Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of HalCHub
HalCHubFlag for United States of America

asked on

disk cleanup - windows updates missing win 7

I would like to cleanup the winsxs via disk cleanup.  I have the hotfix applied and I have run it as administrator but I still do not get the option to select windows updates.

Please advise
Avatar of John
John
Flag of Canada image

You should not cleanup Winsxs. It is self managed by Windows and you can only manage to screw things up by trying to manage it yourself.

If you are having issues with updates, run the Windows Update Readiness tool.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=20858
Avatar of rindi
Are you sure you have selected the correct drive-letter to cleanup? You'll only see the "Windows Update Cleanup" available if you select the drive-letter that is also running the OS.
HalCHub --
Some background:
"The WinSXS folder contains all Windows system components. In fact, component files elsewhere in Windows are just links to files contained in the WinSXS folder. The WinSXS folder contains every operating system file.
When Windows installs updates, it drops the new Windows component in the WinSXS folder and keeps the old component in the WinSXS folder. This means that every Windows Update you install increases the size of your WinSXS folder. This allows you to uninstall operating system updates from the Control Panel, which can be useful in the case of a buggy update — but it’s a feature that’s rarely used.
Windows 7 dealt with this by including a feature that allows Windows to clean up old Windows update files after you install a new Windows service pack. The idea was that the system could be cleaned up regularly along with service packs.

However, Windows 7 only saw one service pack — Service Pack 1 — released in 2010. Microsoft has no intention of launching another. This means that, for more than three years, Windows update uninstallation files have been building up on Windows 7 systems and couldn’t be easily removed."
From:
http://www.howtogeek.com/174705/how-to-reduce-the-size-of-your-winsxs-folder-on-windows-7-or-8/
Which has a lot more info including graphics on using Disk Cleanup.



More on what Disk Cleanup does.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/818-disk-cleanup-open-use.html
I see the windows updates cleanup in my  windows 7 disc cleanup tool, select drive C then wait till disc cleanup calculates how much space can be freed on the C drive then using the scroll bar scroll down to windows updates cleanup
If you have never done this before be aware that when you reboot windows updates will perform the cleanup at next boot and you cant use your system till it's done
User generated image
Maybe you simply miss to press the button "clean up system files"? Before pressing it, windows updates won't be shown.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of jcimarron
jcimarron
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Fair play rules :)
McKnife--
If you are unhappy with the choice of solution by all means check the "Request Attention" button at the bottom right of the Asker's first post.  I want to play fair.
But note that clicking the "Cleanup System Files" button  and  "enable the Windows Update Cleanup " is mentioned  in the other link I posted in http:#a40469271 .
http://www.howtogeek.com/174705/how-to-reduce-the-size-of-your-winsxs-folder-on-windows-7-or-8/
See the second paragraph in the "Clean Up Update Files" section.
Not unhappy. Only repeatedly amused. No need for action.