I am Dale Hayter, a Microsoft and VMware certified Technical Consultant.

My blog has been built up over the years from my experience of working on an IT helpdesk and also from being out on-site.

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Shrink WINSXS Folder in Server 2008 R2

On a Server 2008 R2 Box you might find you have a large WinSXS folder like shown below :

ShrinkWINSXS1

If you have installed Service Pack 1 then its possible to remove the uninstallation files. If you do this though then you will not be able to roll back. However I have never needed to so always carry this out.

To shrink the folder open up an elevated command prompt window and issue the command

DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded
ShrinkWINSXS2

This will take a few minutes depending on how busy the server is.

ShrinkWINSXS3

Then once done your be left with a smaller WINSXS Folder.

ShrinkWINSXS4