Why does my Windows folder use 75 GB?

Possible Duplicate:
Why does the /winsxs folder grow so large, and can it be made smaller?
How can I visualize the file system usage on Windows?

My dad has asked me to have a look at his computer so see what is wrong it because he keeps running out of space on his C drive. I had a look and noticed that his C:\Windows folder is 75 GB large.

I've never seen one that big was wondering if there is a common cause for this.

He's running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3. I had a look inside the directory and the only really big folder is System32 which is sitting at 2.16GB. I can't see where the 75GB figure is coming from.

Omar Kooheji

Posted 2012-01-04T11:52:37.537

Reputation: 324

try useing explorer xp to work out where the size of the folders and files actualy are. – ben950 – 2012-01-04T11:54:25.180

Download link for Explorer XP? – Omar Kooheji – 2012-01-04T11:56:37.273

http://www.explorerxp.com/index.html#download – ben950 – 2012-01-04T11:58:25.760

Ok I downloaded Explorer XP and there was 67GB in C:\WINDOWS\Installer Windows hadn't been deleting updates. I deleted them, hopefully that wont have broken anything... – Omar Kooheji – 2012-01-04T12:02:45.667

2How is this a dupe? – Omar Kooheji – 2012-01-04T12:04:59.990

@OmarKooheji To check which files / folders make up the size. Am I missing something? – slhck – 2012-01-04T13:09:21.863

As far as I can see, this one isn't related to winsxs, so it 's a different question. I\m voting to reopen. – AndrejaKo – 2012-01-04T13:24:46.783

@AndrejaKo FWIW, I voted to close as a duplicate of the file system usage visualization. It seems the OP found the files using such a tool anyway. Sathya must have picked the other one. – slhck – 2012-01-04T13:50:10.427

Answers

Use Treesize free: http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/

It displays a tree of your disk with the size of each dir and its subdirectories.

Robert

Posted 2012-01-04T11:52:37.537

Reputation: 826

I downloaded Explorer XP as directed by ben950'scomment there was 67GB in C:\WINDOWS\Installer Windows hadn't been deleting updates.

I deleted them, hopefully that wont have broken anything...

Omar Kooheji

Posted 2012-01-04T11:52:37.537

Reputation: 324

4That doesn't just hold windows installs/updates it can hold many other (I think) MSI type installs. Deleting it wont really break anything, you just won't be able to do program/driver repair installs, and uninstalls. . . . Without having to re-install the package. re-install can fail in many (more than some) cases because the item is still installed. Basically it IS a good way to clean-up some, as long as you understand the surprises you will see when using Add/Remove. (for that install type) – Psycogeek – 2012-01-04T12:08:55.043