WinSxS Component Cleanup Metrics

Question

WinSxS Component Cleanup Metrics

Adin Mohhamed 40

Our remote endpoints only have 256GB solid-state drives, and Windows updates are leaving gigabytes of old files in the component store. If I run dism /online /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore via a remote script, what metric tells me whether a full component cleanup will actually reclaim significant disk space? Any advice? Thank in advance.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

0 additional answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi Adin,

What you’re looking for in the dism /online /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore output is the “Component Store Cleanup Recommended” flag and the size reported under “Cache and Temporary Data” and “Backup and Disabled Features”. If “Cleanup Recommended” shows Yes, that’s Microsoft’s own indicator that running /startcomponentcleanup will reclaim meaningful space.

In practice, the biggest reclaim comes when “Backup and Disabled Features” is several GB, since that represents superseded updates still retained for rollback. If that section is small (for example, a few hundred MB), the cleanup won’t give you much back even if recommended.

Also note that /startcomponentcleanup alone won’t remove all old payloads; adding /resetbase will significantly reduce size but permanently removes the ability to uninstall existing updates. This is safe for stable endpoints but should be avoided on machines where rollback is required.

For remote execution, focus on parsing that single “Cleanup Recommended” value plus the reported reclaimable sizes, and only trigger cleanup when you consistently see multi‑GB reclaim potential to avoid unnecessary disk churn on SSDs.

Harry.