Reducing the size of the wim

[jaminben]

Hey,

 

I'm creating a new .wim ready for deployment and noticed that due to all the updates for Windows 7 its bloating out from 5.5Gb to almost 8Gb. If I look in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download I have 2.5Gb's worth of data... is it ok to delete these files? or should sysprep remove them during an MDT capture process?

 

Thanks

 

Ben

[CraigM]

You can use Imagex with the /export switch which will give you some space back, but probably not as much as you want. AFAIK, Sysprep isn't going to delete files in that directory during capture. To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much. I've deployed similar sized WIM files in the past and the speed wasn't reduced much by the bigger size.

[SHimmer45]

have you tried using dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded there are some other switched for image clean up iirc

[themightymrp]

I didn't know the switches but I was going to suggest using DISM on the .WIM - I know you can remove various unnecessary files using that

[jaminben]

Thanks for the replys.

 

Never used DISM but will take a look.

[free780]

Well 8gb is not that much when comes to wims. I have a 14GB one (contains autocad). Some places required thick images of 40GB.

[themightymrp]

Just reading on this TechNet article - the above DISM command is a way to cleanup the folder in question by removing older and superseded files. However, it does stress NOT to just wipe the entire thing! This is apparently where all of the information regarding Windows Updates is kept including:

 

1) The ability to rollback failed updates

2) The database of currently installed updates etc

 

If you delete this folder, be sure your system is COMPLETELY stable and be prepared for a long wait the first time it checks for available updates - it will have to regenerate the entire log of what it has/hasn't got