
Now let’s get to the real cleaning process. It doesn’t require a reboot once it’s installed. Go to this download page and download the update specifically for Windows Server 2008 R2. Next step, you will need to install a separate Windows Update that adds an additional option to delete outdated Windows updates. Once it’s done, restart your server to finish the installation process. A wizard pops up.Ĭheck Desktop Experience from the list, click Add Required Features if another window pops up, go to Next, and Install. Go to Control Panel → Turn Windows features on or off, and click Add Features in Feature Summary section.

Unfortunately, it’s not installed by default when you first installed Windows Server 2008 R2. So, the first step we need to do is to install Disk Cleanup utility which is part of a system feature called Desktop Experience. The proper way of doing things like this is to use a built-in tool called Disk Cleanup. If you have a 2008 R2 server that runs short on the system drive, this post will definitely help you.īefore I took the same steps on one of my servers, I used a free folder analysis tool called TreeSize Free to check my system drive to see how many spaces are occupied by this WinSxS folder, a total of 14GB.

We have a post that describes how to clean up WinSxS folder on a Windows 8 computer but unfortunately, the same step doesn’t seem to be working on a Windows Server 2008 R2 system.

But you can do so if you are running short on space by following the right direction. Microsoft recommends not touching this WinSxS folder for the purpose of gaining more disk space. It does grow over time as more updates, features, or roles are added to the installation.

It’s located in c:\windows folder containing all the files required to finish these installations. The left panel of the program shows the folder and file sizes in a familiar File Explorer-like display, while the right side displays a pie chart for visualizing each folder's disk usage.ĭisktective is relatively user-friendly, but it's hindered by a few key limitations: the export-to-HTML feature doesn't produce a very easy-to-read file, you can't delete or open folders or files from within the program, and the size units are static, meaning they're all either in bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes (whatever you choose).WinSxS, a folder called the Windows Component Store that is used during Windows updates, Service Packs, and hotfix installations. You can choose any folder on any hard drive that's plugged in, including removable ones, as well as the entire hard drives. Unable to delete files directly from the program.Īn update hasn't been released since 2010.ĭisktective is portable and takes up less than 1 MB of disk space, so you can carry it with you on a flash drive.Įach time it opens, you're asked what directory to scan.
