Since the topic is throwing away junk in XP. Just thought I would mention that after you install SP1. There is a folder [ServicePackFiles] with two sub folders. [i386] and [lang] these folders have about 280mg of files which you can delete.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I dont think so ....sp1 is only 1.33 megs.somethin doesnt add up. :)


On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 1:34 pm, User wrote:
>Since the topic is throwing away junk in XP.
>Just thought I would mention that after you install SP1.
>There is a folder [ServicePackFiles] with two sub folders.
>[i386] and [lang] these folders have about 280mg of files which you can delete.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

make that 133.megs....still dont add up...


On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 4:48 pm, triplate wrote:
>I dont think so ....sp1 is only 1.33 megs.somethin doesnt add up. :)
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

133megs of compressed .cab files...?


On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 5:11 pm, triplate wrote:
>make that 133.megs....still dont add up...

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Do not delete the folder: C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles 

This folder is required: see for other folders to throw away: http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBL/tip5800/rh5814.htm

Greetings,

Harrrrie





On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 1:34 pm, User wrote:
>Since the topic is throwing away junk in XP.
>Just thought I would mention that after you install SP1.
>There is a folder [ServicePackFiles] with two sub folders.
>[i386] and [lang] these folders have about 280mg of files which you can delete.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The size of SP1 is relative to the number of files it installs on your hard drive as determined by the update engine that scans your drive previous to installation.


On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 5:11 pm, triplate wrote:
>make that 133.megs....still dont add up...

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have a laptop with limited space.  I burned my ServicePackFiles to a CD,then changed 
the pointer to the CD drive with this:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q271484






On Friday, November 8, 2002 at 2:02 pm, Harrrie de Vaaan wrote:
>Do not delete the folder: C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles 
>
>This folder is required: see for other folders to throw away: http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBL/tip5800/rh5814.htm
>
>Greetings,
>
>Harrrrie
>



[Reply or follow-up to this message]

After I installed SP1 in one of my two XP machines the folder "c:\winnt\system\i386" got updated but not "c:\i386" which still have most of the members dated 2001. For example I have three versions of netBios in each machine. In machine #1 they are all the same but in machine #2 the netBios in folder c:\i386 has a much earlier date than the other two in C:\winnt folders. What's the purpose if "C:\i386" folder and how can i updated ? I was having some kind of network problems and some were corrcted after I installed SP1 but another problem is still around and I thought it might be related to the netBios. Briefly in only machine #2 (the one with different netBios) cannot access server ("network path #### could not be found"). Machine #1 works fine. THANKS


On Sunday, January 19, 2003 at 11:29 am, John S. wrote:

>I have a laptop with limited space.  I burned my ServicePackFiles to a CD,then changed 
>the pointer to the CD drive with this:
>
>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q271484
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Just to add more things to this great topic (i mean, "who can erase more of windows parts?" :-) ), service pack files installed in windows directory not in C, i have them here for example C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles, as someone said before there are about 280megs there, if you install SP1 on a clean version of xp. I just found that microsoft is a bit unclear about erasing this folder, but the main drawback is that if after erasing, you decide to add some windows component, you will not be able to add updated version from SP1, and will have to use original win xp cd to install, and then i guess update somehow. It doesnt seem to be very important, since i didnt find myself coming back to SP1 files for almost a year. I have win xp installed on a 2.5gb hard drive, and 300megabyte seems like a great delete candidate. If there is a page that goes into details of deleting unneeded files from XP please post it here. I know that help files can be deleted and free about 60-80 mb if i remember right.


On Thursday, May 1, 2003 at 6:10 am, Angelo wrote:
>After I installed SP1 in one of my two XP machines the folder "c:\winnt\system\i386"
>got updated but not "c:\i386" which still have most of the members dated 2001. For
>example I have three versions of netBios in each machine. In machine #1 they are
>all the same but in machine #2 the netBios in folder c:\i386 has a much earlier date
>than the other two in C:\winnt folders.
>What's the purpose if "C:\i386" folder and how can i updated ?
>I was having some kind of network problems and some were corrcted after I installed
>SP1 but another problem is still around and I thought it might be related to the
>netBios. Briefly in only machine #2 (the one with different netBios) cannot access
>server ("network path #### could not be found"). Machine #1 works fine.
> THANKS
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Quick note; The folder "C:\i386" usually refers to a copy of the same folder in a windows install CD. This is dated based on the origional date of install, and is a place OEMS (HP and Compaq specifically) use as a replacement for the retail CD (Since they cant distribute that) Example usage: End user calls "My computer is having problems" Tech "could I get you to run "sfc /scannow"" eu "It says I need the windows install CD.. I never got one" Tech "Type in "C:\i386"" eu "Oh, ok, it's going now ..." etc. If you have a windows cd, feel free to delete C:\i386. Windows itself could care less :)


On Monday, June 16, 2003 at 7:35 pm, z wrote:
>Just to add more things to this great topic (i mean, "who can erase more of windows
>parts?" :-) ), service pack files installed in windows directory not in C, i have
>them here for example C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles, as someone said before there are
>about 280megs there, if you install SP1 on a clean version of xp.
>
>I just found that microsoft is a bit unclear about erasing this folder, but the main
>drawback is that if after erasing, you decide to add some windows component, you
>will not be able to add updated version from SP1, and will have to use original win
>xp cd to install, and then i guess update somehow. It doesnt seem to be very important,
>since i didnt find myself coming back to SP1 files for almost a year. I have win
>xp installed on a 2.5gb hard drive, and 300megabyte seems like a great delete candidate.
>If there is a page that goes into details of deleting unneeded files from XP please
>post it here. I know that help files can be deleted and free about 60-80 mb if i
>remember right.
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I agree with Z. Someone please post a link to a full list of all the fat we can cut out of WinXP's directory, and what each cut piece is supposed to do. I have pretty much the same problem as Z, and noticed that about 60 megs are being used up in 'hidden' folders in my win directory with folder names like: $ntuninstall(kb, q3, or q8)(then somemore random letters)$ and $xpsp1hfm$. Are these unnessicary folders? Can I delete them? And an extra 280 megs from the service pack files would be nice, what's the final word on them?


On Monday, June 16, 2003 at 7:35 pm, z wrote:
>Just to add more things to this great topic (i mean, "who can erase more of windows
>parts?" :-) ), service pack files installed in windows directory not in C, i have
>them here for example C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles, as someone said before there are
>about 280megs there, if you install SP1 on a clean version of xp.
>
>I just found that microsoft is a bit unclear about erasing this folder, but the main
>drawback is that if after erasing, you decide to add some windows component, you
>will not be able to add updated version from SP1, and will have to use original win
>xp cd to install, and then i guess update somehow. It doesnt seem to be very important,
>since i didnt find myself coming back to SP1 files for almost a year. I have win
>xp installed on a 2.5gb hard drive, and 300megabyte seems like a great delete candidate.
>If there is a page that goes into details of deleting unneeded files from XP please
>post it here. I know that help files can be deleted and free about 60-80 mb if i
>remember right.
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Windows XP SP2 createas a HIDDEN folder named C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$ that contains over 416 MB. This folder is used only if you want to remove SP2 and can be safely deleted to free up space on your hard drive. In order to delete you must find and open the folder and locate the file "rtcimsp.dll" then cut and paste that file to a different location. Next go back to the $NTServicePackUninstall$ folder and delete all the remaining files. Then delete the folder itself. Next locate the file "rtcimsp.dll" and delete it. It appears as if you must do this in this order in order to make it work. This seems to work but procede at your own risk, I would appreciate any comments on this procedure.


On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 1:34 pm, User wrote:
>Since the topic is throwing away junk in XP.
>Just thought I would mention that after you install SP1.
>There is a folder [ServicePackFiles] with two sub folders.
>[i386] and [lang] these folders have about 280mg of files which you can delete.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

You can delete a lot of stuff. As mentioned, you can delete all the "hidden" $UnInstall$ 
folders. Also, there is teh Windows\Help folder with ~50Mb. 

Then, the Drivers.cab file can be deleted from Windows\Drivers folder. This file 
allows Windows to automatically install drivers for a plethora of popular peripherals. 
However, if disk space is at a premium, you can always schlep out the WinXP install 
CD.

Then, you can get rid of the stupidly large DllCache folder, which maintains duplicate 
copies of Windows core system files for the "System File Checker" utility. If any 
part of Windows is corrupted, this thing replaces the damaged files automatically. 
Great idea if you have the disk space, but if you don't... (or if you already have 
a Ghost/Drive Image backup of your Windows drive, then you don't need it.)

Before deleting the DLLcache folder, though, you should disable SFC in the registry. 
Otherwise it will just rebuild the folder. Go here:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Change SFCQuota from 0ffffff to 0, then you can delete all files in DLLcache. Note 
that this folder is a +hidden +system folder, so you have to turn off "Hide Protected 
Operating System Files" in Folder Options.

Also, after installing SPak 2, the morons (sorry, I mean mavens) at MS created a 
new folder, Windows\ServicePackFiles, which supplements the DLLcache folder (and 
increases cached driver files from 400Mb to ~700Mb in total). Note that the referenced 
KB mentions that if you reinstall the latest Service Pack the SFC system will be 
rebuilt and those folders recreated. So, if you don't like the results of your tinkering, 
just reapply the SPak.

In total, you've come close to reducing the installed footprint of WinXP by almost 
a gig. Now, if we only could do something about its RAM requirements...

Worst version of Windows ever, imo.

Laird








On Tuesday, September 10, 2002 at 1:34 pm, User wrote:

>Since the topic is throwing away junk in XP.

>Just thought I would mention that after you install SP1.

>There is a folder [ServicePackFiles] with two sub folders.

>[i386] and [lang] these folders have about 280mg of files which you can delete. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

sp2, updates windows cleverly. after u've installed that latter pack, and run the winxp for a while, the famous older file between that sacred $ symboles will be automatically deleted!!!


On Sunday, September 5, 2004 at 12:45 pm, R Worley wrote:
>Windows XP SP2 createas a HIDDEN folder named C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$
>that contains over 416 MB. This folder is used only if you want to remove SP2 and
>can be safely deleted to free up space on your hard drive.
>
>In order to delete you must find and open the folder and locate the file "rtcimsp.dll"
>then cut and paste that file to a different location. Next go back to the $NTServicePackUninstall$
>folder and delete all the remaining files. Then delete the folder itself. Next
>locate the file "rtcimsp.dll" and delete it. It appears as if you must do this in
>this order in order to make it work.
>
>This seems to work but procede at your own risk, I would appreciate any comments
>on this procedure.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

What about upgrading from W2k to XP - can you delete the old WINNT folder left there from the old w2k installation or will doing so mess up the XP installation? You'd think the MS upgrade script would take care of this when you upgrade from W2K to XP. MY WINNT folder eats up over 2GB of space, and I assume that since the new XP OS is running from the WINDOWS directory, the WINNT directory is no longer used. However, since I used the upgrade vs new install, I do not want to nuke it until I know for sure it won't break something...


On Thursday, September 30, 2004 at 7:30 pm, sem wrote:
>sp2, updates windows cleverly.
>after u've installed that latter pack, and run the winxp for a while, the famous
>older file between that sacred $ symboles will be automatically deleted!!!
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

After a successfully upgrading an existing laptop to Win XP, I decided to follow 
the advise about getting rid of the files in c:\windows\driver cache\i368 and c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i368 
(small harddrive).  I believe this resulted in Win XP going into a boot loop (last 
driver loaded was mup.sys).  I didn't figure out the association the first time, 
since the reboot was almost a day later.  However, after restoring the drive, I managed 
to recreate the problem.  

I first applied the registry updates ('sfcquota' and 'servicepacksourcefiles' - recommended 
by Microsoft) and rebooted successfully.  I then deleted the contents of 'Driver 
Cache\i386' and 'ServicePackFiles\i386', and removed the 'ServicePackFiles\i386\lang' 
directory with its contents.  A reboot resulted in the same boot loop problem as 
before.  Restoring the files did not seem to resolve the problem, although I may 
not have done the restore properly.  

I have found many references to Win XP boot loops and mup.sys, but none seem related 
to deleting files in the directories above.  When I checked the registry, I found 
a number of entries pointing to admwprox.dll in 'ServicePackFiles\i386'.  This is 
the only place I found admwprox.dll.  Microsoft suggests that this dll is only found 
on XP SP1, and does not exist in XP SP2.  I also found a bunch of pointers to various 
.man files in 'ServicePackFiles\i386' (for example, controls.man, mswincrt.man, gdiplus.man, 
dxmrtp.man) - none of these files exist.

I am quite anxious to free up disk space - my 12GB harddrive is filling up quickly 
and I'm not finished installing all my applications.  Has anyone seen a similar problem? 
 Is admwprox.dll a red herring and the problem lies elsewhere?  I am somewhat reticent 
about trying this again to see if I can narrow down the cause of the problem (:-).







On Monday, September 27, 2004 at 1:37 pm, Laird wrote:

>You can delete a lot of stuff.......    http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1096317473
            Thanks, Norbert 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

  What are the differences between C:\i386 and C:\WINDOWS\i386?
  If one has an XP CD is C:\WINDOWS\i386 also safe to delete?
  On my XP Home Edition system  C:\i386 is 445MB and C:\WINDOWS\i386? is 408MB.







On Sunday, October 5, 2003 at 10:59 pm, JackandJohn wrote:

>Quick note;

>

>The folder "C:\i386" usually refers to a copy of the same folder in a windows install 

>CD.

>

>This is dated based on the origional date of install, and is a place OEMS (HP and 

>Compaq specifically) use as a replacement for the retail CD (Since they cant distribute 

>that)

>

>Example usage:

>

>End user calls "My computer is having problems"

>Tech "could I get you to run "sfc /scannow""

>eu "It says I need the windows install CD.. I never got one"

>Tech "Type in "C:\i386""

>eu "Oh, ok, it's going now ..."

>etc.

>

>If you have a windows cd, feel free to delete C:\i386. Windows itself could care 

>less :)

>

>
 

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