Active11 months ago
On my SSD machine, the
C:WindowsInstaller
folder is massive and takes up about 15% of my total disk space. Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can remove Windows Installer configuration information on failed installs. This helps if you try to install the program again, but you are unsuccessful. Or, maybe you have problems trying to remove an old program because the installation files are corrupted.
Is there a way to clean up that folder without killing Windows 8.1/10? Tucking away the installers on the OS partition seems wasteful.
The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (MSICU.exe, MSICUU.exe, MSICUU2.exe) was a software utility for the Microsoft Windows operating system designed to solve uninstallation problems of programs that use the Windows Installer technology. Microsoft windows installer cleanup utility free download - Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, Microsoft Greetings 2000 Installer Cleanup Utility, Windows Installer (Windows 95/98/Me. Dec 01, 2018 The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does not: Remove Windows Installer. Remove files of any programs that are installed by Windows Installer, such as.
DeepSpace101
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8 Answers
This seems to have worked for me. This is a simplified set of instructions from http://www.kavoir.com/2012/07/how-to-free-up-c-drive-disk-space-in-windows-7-easy.html
- Make sure no installations are running on your machine (there's probably a formal way to do this, but I'm not sure how).
- Copy using Windows explorer C:WindowsInstaller to another disk, e.g., D:C_DRIVEWindowsInstaller -- note: WindowsInstaller is a system folder and thus invisible in Windows 8.1. You have to tweak your account to make it visible to use Explorer to make the copy. Google will help you find out how to do that.
- Make a backup copy of C:WindowsInstaller
- Type the following commands in a cmd.exe window running as Administrator:
- Windows may not let you to delete the installer directory, because some process are using some files within this directory:In this case you can use this link and use Process Explorer to find and stop the process which is restricting the rmdir command.
Verification
As a verification, I ran a 'repair' of my Microsoft Visio Professional 2013 install (took 4 minutes to process). This completed successfully. Windows update (with reboots) also ran successfully after making the above changes. I will write back if anything doesn't work.
FuhrmanatorFuhrmanator2,54322 gold badges1616 silver badges2626 bronze badges
I created 'PatchCleaner' to clean the windows installer directory of all orphaned files in one easy click. If you don't trust the app to do the right thing, use the move feature to put them somewhere safe in case you need them back in the future. Hp officejet 8500a installation software. I have run it on multiple machines and saved up to 15Gb of space :-)
Run PatchCleaner after windows updates to find newly orphaned files.
I recommend you use the Move action, and move the orphaned patches to external storage, just to be safe
Known Issues (full details on website)
- Adobe Reader can fail to update after running PatchCleaner.
NOTE: as @ Feb-2016 version 1.4.1.0 is out that has a fix to allow customisable filters to exclude adobe reader from being incorrectly detected.
jcrawfor74jcrawfor742,41711 gold badge88 silver badges55 bronze badges
You can compress the folder. You will regain between 10 and 20% of the space.
- Enable 'Show system files' in Explorer options
- Right-click the installer folder
- Properties
- Click on Advanced
- On the new dialog, select 'Compress'
- Click OK
- Apply for all files and folder
Community♦
HansHans
Sometimes $patchcache$ consumes a great deal of 'Installer' folder.You can check how big is your 'C:WindowsInstaller$PatchCache$' folder (mine was 6GB after 1.5 years).
Basically it boils down to 'If you have original installers, then you could delete it'.
rmdir /q /s 'C:WINDOWSInstaller$PatchCache$' (as admin of course)
Microsoft jet oledb download. read about it:Can I delete the folder 'C:WINDOWSInstaller$PatchCache$'?
msdn:http://blogs.msdn.com/b/heaths/archive/2007/01/17/the-patch-cache-and-freeing-space.aspx
Community♦
MaxMax
There is no official way to kill it. You can use a link to move it to a HDD if you have one.
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How to safely(*) clear disk space on Windows 10(**)
![Cleanup Cleanup](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D9Ce9RmgqAg/maxresdefault.jpg)
(*) The following steps are generally believed to be safe but I offer no cast-iron guarantees so please use at your own risk.
(**) The instructions were written for Windows 10 but similar instructions may also apply to other versions of Windows.
- Run PatchCleaner to delete orphaned files.
- Run Disk Cleanup (e.g. by typing 'clean' in the Windows start screen and selecting 'Free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files'). Select the drive to be cleaned. Click on 'Clean up system files' (and enter credentials if required). Select the drive to be cleaned. Select the option to clear system files.
- Open Configuration Manager Properties (e.g. by typing 'config' in the Windows start screen and selecting 'Configuration Manager'). Select the Cache tab. Click on 'Configure Settings' (and enter credentials if required). Click on 'Delete Files..' Tick the 'Delete persisted cache content' checkbox and click on 'Yes'.
- Download and install Treesize Free. Run it, scan the relevant drive and then manually delete any of the larger folders or files that can be deleted (applying the necessary caution).
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the Windows temp folder (e.g.
C:WindowsTemp
). Select all files and folders and then choose to hard-delete them by pressing SHIFT+DEL (you may be required to enter admin credentials). Then choose to skip all files that cannot be deleted because they are in use.
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You can try a junction by copying the files to the new drive, then renaming the old installer folder temporarily, creating a junction from the default folder to the new. Then test things for a bit before deleting the renamed installer folder. Maybe install a bigger more complex program like visual studio, or adobe Photoshop, then uninstall it just to make sure all is well. But be forewarned, if anything goes wrong, you might not be able to install or re-install programs. Been there, done that. :)
DamonDamon1,70611 gold badge1010 silver badges2323 bronze badges
The best solution is to use Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.
hatranprohatranpro
protected by Community♦Oct 1 '15 at 7:56
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