Reduce the Size of the Component Store in an Offline Windows Image

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Applies To: Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2

You can use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to mount a Windows image from a WIM, VHD, or VHDX file and modify it.

Analyze and clean up the Component Store (WinSxS folder) in an offline Windows image

To complete the walkthrough, you need the following:

  • A computer running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2008 R2 that has the Windows 8.1 version of the Windows ADK tools installed on it.

  • A .wim, .vhd, or .vhdx file of a Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 image.

Analyze the size of the Component Store in an offline Windows image

  1. Copy a .wim file, a .vhd, or a .vhdx that contains a Windows image, to the local drive. For example, C:\test\images.

  2. Click Start, and type deployment. Right-click Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment and then select Run as administrator.

  3. Create a folder for your mounted image. For example, C:\test\offline.

  4. Run the DISM /Get-ImageInfo command to retrieve the name or index number for the image that you want to update. For example:

    Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\test\images\MyImage.wim

  5. Mount the Windows image. For example:

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images\MyImage.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\offline

    Since WIM files can contain one or more images, you must specify an index or name value. To mount an image from a VHD, you must specify /Index:1.

  6. Analyze the size of the component store. For example:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

    To understand the different values provided in the display, see Determine the Actual Size of the WinSxS Folder.

  7. If the component store cleanup was recommended in the displayed report, then you can start cleanup of the image. For example:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

  8. You can reduce the size of the component store further by adding the /ResetBase parameter. For example:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

  9. Commit the changes and unmounts the image in order to save the changes that you’ve made. For example:

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit

See Also

Tasks

Clean Up the WinSxS Folder
Determine the Actual Size of the WinSxS Folder

Reference

DISM Operating System Package Servicing Command-Line Options

Concepts

Manage the Component Store

Other Resources

Where Did My Space Go? (blog post)
NTFS Metafiles blog post
How to create and manipulate NTFS junction points