PowerShell Script to Clean the Windows Installer Directory
Yesterday, I had a case of the Windows folder filling up the OS drive on a server. I already have scripts to archive the event log files in c:\windows\system32\winevt, as well as c:\inetpub\logs for web servers. So I ran those again, but found the OS drive still down to less than 5 GB in space. Using a program called WinDirStat, I discovered that the Windows Installer directory had gotten pretty big, like over 40GB in size. I began my quest to Google for a solution. I saw one article talking about using DISM to clean up the winsxs directory. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/clean-up-the-winsxs-folder However, that didn't clean up the c:\windows\installer directory at all. Also, installing the Desktop Experience Feature and using the cleanmgr.exe (Disk Clean up) utility didn't clean up the Installer directory either. Many blogs pointed towards a tool called Patch Cleaner. https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/windows-installer-