-->![Windows 10 driver store cleanup Windows 10 driver store cleanup](https://www.techcrises.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/drivers_FileRepository.jpg)
This topic is about the different ways to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder on a running version of Windows 10.
- Jul 03, 2016 Windows 7: Driver cleanup. 02 Jul 2016 #1: AirPower4ever. Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. 269 posts Driver cleanup. I was looking at my old systems of Windows 7 and I got to looking at all the drivers I had installed over the years. Some were to test out items like the Intel SATA while others were just updates like USB ports.
- To remove old driver versions in Windows 10, you need to do the following. Press Win + R shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open the Run dialog. This entry was posted in Windows 10 and tagged Windows 10 cleanup old drivers, Windows 10 remove old.
One commonly asked question is, 'Can I delete the WinSxS folder to regain some disk space?' The short answer is no. You can, however, reduce the size of the WinSxS folder using tools built into Windows. For more information about the WinSxS folder, see Manage the Component Store.
Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 automatically reduce the size of the WinSxS folder by using methods similar to the ones described in this topic, in addition to internal processes, such as uninstalling and deleting packages with components that have been replaced by other components with newer versions. Previous versions of some components are kept on the system for a period of time, allowing you to rollback if necessary. After a period of time, these older components are automatically removed from the installation.
Driver Store.; 2 minutes to read; In this article. Starting with Windows Vista, the driver store is a trusted collection of inbox and third-party driver packages.The operating system maintains this collection in a secure location on the local hard disk. Jul 29, 2017 In Windows 10 / 8.1, there is a more convenient tool to delete earlier driver versions — familiar Disk Cleanup tool (cleanmgr.exe) that also allows to delete deprecated updates. In Windows 10 and Windows 8 Upd 1, there is an opportunity to export all third party drivers from the system to a separate directory using PowerShell.
You can also reduce the size of a Windows image using some of the same techniques, as discussed in Reduce the Size of the Component Store in an Offline Windows Image.
To learn about finding the size of your WinSxS folder, see Determine the actual size of the WinSxS folder.
Warning
Deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder may severely damage your system so that your PC might not boot and make it impossible to update.
In Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, you have a number of ways to start the cleanup of the component store, which use a combination of package deletion and component compression to clean up the WinSxS folder:
Task Scheduler
The StartComponentCleanup task was created in Windows 8 to regularly clean up components automatically when the system is not in use. This task is set to run automatically when triggered by the operating system. When run automatically, the task will wait at least 30 days after an updated component has been installed before uninstalling the previous versions of the component.
If you choose to run this task, the task will have a 1 hour timeout and may not completely clean up all files.
Run the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler to clean up and compress components
- If Task Scheduler is not open, start the Task Scheduler. For more information, see Start Task Scheduler.
- Expand the console tree and navigate to Task Scheduler LibraryMicrosoftWindowsServicingStartComponentCleanup.
- Realflow cinema 4d 2 0 1 mac crack download. Under Selected Item, click RunNoteThe StartComponentCleanup task can also be started from the command line.
Dism.exe
The /Cleanup-Image parameter of Dism.exe provides advanced users more options to further reduce the size of the WinSxS folder. For more information, see DISM Operating System Package Servicing Command-Line Options.
Use the /StartComponentCleanup parameter
- Using the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of Windows 10 gives you similar results to running the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler, except previous versions of updated components will be immediately deleted (without a 30 day grace period) and you will not have a 1-hour timeout limitation.From an elevated command prompt, type the following:
Use the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter
- Using the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of DISM.exe on a running version of Windows 10 removes all superseded versions of every component in the component store.From an elevated command prompt, type the following:WarningAll existing service packs and updates cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed. This will not block the uninstallation of future service packs or updates.
Use the /SPSuperseded parameter
- To reduce the amount of space used by a Service Pack, use the /SPSuperseded parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of Windows 10 to remove any backup components needed for uninstallation of the service pack. A service pack is a collection of cumulative updates for a particular release of Windows.From an elevated command prompt, type the following:Warning The service pack cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed.
Disk Cleanup
You can use Disk Cleanup to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can help your PC run faster. It can delete temporary files and system files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of other items that you might no longer need. The option to cleanup updates helps reduce the size of the component store.
Run Disk Cleanup to delete system files
- To delete system files run the steps as provided in Delete files using Disk Cleanup.
Related topics
While cleaning up disk on Windows 10, you can notice that folder FileRepository Rais anis sabri qawwal mp3 download. started taking up too much space (and often it’s a GBs of free space!) and won’t be emptied by using standard cleaning tools.
In this instruction, we will take a closer look at what FileRepository folder is, what does it contains and can we safely delete this data to free up some space.
![Windows 10 driver store cleanup Windows 10 driver store cleanup](https://www.techcrises.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/drivers_FileRepository.jpg)
FileRepository Content in Windows 10
Driver Packages Cleanup Windows 10
Folder FileRepository contents copies of device driver packages that are ready to be installed. The Staged Drivers located in DriverStore and can be installed without Administrative privileges.
The full path to the folder:
C:WindowsSystem32DriverStore
Here’s how the contents of the FileRepository folder might look like:
As you can see, the folder contains many subdirectories, in the name of each the name of the driver’ inf file is specified.
While updating drivers by OS or manually, the old drivers can be stored at this folder, they might be used to roll back the driver later. That’s pretty useful, but these files also occupying a lot of free space.
Cleaning Up DriverStoreFileRepository
Windows 10 Driver Store Cleanup Download
Basically you can delete all of the folder contents in Windows 10—but this might be insecure, and you might face with errors, crashes, etc.
The most common situation is when tens or thousands of GBs of disk space is occupied by folder DriveStore—it contains a lot of driver update files for NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards, Realtek sound cards, and, sometimes, regularly driver update files of the plugged-in devices (printers, scanners, etc.). You can drastically reduce the size of the folder FileRepository by deleting files with old drivers (even if you only remove the old video card drivers).
Important. As a precaution, we strongly recommend creating a restore point first before deleting any of the files.
Windows 10 has a built-in disk cleanup tool that can also remove old unused drivers.
- Run the Disk Cleanup Wizard by pressing the Win + R keys and entering the command cleanmgr.exe;
- In the Disk Cleanup for (C:) window, click the Cleanup System Files button;
- Select the Device driver packages option and click OK to start up the drivers clean up.
However, this method of cleaning the FileRepository folder is extremely inefficient. It is unlikely that you will be able to reduce the size of the folder by more than 30-100 MB.
In case you want to clean up DriverStore folder more deeply, follow the steps below: Fox float 2018 manual.
- Press Win and type in Command Prompt. Right click on it and run it as Administrator.
- Type in and the command pnputil.exe /e > c:drivers.txt by clicking Enter.
- The command from step 2 will create a file drivers.txt on C: drive with the lists of driver packages that are stored in folder FileRepository.
- Now you can delete all unnecessary drivers with the help of command pnputil.exe /d oemNN.inf (NN — is a number of drivers file package from drivers.txt, as for example oem07.inf). In case the driver is in use, you will see an error while trying to delete it.
If the driver is not used in the system, the message “Driver package deleted successfully” should appear. Otherwise, an error will appear: “Deleting the driver package failed: One or more devices are presently installed using the specified INF“. If you are sure that you don’t need this driver, you can remove it by using the /f option:
If there are a lot of drivers in the system, you can use the following script for automatic driver removal. Create a text file cleanupdrivers.bat with the following code and run it as an administrator. This script will sequentially loop all inf files with an index from 1 to 400 and delete the corresponding driver files. If the driver is used or doesn’t exist, it will be skipped:
For your convenience, you can create an Excel table with lists of all installed drivers, find duplicates of the same driver and sort them by installation date and/or driver’s version. It is advisable to keep the system with only the most recent version of each driver.
- You can export the list of drivers to a text file using the command:
- Then the text file must be cleared of the text lines;
- Import this file to the Excel app, delete empty rows and columns;
- As a result, you will get a list of driver names, versions, class names, vendors and installation dates;
- It remains to sort the list and select the driver with the same name (except for the latest version by the installation date);
- Now you can remove the old drivers using the pnputil utility as described above.
We recommend you delete old graphic card’s drivers at first (in Windows 10 you can find info about the current version of drivers in Device manager).
You can delete older files; that won’t hurt your computer. Also, you are free to delete old drivers for other connected devices (printers, scans, etc.). It is not recommended to delete unknown system device’s drivers (like Intel, AMD, and others). After removing the drivers, restart your computer. If after the system boot some devices will have the description Unknown device with a yellow icon in the Device Manager, such drivers needed to be downloaded and installed manually or using the automatic driver update feature.
After the finish check the DriverStore folder – what size does it have now? Most likely, it’s drastically reduced.
Using Driver Store Explorer
The task described above can be also performed with the help of Driver Store Explorer (RAPR) utility, here is a link to download.
Run the program with Administrative privileges and press Enumerate.
Windows 10 Driver Store Cleanup 2017
After that, you need to choose packages to delete. Check on them and press Delete Package (drivers that are used by the system at the moment won’t be deleted in case you didn’t check on Force Deletion option.
Driverstore Filerepository Windows 10
Tip. You can choose old drivers automatically by pressing Select Old Drivers button.
How to Clean FileRepository Folder Manually?
Important! Implementing of these instructions can cause crashes in Windows 10 and can damage your system! Do it only on your own risk!
You can delete files in FileRepository manually (but it’s insecure and not recommended):
- Go to folder C:WindowsSystem32DriverStore, right click on FileRepository folder and press Properties.
- Go to Security tab and click on Advanced.
- Near Owner field click on Change.
- Type in your user name or click Advanced > Find Now and choose it from the list. Click ОK.
- Check on Replace owner on subcontainers and Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object. Press OK and confirm the operation.
- Now you will get back to tab Security. Click on Edit under the users list.
- Press Add… > Advanced, find your account in the list and choose it. Set Full control permissions to it. Click ОK and confirm the changes. After finish, click OK.
- Now the contents of the folder can be deleted manually (some of the files still cannot be deleted because they used by OS at the moment, you can skip them by clicking on the appropriate button).
That’s all! Hope this was useful and helped you to free up some space by cleaning up FileRepository folder.