{"id":420,"date":"2020-05-31T21:53:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T04:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/SUMMALAI.COM\/?p=420"},"modified":"2020-05-31T21:53:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T04:53:07","slug":"how-to-move-winsxs-and-installer-folder-to-another-partition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/SUMMALAI.COM\/?p=420","title":{"rendered":"How to move WinSxS and Installer folder to another partition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How to move WinSxS\/Installer folder to another partition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please try moving the Installer folder first; it is safer than moving WinSxS folder.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read before action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this article, the “winsxs” folder contains just about the ENTIRE Windows operating system, and then the files which are actually used are projected into the classic Windows folders (such as “system32” and others) using hard links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that means that if you move the “winsxs” folder out of your SSD and into a mechanical drive, the performance of the OS will be degraded, since those files are used often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d suggest only moving other seldom used folders such as the “c:\\Windows\\Installer” folder. That folder just contains uninstallers, which are obviously not used often, only when you need to uninstall something. Admittedly, you won’t save as much space, but in my case I saved 2,5 GB by moving that “Installer” folder to another drive and creating a junction point in its original place (which is a nice saving if using a small 64 GB SSD drive, like the one I’m using). I’ve not moved “winsxs”, though, since that’s a VERY important folder for the OS, which is often used and benefits from being in the SSD drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)  Close any running applications (This is important).

2)  Copy your winsxs folder to another location (preferably off of your SSD \ud83d\ude42

3)  Now comes the magic:  You are going to create a junction point to literally trick Windows into thinking the winsxs folder is in the same place.

3a)  Rename “c:\\Windows\\winsxs” to “c:\\Windows\\winsxs.old”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3b)  Start > Run > Type “mklink \/J “c:\\Windows\\winsxs” “d:\\winsxs”  (a new junction would be created)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3c)  Launch some x64 application and an x86 application to test functionality and once you’re convinced it’s working delete the old “winsxs.old” directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congrats, you now have moved your winsxs directory to another hard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solution 2: Move WINDOWS\/INSTALLER to different drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is your operating system partition out of space?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you already disabled hibernation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you installed and ran WinDirStat to locate files to delete?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can typically free up a few gigabytes of storage if you move your c:\\windows\\installer folder to a different partition or external drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Windows doesn\u2019t provide a way for you to do this with the registry, but you can easily do it by manually moving the files, and then creating a symbolic link to the new location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First you need to download a program from Microsoft (sysinternals) called JUNCTION.EXE.  This program allows you to create symbolic links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can download JUNCTION from the following Microsoft site:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unzip the file and copy it to your c:\\windows\\system32 folder so that you can easily execute it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Set Windows to SHOW ALL HIDDEN FILES (including operating system files)<\/li>
  2. CUT and PASTE the C:\\windows\\installer folder to the new location ex.  d:\\windows\\installer<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    or use below command<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    robocopy C:\\Windows\\Installer D:\\Windows\\Installer \/MOVE \/e<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n