C:/Windows/Installer

**Blaaaaaaaah** · 11-09-2014, 09:22 AM

I have 12 gigs of files in this folder, and I downloaded the WICleanup tool to remove unused ones. Except after scanning, it pretty much listed all of the files in the folder as "unused".

I'm reluctant to delete it because I know it's not actually that safe to remove MSI files lol but it's taking up so much room...! I don't have a lot of space on my SSD and I have already uninstalled / removed as much unnecessary files as I can off that drive...

It's kind of annoying because I don't install a lot on my SSD drive yet the drive tends to run out of space often... I already did a disc clean up etc, and TreeSize is telling me that the Installer folder is the real culprit.

Anyone tried to clean up their Installer folder before?

**Belaslav** · 11-09-2014, 06:58 PM

TL;DR version: No. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing.

As for details, I will take Triumph's approach here and hit you with research:

Quote:

MSI

MSI is an installer package file format used by Windows. Its name comes from the program's original title, Microsoft Installer, which has since changed to Windows Installer. MSI files are used for installation, storage, and removal of programs.

Source

In this case, the emphasis is on storage and removal. That folder contains files necessary for program updates and clean uninstalls. If you happen to delete something, a program may not work properly. Especially if it's a program you don't use very often, since you'll only notice the results some time later.

Here's another post which goes into a little more detail about %windir%\Installer directory: Details

EDIT:

Have you tried using Windows Disk CleanUp Tool?

**Blaaaaaaaah** · 11-09-2014, 09:40 PM

Ah ok, guess I'll leave it then. 10 gigs =( why take up sooo much spaceee!

Yeah I have used that. I ended up managing to clear a bit more after cleaning up system files via disk clean up, and also using ccleaner. At least the drive space is not in red anymore LOL

**Belaslav** · 11-09-2014, 11:39 PM

10 Gigs 'so much'? Since when? You can get sales on Terabyte HDD drives for less than $60 CAD (CAD/AUD currency rates are almost the same, though I may be off for a dollar).

**Blaaaaaaaah** · 11-09-2014, 11:47 PM

Not talking about HDDs, referring to my SSD which only has 55 gigs of space.

**Belaslav** · 11-10-2014, 02:48 AM

So upgrading capacity with extra 1+ Terabyte HDDs is a problem? I don't understand you.

How many storage drives do you have overall inside the case?

**Blaaaaaaaah** · 11-10-2014, 02:59 AM

Aren't SSD more expensive than HDDs? for $60+ I can prob get a 120GB SSD... but for the amount of effort I'd need to go to do upgrade that... I'll just keep clearing a gigabyte at a time every now and then lol.

I have a terabyte HDD already so that's not my problem....

**Belaslav** · 11-10-2014, 03:07 AM

Based on the above posts you have a 55 GBs SSD for your disk C, and a terabyte HDD for another disk, maybe D.

For a Home Computer 55 Gigs for disk C and system partition should be sufficient. That leads me to question: What exactly are you doing on your SSD?

**Blaaaaaaaah** · 11-10-2014, 10:44 AM

That's exactly what I want to know.. most of my big programs are installed on my D drive, all my files are on my D drive.... only smaller programs I install on the C drive...

Which was why I used treesize to find out what's taking up so much space and it's the Installer folder.

**Belaslav** · 11-10-2014, 07:11 PM

I hate to disappoint but ALL program uninstall information is stored in that particular place. No matter where some particular program is installed.

EDIT: Actually I'm curious now. I have ~5GBs with of files in that particular folder on my system, and you have ~10GBs. Exactly how many programs do you have installed?