after a clean install, it does seem to make the system slightly faster after deleting these thingDisclaimer: In no way is neowin.net or NeoMayhem responsible for what you do to your system, this is ONLY for advanced users who know a little about windows and computers and can reinstall/repair a windows installation if necessary. This has worked for me wonderfully and hopefully will for you to!

Final notes: This has been tested on Windows XP Pro Final and SP1 (Not home, but it should work fine) Windows 2003 Enterprise Server 3700, RTM, and The Free Evaluation version (Any 2k3 version should work fine), and Windows 2000 Pro. If the following folders are not on your 2k/2k3 system it means they are only in XP and you don?t need to worry about them. .

If for some reason you can not delete a folder, just delete the files inside, I tried to make not of the folders that cant be deleted, but depending on your system and if you use FAT32 or NTFS it may be different.

All of the paths listed in there are C:\Windows and C:\Program Files, if your folders have different names (Like C:\WINNT on windows 2k) then you should use that path instead.

Well, lets get started deleting, these start out ordered from largest to smallest, but after the first few files they are all fairly small, and are just in a random order.

1. c:\windows\system32\dllcache\

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES INSIDE! This folder uses a LOT of hard drive space, it holds a backup of every system file that windows uses. Deleting this will cause a SFC error when you replace a system file instead of windows putting back the original file. For people who want to mod there system, this is a good thing.

2. c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES INSIDE! This folder only exists if you installed a service pack on XP, if you did a slipstream it won?t be here either. This folder is the same as the dllcache, but has the new files that were updated by a service pack. If you delete the dllcache, deleting this is just like finishing the job.

3. c:\windows\$Uninstall----$

These $uninstall----$ folders are used whenever you want to uninstall a windows update. If you delete them, you can not uninstall the update(s), but if the updates are working fine for you, there should be now reason to remove them.

4. c:\windows\cursors\

This folder contains some custom cursers for windows, if you are happy with the default cursers, or use your own set like Blue Curve, then deleting this wont effect you at all.

5. c:\windows\driver cache\i386\

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES INSIDE! This is one you may not want to delete, this takes up a bit of space (about 80mb) but windows uses if you ever add or remove windows components and things like printer drivers. If you?re your hardware is already working fine, you don?t need this folder on your hard drive. For example, if you delete this folder, and try to install IIS, windows will ask for the CD or Network share with the files on it, if you don?t need to add or remove windows components often, deleting this will free up some space for you.

6. c:\windows\help\

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES IN SIDE! This folder contains all of the windows help files. If you are like me, and think they having 50mb of help files is a waste, then you probably want to delete it. If you delete this folder and try to view a help file, the Help and Support center will come up with a 404 error. No harm is done, you just can?t view the help files (because you deleted them?). There is also a tours folder inside of the help folder, you can delete everything in this folder also, but windows won?t let you remove the actual folder.

7. c:\windows\inf\

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES INSIDE! This folder contains a lot of windows drivers, if you ever add new hardware, windows looks in this folder, then on your CD drive for the latest drivers. Any hardware you might get will probably come with the drivers on a disk, so this folder is just a wasting space on your hard drive with outdated drivers. If all of your hardware is working fine, and you don?t plan on adding any new hardware for a while, deleting this wont effect your system at all. If you don?t want to delete everything in it, you can go into the folder, press CRTL+F and search for mdm*.* and delete everything that comes up. These are all modem drivers, and it is very unlikely you will ever need them because you either have a modem installed already, or if you do add one, it will come with newer drivers.

8. c:\windows\srchasst

This folder is the XP Search assistant, if you delete it, windows will just use the classic 2k style search instead, which is moWARNING: Some people have reported problems with this, and have not been able to search, try this at your own risk!!!t your own risk!!!

9. c:\windows\downloaded installations\

This folder holds the installers for some programs you download and install, for example, Tweak UI puts its installer in this folder, and so you can repair it or update its components later. Deleting this folder won?t harm any programs I have ever seen, but you should look inside this and see what you are deleting first.

10. c:\windows\media\

These are the default windows sounds, if you don?t want them, deleting them wont hurt anything.

11. c:\windows\system32\restore\

This is the system restore apps, if you delete this, system restore will no longer work. Before you delete this, you should go into System Restore, and delete all your restore points, and then you should go to the system properties and disable system restore. After that, you can delete this folder, and not worry about system restore slowing down your system or sucking up space.

12. c:\windows\system32\usmt\

This folder is the File and Settings Transfer wizard. If you have no need for it, then deleting this wont have any other effects besides the File and Settings Transfer wizard not working anymore.

13 A. c:\program files\msn

13 B. c:\program files\netmeeting\

These are the MSN Explorer and Net Meeting applications. If you don?t need or use them, then you can delete these folders (For net meeting, you can only delete the files inside) and the only thing it will effect is that these programs will know longer work.

14. C:\windows\system32\oobe

NOTE: DON?T DELETE THIS FOLDER, JUST ALL THE FILES INSIDE! In this folder is the Out of Box Experience (The screens you see right after you have installed XP for the first time), and the XP Product Activation stuff. If you have a Retail or OEM version of XP, and you think you might ever need to activate again, DON?T DELETE THIS. So unless you are using XP or 2k3 CORP, you may still need this folder someday.

15. c:\windows\msagent

This folder holds the MS Agent program. The MS Agent is a gay little wizard thing that looks like the Office Assistant, I personally hate this thing, and removing it will get rid of it for good! If windows wont let you remove the folder, just delete everything inside of it, and everything inside of the intl folder.

16. c:\windows\java

This is the crappy MS Java components that don?t work well, and MS got sued over. If you have Windows XP slipstreamed with SP1a you wont have this because MS no longer distributes it. If you use websites that use Java Applets, you should keep this, or remove it and install Suns Java VM.

17. c:\windows\mui

This is a little app that allows you to switch between multiple languages, if you only use one language, then deleting this wont effect you at all. NOTE: I think this folder only exists on XP Pro because Home Edition doesn?t support multiple languages.

Post Deletion:

After you have deleted everything you want to, I recommend you run the Regisrty Cleaner from jvPowerTools ( http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16 ). This will remove all the references to things you deleted so a window doesn?t look for the files any more. If you delete the Java Folder, RegCleaner will find at least 50 reg entries related to it, and can remove them for you if you want.

What else can I do to make the windows folder smaller?

If you want to make your windows folder even smaller, and you use NTFS, you can use NTFS compression to make the windows folder smaller. Although you can compress everything it, compressing EXEs and DLL files will make you system a little bit slower, so I recommend compressing everything BUT EXE and DLL files.

Using this guide, you should easily be able to make your windows folder less then 1gb, but because some programs add there own files to the windows dir, your results may differ from what other people have gotten there folder sizes to. After a clean install, it is fairly easy to get your windows folder less then 700mb so you can put a image file of your clean install on one CD and be able to restore it easily.

That is all for now, if you have your own, feel free to post them below and if my system still works well after deleting them, I will add them to this guide!

Edited July 10, 2003 by NeoMayhem

[tmaxxtigger]

Thanks, well put together guide!

[John Veteran]

great guide neomayhem :)

i've already done much of this, but i followed that thread when it was really going. this guide is really good for the average user, or for someone who doesn't know what something is.

good job (Y)

[Mike Douglas]

thanks

[xp1ode]

c0o thanks alot man, really helped...

[lawtai]

thanks for the guide

[memNOC]

excellent piece of text, Mayhem.. couldnt bother to read through it all, since i got my windir down to about 600mb.. i dont need any smaller than that.. :D

and what happens if you delete the entire dir in the cases of "\inf", "\Driver Cache" and "\Help"? i kinda wiped the whole dir structure (including the actual directory) and so far, no problems.. since i disabled WFP, it didnt hold me back at all..

again, very nice editorial work.. you should make a site out of this, kinda like BlackViper has out of his XP Services guide.. outstanding work

[engmike8]

Great job NeoMayhem! maybe this will get posted on the main page :D

[ToastGodSupreme]

nice post really, i'm impressed :)

[RadishTM Veteran]

A good thread :yes: (Y) ....

Radish.

[Acezo]

Great work (Y)

[MxxCon]

9. c:\windows\downloaded installations\

that dir contains google toolbar for ie, some flash/shockwave plugin dlls and some quicktime files, i don't recommend deleting that.

also i don't recommend messing around w/ /inf dir. you just never know when you'll need those drivers. if you are so low on space that you need to clean out /inf dir you have bigger issues to worry about

[NeoMayhem]

excellent piece of text, Mayhem.. couldnt bother to read through it all, since i got my windir down to about 600mb.. i dont need any smaller than that.. :D

and what happens if you delete the entire dir in the cases of "\inf", "\Driver Cache" and "\Help"? i kinda wiped the whole dir structure (including the actual directory) and so far, no problems.. since i disabled WFP, it didnt hold me back at all..

again, very nice editorial work.. you should make a site out of this, kinda like BlackViper has out of his XP Services guide.. outstanding work

Windows wont let you delete the help folder most of the time, and some programs add there own files in there so if the folder doesnt exist, the program may not install right. Same with the INF folder, many USB drivers you install from a CD place some INF files in there before windows actualy installs the drivers, so if the folder is gone, the drivers may not get installed right :wacko:

I most cases you will be fine deleting the folders, but in some cases it may lead to problems, so I leave them there :p

Same thing with the Diver Cache to, if/when you install SP2, it will place a SP2.cab file in there, and if the folder is gone, it may mess things up :wacko:

Great job NeoMayhem! maybe this will get posted on the main page

That would be cool :p

Glad you all like it so far :p

[MxxCon]

another thing, unlike older versions of windows help, WinXP's help is actually very good. obviously not as big as MSKB, but it does have alot of info, guides and wizzards.

you should think twice about deleting it..

[NeoMayhem]

another thing, unlike older versions of windows help, WinXP's help is actually very good. obviously not as big as MSKB, but it does have alot of info, guides and wizzards.

you should think twice about deleting it..

It is a lot better, but I never have needed to look at it, because most of what is answers is basic things I already know howto do :p

[S.MULLA]

really nice guide..i'll probably do this next weekend.... just before a re-format to make sure your "theory" is true...:)

[m0]

this is excellent NeoMayhem :yes: (Y)

Thanks so much..... i will be trying this soon :happy:

m0.

[sphere]

Do you know if it's fine to delete the Windows\System folder in XP?

[NeoMayhem]

Do you know if it's fine to delete the Windows\System folder in XP?

No, that folder contains dirvers and things to make older apps run on 2k/XP, windows *might* work if you delete it, but you would have problems with things :wacko:

LOL, look at the setup.inf file in the system (NOT system32) folder, it is the windows 3.1 installer :wacko:

[Crackler]

I did this yesterday and my pc seems to be more responsive in general, thnx :D

[Liquid]

this is a great guide, helps alot, thanks

[NeoMayhem]

I did this yesterday and my pc seems to be more responsive in general, thnx :D

Cool, I am not sure if it really does, but it seems like it :p

[A10]

9. c:\windows\downloaded installations\

that dir contains google toolbar for ie, some flash/shockwave plugin dlls and some quicktime files, i don't recommend deleting that.

I think your mixing up that folder with the Downloaded Program Files folder.

[memNOC]

LOL, look at the setup.inf file in the system (NOT system32) folder, it is the windows 3.1 installer :wacko:

:laugh: youre right! wtf......

    caption  = "Windows Setup"

    exit      = "Exit Windows Setup"

    title    = "Installing Windows 3.1"

    options  = "In addition to installing Windows 3.1, you can:"

    printwait = "Please wait while Setup configures your printer(s)..."

    copywait = "Welcome to Microsoft Windows 3.1!\n\n  - If you're new to Windows, see 'A Brief Tour of\n    Microsoft Windows' in the Getting Started book.\n\n  - If you've used Windows before, see 'New\n    in This Version' in the Getting Started book."

LOL and check out the space requirements..

; Disk space required

; <type of setup>= <Full install space>, <Min install space>

    upd2x386full = 10000000,6144000 ; 10.0 Mb, 6.144 Mb

    upd2x286full = 9000000,6144000  ;  9.0 Mb, 6.144 Mb

    upd3x386full = 5500000,5000000  ;  5.5 Mb, 5.0 Mb

    upd3x286full = 5500000,5000000  ;  5.5 Mb, 5.0 Mb

       

    new386full  = 10000000,6144000 ; 10.0 Mb, 6.144 Mb

    new286full  = 9000000,6144000  ;  9.0 Mb, 6.144 Mb

    netadmin    = 16000000        ; 16.0 Mb

    netadminupd  = 16000000        ; 16.0 Mb

    upd2x386net  = 300000          ;  .3 Mb

    upd3x386net  = 300000          ;  .3 Mb

    upd2x286net  = 300000          ;  .3 Mb

    upd3x286net  = 300000          ;  .3 Mb

    new386net    = 300000,300000    ;  .3 Mb,  .3 Mb

    new286net    = 300000,300000    ;  .3 Mb,  .3 Mb

these are obviously some kind of packages, but look at the full and min difference.. :rofl:

also check out the file versions.. all are 3.10.. this seems to me like a Win3.1 installation disk.. its even close to 1.44mb.. weird..

[Daniel F. Administrators]

thanks to NeoMayhem for making this guide, in recognition it has now been made sticky :)