Users who have been using Windows 10 for years are well aware that the available disk space of the OS drive reduces over time for no apparent reason. It becomes even worse if you are using your computer for a longer time without any maintenance. The culprit that you are looking for is the WinSxS folder sitting inside the OS drive. Microsoft calls it “Windows Side By Side” or loosely the component store. The folder contains all sorts of system files that are used to fix various issues on your Windows PC. However, the folder size keeps eating the crucial space and that is the pain point of most users. So in this article, I will share an easy way to delete the WinSxS folder without affecting your PC’s stability. Now having said that, let’s get started.

Before moving forward, let’s go through some crucial points. First of all, you can’t delete the WinSxS Folder entirely, but you can definitely reduce its size. The reason is that the WinSxS folder contains many important libraries and components of the operating system which are required to resolve OS related issues. So, in a way, one should not touch the WinSxS folder as it’s there to keep our PC safe and sound.

Steps to Clean Up WinSxS Folder

We will go through a two-step process to complete this task. First, we will use an internal tool and then move to a manual cleanup method. Now having said that, let’s begin.

Reduce Folder Size Using the DISM Tool

We are going to use the DISM Tool (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) to clean up the folder. DISM tool is used to keep the Windows image intact and prepare for recovery environments.

dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Delete Update Files Using Disk Cleanup

  1. Right-click on the OS drive (generally, C drive) and open “Properties”. Here, click on “Disk Cleanup”.

This should sufficiently release storage on your Windows machine and make it faster. One thing to note here is that sometimes if the PC is too old, it’s better to just reset Windows 10 to get a clean start. Do remember to take a backup of your Windows 10 PC before you go through the resetting process.