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PatchCleaner?
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26 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
I have to work with computers filled like this all the time. I use patchcleaner from http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner . You may also want to look at the winsxs folder. I launch cleanmgr from an admin command prompt to clean that one.
Sounds like you have a lot of orphaned installer files. Recommend PatchCleaner http://www.homedev.com.au/free/PatchCleaner. I've used the successfully in the past. Just run it to see how many orphaned files you have, that should indicate if this is truly where the problem lies. Then decide whether to go ahead and move/remove
>On a freshly installed system? Perhaps.
>After a little use? It usually is larger than that.
No. If C:\Windows is larger than 20GB due to MSI's not cleaningup properly or Windows Update not cleaning up properly, then you need to clean up. After a format using the latest Pro x64 1709 image your Windows Folder will be around 16GB.
Disk Clean-upcan work for the Windows Update stuff, but you'll need something like Patch Cleaner to help clear up orphaned MSI's in WinSXS. Keep in mind that this is risky and can cause updates to MSI installations to fail or applocations to no longer uninstall, but you'll save space if desperate.
>And even so, 2 GB is just 10%. Sure, every byte counts, but this can't be the main advantage of Windows 10 Lean.
I agree, a saving of 2GB isn't a lot. Let's see what else they can trim. Most of the space is drivers for plug and play which I feel is unnecessary, a long with a bunch of legacy crap ;)
That's 10GB more than it should be.
Clean up your winsxs folder with
Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
And delete(or move) the orphaned install with patchcleaner
download windirstat. It will tell you directory sizes to quickly see where files are.
Run disk cleanup
Download patch cleaner to clear out orphaned crap in installer folder.
Take a look at PatchCleaner. It basically moves (to another drive) or deletes all the old patch updates that Windows keeps around for some reason. It can free up several GB on installs that have had a lot of updates.
http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
Also if you don't use it turn off the hibernation file by running "powercfg -h off" at an admin command prompt. That will gain you nearly the size of your RAM back.
I've got a few HTPCs with 30-40 GB SSDs which are quite manageable this way.
Also if you are feeling adventurous you can use NTFS compression even on the majority of the Windows system files. There is a method even to compress the WinSXS folder.
The folder C:\Windows\Installer contains uninstall and setup information for most installed applications. Usually this means keeping a copy of the MSI and/or certain setup files.
You have several options to reduce it's size:
- Run disk cleanup and click "Clean up system files"
- Move the folder. Do no just delete all it's contents. If you do, chances are you will have to re-install certain apps if you want to update them or cleanly uninstall them.
- Run Patch Cleaner. It claims to only remove "orphaned" files from the Installer directory. I have used it successfully in the past but your mileage may vary.
- Try WiCleanup. It has gotten decent reviews on stackexchange but I've never personally used it.
A clean Windows 10 install, patched up-to-date should be somewhere between 18 and 21GB for just the Windows folder, everything else comes from SXS (which you should not mess with) and the installer folder (and to a lesser degree from some log files).
You can add the Title column to see what program take so much space.
http://i.imgur.com/0SY4Sx5.png
You can also run PatchCleaner which will scan for orphaned install files and allow you to either delete them or move them to another drive.
This helped me save about 15GB of space in orphaned install files: http://www.homedev.com.au/Free/PatchCleaner Also This is SUPER handy for tracking down extra GB's: https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/
Go here: http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
Download that and run it. It takes awhile, but it absolutely will blow your mind.
I had 30GB free on my 256GB boot drive. It cleaned up 67GB of unnecessary patches that were orphaned and not needed. Every application you install and / or patch (think Adobe, Java, etc) will dump shit on the C: drive for its patch, and every MS patch does the same thing.
Its a shame the program isn't more known. Its legit, and you should do it now.
You should try what user Reddevil said, that's a great way to clear space if you have more than one.
- CCleaner, this will help clear a myriad of things.
- Patch cleaner (not many people know of this) but it goes through your Windows Installer directory and finds unused, large MSI files and clears them. http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
If you run this and the delete option is greyed out, it means there's nothing to clear.
Hey I had this exact same problem! I kept moving files off and I couldn’t understand where the space kept disappearing. Turns out windows handles msi and msp files really poorly. Remember even when you install to another drive windows puts files into the drive its installed to anyway. Sometimes it keeps them around for programs that you have uninstalled or even files for older versions of programs. Give Patch Cleaner a try. No joke it freed up just above 20 Gb on my ssd.
Try PatchCleaner from homedev
http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
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The dev recently posted it here and it has helped me clean up several machines of over 15GB of orphaned installers.
You should use the PatchCleaner tool (http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner). It analyzes the dependencies and cleans the redundant MSP files from the Installer folder.
Yes, it's free! It's loading a bit slow for me, but then did a perfect job so I'm not complaining :) It's called PatchCleaner, here's the link to the website: http://www.homedev.com.au/Free/PatchCleaner
One of the best tools I have found is Patch Cleaner, it is free and cleans up the MSI directory which is always a growing pain in the ass. http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner Basically it checks through the system and looks at all the left over MSIs and only removes the ones that are deemed safe from that directory. I run this after major OS and application patches.
I use a program called spacemonger, search for the old version. It's free and scans to tell you what takes up space, so you can target it.
Run CMD as administrator, type "powercfg -h off" hit enter. This will turn off hybernation and remove hyber.fil file that can be large (usually a few GB). Hybernation is a deep sleep mode, you likely don't use it but it's enabled by default.
Download and run this program, it removes files left over from Windows update that you don't need.
http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
I'm some cases those left over (orphaned) update files can swell to multiple GB but you'll save a few hundred megs probably.
In my company (+400 desktops) we track low space issues with SCCM, and then run PatchCleaner (http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner) on problematic clients (specially Optiplex 280s 330s etc). It's pretty amazing, sometimes it frees over 25GB
Try this: http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
I've used it recently after The hidden installer folder was bloated from Office updates, adobe etc, but not removing the old versions. This will identify them and remove them. I did it on a 2 year old win 7 install with Office 2013 recently and it cleaned up about 9 gigs. On another system that had a been running for about 6 years with 7 (cloned to a new SSD) id cleaned up 19GB.
When you open zip files, install programs, etc. etc., you will still be using your C drive, even if the files are located on a different drive. Your %TEMP% folder is most likely still within your user profile and when you open a zip file, it caches the files there, so that uses space... same as when you install programs and such.
You can adjust this by open system settings, advanced system settings, and choosing the environmental variables button and changing your user's TEMP and TMP variables to a folder located on the other drive.. this should help some.
Aside from that, you can also review the space on your drive being used (I use windirstat for this) and see where the space is exactly and that can help determine what is using it.
You can also run Patch Cleaner (http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner) to review cached program installation files and clean up lots of unused space that way... If you have plenty of room on your HDD though I do recommend creating a folder there and moving the files Patch Cleaner finds to it instead of deleting them.. while I have only had it happen a time or two, I have had issues where later on I need to update a program or remove it and this patch cleaning process removes the files necessary for that to take place so having them backed up is a good idea.
And finally you can also run the builtin Windows Disk Cleanup utility, if there are update/SP files, etc. etc. found it can help free up a lot of space as well.
Oh man, I discovered this four months ago and never felt better. Not only that, but I also cleaned over 25GB of orphaned patch files Windows left behind.
A little bit ago I noticed my C drive was almost full but it couldn't be. I ended up finding and cleaning about 45GB of old patches in the Windows folder and nVidia shit mostly.
PatchCleaner here: http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner
Windows keep a copy of all your install files in that folder. If you want to be able to uninstall software in the future, don't delete files manually in there.
What you can do is use a tool that search for orphaned install files in this folder and delete them or move them to another disk just in case you need them later.
Mine image is about 10.5G but I have our most commonly used apps in the image. To free up more space, as a last step before capturing run http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner and "dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase". you should reclaim about 1.5G or so.
If you have Office and all the updates installed, it usually hovers around 30 GB.
Your file scan clearly shows the Installer folder taking up 32 GB. Those files are not all needed but you can't unfortunately just blindly delete them.
Like /u/HeadacheCentral suggested, a Disk Cleanup as an admin should usually do the trick if you tick the correct box. You can do that by searching disk cleanup in the start menu then hold the CTRL button while right clicking the Disk Cleanup utility. You will have the option to run it as the administrator. Don't forget this is an optional update so you might not have that box until you do the right update... to delete the old update files.
Otherwise, there are tools to help you out clean it up. I cannot vouch for PatchCleaner but it seems to do just that.
Might I suggest PatchCleaner? Use the move function for a few days to make sure your system is still stable after using it. Once you've made it 3 or 4 days without errors, you should be safe to delete the files for good.