As a rule, ordinary users quite often do not pay any attention to the Windows Installer folder hidden in operating systems from the eyes of the layman. But this continues only until the space in the system partition is reduced to a catastrophic minimum, and the lack of free disk space leads to the fact that both the OS itself and the programs installed in it start to work incorrectly or simply slow down and freeze. This is where the understanding comes that something needs to be done with this directory, since it can take up a lot of space (more than 10 GB). In the normal state, immediately after installing the operating system, the size of the directory usually does not exceed several tens of megabytes, but as more and more new programs, their additional components, or even system updates are installed, its volume grows to incredible sizes. Right hereUsers are starting to complain that the Installer folder in Windows 7 is taking up a lot of space. By the way, this applies to all modifications of Windows. But a lot of space is how much? There are cases when the size of this directory increased to 70 GB or more.
What is the Installer folder in Windows?
It is clear that you need to get rid of this directory in any case. But before deciding to delete it, you should figure out what kind of directory it is and what data can be stored in it. In general, it is absolutely easy to understand what exactly can be in this directory. It's enough just to translate the name. It means "Windows Installer". In general, the name is correct. But it needs to be looked at more broadly.
The fact is that this directory contains all kinds of installers and uninstalled updates of the operating system itself, and installed applications for which it is possible to update or include additional components in them. The Windows developers themselves, if they don’t forbid, then definitely don’t advise touching this directory without special need, otherwise some programs or even Windows as a whole may stop working.
How to view the contents of a directory?
The directory itself is not only system and hidden, but also protected. In other words, in the most common "Explorer" or any other file manager, getting to it is not so easy. Even if you use the quick enable display of hidden items from the main panel of the "Explorer", as provided inWindows 10, the user won't see it anyway.
To access it, you need to use the view menu and check on the corresponding tab not only the option to show hidden folders and files, but also system protected objects. Only after that the Windows Installer folder will become visible. After that, you can immediately see how much space it takes up, using the properties item in the RMB menu for this. If the volume does not exceed a couple of gigabytes, by and large, cleaning can not be done. But in case of detection of an unreasonably large volume, urgent measures must be taken. But not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance.
Can I delete a directory if the Windows Installer folder takes up a lot of space?
As already mentioned, this directory is protected, and you can't just delete it (the system won't let you do it). Some "specialists" solve this problem in their own way, using the Unlocker utility to unlock it. Well, that's their business. But when the Windows Installer folder is deleted, for some reason some programs refuse to work for them. In particular, this applies to the most common office suite. To call individual applications that are part of it, it becomes impossible to use shortcuts, it is not possible to install additional application components, etc. However, this also applies to the entire operating system, since problems can also be observed with it. It is also impossible to delete objects one by one in the directory itself, hoping for a Russian maybe. The consequences will be the same.
How to clean up a directory using the system tools?
But how do you clean up the Windows Installer folder then? In the simplest case, you should use the standard disk cleanup tool with the selection of the system partition with the installed OS and cleaning up system files, where all items should be checked in the list, including system updates.
It is quite possible that this will give some result. Some experts recommend additionally deleting all restore checkpoints, leaving only the last one as recommended by the system.
Unfortunately, in most cases, only a small amount of disk space can be freed up.
Can cleaner programs be used to clean up a directory?
Special programs designed to clean and optimize the system, such as CCleaner, Advanced SystemCare and the like, are especially popular among users of all skill levels. Disappointment even with in-depth cleaning of junk files or components of the operating system itself comes immediately. In fact, the effect of using such applications is not observed only because the Windows Installer folder as a protected system object is simply ignored by such utilities. But then what can be done?
Cleaning a folder with PatchCleaner
As it turns out, there is such a tool. If the Installer folder in Windows 10 takes up a lot of space (as well as in othersystem modifications), you can clean its contents using a small utility called PatchCleaner, which is absolutely free, however, does not have a Russian-language interface. To use it properly, the display of the described hidden directory must be enabled initially, and the program itself suggests using a special folder by default, where unnecessary objects can be moved in the form of backups.
You can view the files by clicking the link to show details (Details…). But you should not delete used files (Files still used). It is better to limit yourself to only those marked as Orphaned. However, with a critically large folder size, you can select unnecessary, although used patches.
Also, in the settings, you can activate normal or in-depth scanning. As a rule, an ordinary user does not need to worry about anything else, but for those who want to use finer settings, you can experiment and, for example, exclude the removal of patches for individual applications.
Moving a directory to another logical partition
Finally, manually deleting or clearing the Windows Installer folder is completely optional. It is enough to move it to another logical partition, in which there is more free space. To do this, you just need to copy the directory to the desired location in the usual way, then delete the original directory, callon behalf of the administrator, the command console and set the command mklink /j "c:\windows\installer" "partition_literal:\directory\subdirectory\Installer" to be executed. You can use any of the existing directories as directories or create the necessary directories yourself before executing the command.
Which method would you prefer?
It remains to choose the optimal solution regarding the actions to be performed. As many of you have probably already guessed, the best thing to do is to move the directory to another location or use a safe cleanup with a specialized patch removal program. But it is not recommended to manually delete both the folder and its contents under any far-fetched pretext, since then no system restore will help, not to mention the fact that many applications will become completely inoperative, as well as installing updates or additions to the operating system and programs needed by the user.
