WinSxS/backup folder question

[WsNyc]

Hello, im already installed my "striped" windows, but didn't remove this (winsxs/backup) folder and i don't want to reinstall again to remove it with ntlite,
question is, can i remove after Windows installiation? Just like delete backup folder, would it break something?
Tried removing only backup folder on non debloated windows version, there is no "Hard-Link" files, files total number and size match in already installed Windows.
And sorry for double thread, maybe there is one with the same question but couldn't find.

 

[garlin]

For a normal Windows image, the source files live under the WinSxS component folders, and are hard-linked to their destinations on \Windows or \Program Files. If you never intend to update the installed system, or to change features, you can remove the WinSxS folders on a live system or remove it from the offline image.

This is normally done for embedded systems, where the only way to update Windows is to wipe and clean install.

To remove Windows Component Database on your live system, you must use a licensed copy of NTLite on the host. Otherwise perform the removal on the install image, and do another clean install.

 

[WsNyc]

For a normal Windows image, the source files live under the WinSxS component folders, and are hard-linked to their destinations on \Windows or \Program Files. If you never intend to update the installed system, or to change features, you can remove the WinSxS folders on a live system or remove it from the offline image.

This is normally done for embedded systems, where the only way to update Windows is to wipe and clean install.

To remove Windows Component Database on your live system, you must use a licensed copy of NTLite on the host. Otherwise perform the removal on the install image, and do another clean install.

I don't want to risk it fully removing WinSxs folder, just Backup inside WinSxs folder.
I know backup folder is removable trough ntlite with free version, but i want to know if i can remove on already installed OS just by simply deleting.

 

[garlin]

Never simply delete anything from WinSxS, always use a DISM command.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

 

[WsNyc]

I used the /resetbase command, it freed some space, but everything was untouched in backup folder

 

[garlin]

That's all you can do safely outside of NTLite.
Unless you don't care about running SFC for self-repairs, or don't mind doing a repair install every time a Windows system file is corrupted...

WinSXS Backup folder - empty

The usage is essentially correct, and not having any files in that folder would break one of the recovery options.

"Windows Resource Protection
To preserve the integrity of the many components involved in the boot process, as well as other critical Windows files, libraries, and applications, Windows implements a technology called Windows Resource Protection (WRP). WRP is implemented through access control lists (ACLs) that protect critical system files on the machine. It is also exposed through an API (located in %SystemRoot%\System32\Sfc.dll and %SystemRoot%\System32\Sfc_os.dll) that can be accessed by the Sfc.exe utility to manually check a file for corruption and restore it.

WRP copies files that are needed to restart Windows to the cache directory located at %SystemRoot%\winsxs\Backup. Critical files that are not needed to restart Windows are not copied to the cache directory. The size of the cache directory and the list of files copied to the cache cannot be modified. To recover a file from the cache directory, you can use the System File Checker (Sfc.exe) tool, which can scan your system for modified protected files and restore them from a good copy."

- Windows Internals, Sixth Edition, Chapter 13