Several folks with whom I've discussed this technique with mistakenly assumed that if you removed the SP2 Uninstall files, you would run into problems with Windows File Protection, which would no longer be able to do its job. However, that's not the case. This folder is then used by Windows File Protection in the event that a crucial system file needs to be replaced.
As such you'll need to be sure that you've enabled the Show Hidden Files and Folders option on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box. At this point, you can investigate the folders and determine which ones you want to backup and then remove. While you're doing so, you can find out how much disk space each Uninstall folder is occupying. To do so, right-click on any folder, select the Properties command, and check out the Size On Disk section on the General tab.
If there are a lot of Hotfix folders in the Windows folder and you want to be able to quickly determine which Hotfixes were installed prior to installing SP2 and which Hotfixes were installed after installing SP2, you can quickly and easily compile a text file listing of all the Hotfix folders sorted by date with a simple command line. Here's how:. This makes it a snap to determine which ones you want to backup and then remove.
While the idea of trashing unnecessary clutter from your hard disk, on the surface sounds very appealing, when it comes right down to it and you're just about to perform the Delete operation, chances are that you'll get butterflies in your stomach and start second guessing the wisdom of such a move. As such, it's a good idea to make backup copies of the uninstall files. That way, should you ever decide that you do want to uninstall SP2 or any of the Hotfixes, you can still do so by first restoring the Uninstall files.
If you'll be saving backup copies on another hard disk or a network drive, you can use Copy and Paste or Drag and Drop. NET versions include it. One of the old tools that could do this was MsiZap which was developed by Microsoft. Microsoft discontinued both MsiZap and Msicuu some time ago after saying they were causing too many issues, but many users still use MsiZap with some success.
The G command tells the program to remove any orphaned cached Windows Installer data files. While testing we got an error on both Windows 7 and XP similar to the following although it did say it had cleared some orphaned files out. MsiZapInfo: Performing operations for user S Removing orphaned cached files. Error enumerating Products key for S user. Error: 6. All the entries that show in the window are orphaned files and manually check the boxes for what you want to delete.
Although it has no option to automatically select all files for deletion, you can use the Shift key to multi-select, i. It would have been useful if this tool offered an option to backup the unused files instead of deleting them in case of any potential problems.
Note the website is in Japanese. Download WICleanup. Heath Stewart over at blogs. I used Patch Cleaner on my Windows 8. This week I noticed that I was no longer receiving updates for Office On my Windows 10 machine with Office , 8 updates were installed. I manually downloaded these 8 individual Office updates released in August , and tried to install them offline. After some searching I remembered having run Patch Cleaner. So I reverted the machine back to the state before running Patch Cleaner, and ran Windows Update again.
Now all 10 Office updates from July and August did show up in the list of available patches. My opinion: Patch Cleaner may have recovered 6 GB of storage, but it did more harm than good. This was awesome. Only 6 files were needed. This helped. Every time I try to download Patch Cleaner, I get an error message that setup cannot continue until all system components have been successfully installed. Patch Cleaner is the obvious solution here.
I freed up If so, then it should be safe to delete them permanently! Great article, thank you! Used WiCleanup along with WiMsps. Whilst WiCleanup identified all of the potential files, it also had those on the list which WiMsps said to keep. It takes a bit of time, but worth the effort.
I managed to free up 25GB of space. Thanks for this info. I went with WICleanup. I have been fighting with low disk space for months. I had 40 gig in the installer folder. Lots of clicking but I have space to work now.
Windows version failed on installation. WiCleaner worked flawlessly. Cleaned up 29 GB in 10 minutes. Thank you for your informative article! Thank you very much sir, really good and helpful article with clear instructions.
I found unused files taking up 50,8GB …imagine, I had to hit yes and ok for every single file to get rid of it! Absolutely worth it! Many thanks. My experience mirrored that of Maros. Very helpful and straightforward instructions. Thank you. Lol I like how the main article has no mention of Patch Cleaner, but the comment section have hijacked it by only talking about Patch Cleaner.
Patch Cleaner was actually only in development for about 9 months. PatchCleaner worked like a charm, 20 GB cleaned. I moved the files to an external hard drive just in case but damn! WICleanup was a rather awkward and clunky to use, but it definitely did find a lot of orphan files on my machine and allowed me to delete them. Thanks for this article. Patch Cleaner found 45 GB of orphans! Why all the cumbersome solutions? Your solution is vastly more cumbersome than all of these, they are free and only take a matter of seconds to find what they are looking for.
Your solution is paying for software and then waiting an hour for it to complete its task! After using Patch Cleaner be prepared for an extremely long boot. This is not always Windows fault and can be the fault of the program. DivX files don't get on very well with Windows XP and sometimes renaming the file can trick Windows into releasing it.
Reboot your PC and don't start any programs. Go directly to the file and delete it. Uncheck everything except the file name. This stops Windows XP trying to read the file - this problem affects many video, audio and graphics files. Still no luck? OK, here is the best trick of all. Most sites give you cryptic Windows registry and DOS commands to remove a file, but the answer is so much simpler.
Get a copy of MoveOnBoot or Unlocker both are free these simple tools will allow you to Move, Copy or Delete files before Windows can lock or alter the files. Well, probably not. Become a Patron of Ask Leo! Remember, you are in the process of replacing the existing operating system.
Will Linux meet your needs? It might work very well. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
Having more than my fair share of re-installs, etc.
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