Windows 10: install size Update vs Clean

Running on a 128GB SSD card, the Windows directory is around 50 GB's. Not much room left for anything else. Windows 8 was significantly less.

After every update I delete the $Windows~BT directory and the Windows.old directory to free up about 8GB's.. but it's not enough.

Would a clean install remove a lot of the junk in the Windows directory or is that always going to be the size?

:)

 

Upgrade Vs Clean install.

Hi Baha,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you have a few doubts regarding Windows 10 upgrade. Let me help you.

If you are selecting Upgrade keeping all old applications and files
your programs such as Word, Excel, Outlook (Office) etc are preserved.

If you are choosing Upgrade and delete all application and files
all your data and application will be gone.

Please be aware that you cannot use the free upgrade offer to perform a
Clean Installon first attempt. You must first upgrade from the qualifying version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 (whether you do it through
Windows Update
or using the .ISO file). Ensure the upgrade is completed successfully and then ensure that it is activated. You can then proceed to do a clean install by using recovery media or using the Reset function in Start > Settings >
Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC (Get Started).

For further reference, Frequently Asked Questions: Windows 10

I hope the information helps. If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact us again. We will be happy to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Upgrade Vs Clean install.

Greetings:

Question: what is the percentage of speed improvement?

I understand I have 3 options moving from Windows 7 to windows 10,

• Upgrade keeping all old applications and files
• Upgrade and delete all application and files
• Clean install by downloading an ISO file and using that to install windows 10 from scratch.
  

Should I expect any technical challenges?

I use primarily MS office and web browsing.

Thanks

 

I'm going to take a stab at this and say you should save some space by doing a clean install. If I recall I used much less space when I did a clean install yesterday with build 10074.

HTH
Jeff

 

What on earth do you have in your Windows folder? I have Build 10074 installed on three machines, this laptop I am using at the moment has the biggest Windows folder, about 21 GB.

 

C:\Windows usually ~ 20GB:

• Delete everything in C:\Windows\Panther, those files were used during installation and no longer needed
• Delete everything under C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download. Windows stores all downloaded updates.
  NOTE: Don't delete while Windows Updates is running.
• From Admin Command prompt, run: dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup to reduce the size of WinSxS folder

 

What's the size of your Windows SxS folder?

 

Build 10102 (upgrade from 10056)
Windows folder size ~ 15GB (after deletion of unused system files)




*Smile

 

Ahhh, seems like a good time to research DISM.exe and all the benefits it provides!
I posted a few days ago that I whittled 10GB off my Win8.1 Windows SxS folder using DISM.
Brink has posted information about using it but I think the info you're looking for was posted back in the Win7 forum.
DISM will analyze SxS folder, advise whether it should be cleaned, and then provide a means to clean it.
Mine dropped from 16GB to 6GB.............. YMMV......

 

Close to 15Gb for me too. I agree with all above, clean install is the best option.

 

I've violated the clean install rule when there was no ISO available (10041?) but you can still save 9 or10GB of space by cleaning your Win SxS folder. Did you analyze yours to see if it can be reduced?

 

Nice. I'll research a bit about it too.

*Smile

 

topguncp, you're a nice feller *Smile yep....
smart as a whip.........................*chuckle............
jump right in there with an answer............. yep
and good answers too *Biggrin
BUT:
"QUOTE=topgundcp;234874]C:\Windows usually ~ 20GB"
My Win8.1 machine Windows folder is 16.0GB
my Win10/64 machine Windows folder is 12.5GB
my Win10/32 machine is 8.28GB
SO: Your 20GB is no where near usual *Wink
and:
Now that you posted the instructions on cleaning it, why don't you post the rest of the instructions on how to determine if it should be cleaned *Huh
If I run your command to clean it and there's no change I'll be back with "didn't work!", what do I do now????*Huh
just a thought............................*Think

 

I said ~20GB but actually it is 17.5GB to be exact.
It is very easy to explain. Here's is my desktop Windows10X64 build 10102 with a few applications installed and yes it is 12.3 GB:






Now the question is How many applications software did you install in yours ? Don't forget when you install third party software, majority of DLL's are also put in C:\Windows, C:\Windows\system32.

The screen shot I've shown in previous post are fully functional Windows 10 Build 10074, same desktop, with tons of third party software + MS Office installed:




So The difference between 17.5GB from my previous post and 12.3 GB are from the third party software, not from Windows.

Hope this clears up the confusion !!! *Smile