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Software·2 min read

Windows WinSxS folder: the DISM command that frees up to 10 GB

A hidden Windows folder called WinSxS can quietly grow past 10 GB, sometimes beyond 20 GB. One DISM command shows the real size and clears out the old files.

A Windows PC screen showing a PowerShell window running a DISM command to clean up the WinSxS component store.
Image: genbeta.com
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If your Windows drive is almost full, there is a good chance one hidden folder is to blame. The WinSxS folder can swell to 10 GB, 12 GB or more than 20 GB over a few weeks, and most people never notice. A single DISM command in the terminal can give a big chunk of that space back.

What is the WinSxS folder in Windows?

WinSxS is an internal store of Microsoft components. It keeps parallel versions of essential files and DLL libraries (shared code that programs rely on) so they don't clash with each other, and so Windows can roll back to an earlier version after an update.

Windows has an automatic cleanup task for it, called StartComponentCleanup. The catch: it only kicks in 30 full days after an update. If you need room now, you can run it yourself.

How to check how much space WinSxS really uses

File Explorer is not a reliable guide here. Many files inside WinSxS are linked to the System32 folder, so the properties window gives a distorted number. To see the real figure, open PowerShell or Command Prompt as administrator and run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Windows analyses the component store, reports its actual size on disk and tells you whether a cleanup is recommended.

How to clean it safely

If the tool says there are packages you can remove, run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

This deletes outdated versions and keeps only the files from the latest update, so you still have a safe fallback if something needs to be reverted.

There is also a deeper option: add /ResetBase to the end of the command. It wipes the whole update history, but it is not recommended, because you can no longer uninstall the cumulative patches applied so far.

Still short on space on a tight SSD? Two older tricks can help: turning off hibernation and trimming your system restore points.

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