Windows Installs At Least 2 Times

[herme3]

Windows XP seems to take up more hard drive space than most other operating systems. I think I just figured out why. Windows installs on your computer at least 2 times. In many cases, at least 3 different copies of Windows XP will exist on your hard drive!

 

Most of the files of the first copy of Windows will be installed in the "C:\Windows\System32" folder. This is the copy of Windows that your computer will normally use. However, Microsoft decided to make a backup copy of Windows. They say this is to prevent you from accidentally deleting any of its components. This backup copy is located in the "C:\Windows\System32\dllcache" folder. This folder is usually hidden.

 

If you purchased an older version of Windows XP and installed Service Pack 2 using Windows Update, there is probably a third copy of Windows on your computer. The third copy might be located in the "C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386" folder.

 

If you have System Restore enabled on your computer, there are probably even more backup copies of Windows on your hard drive. It stores these backup copies in the "C:\System Volume Information" folder. This is also a hidden folder. In fact, Windows won't even let you view its contents. If you try to access the folder, you will get a message that says, "Access is Denied." I did manage to get into this folder one time, but I can't remember how. There were many interesting files inside. There were also multiple backup copies of Windows XP components and old copies of some of my documents.

 

I'm not really sure why all of these backup copies of Windows XP would be necessary. It does make it really difficult to delete or modify any part of Windows. If you try to delete a Windows file, it will quickly replace the file with a copy from one of the backup locations.

[herme3]

I just found a way into the "C:\System Volume Information" folder. There are a lot of other folders inside, and many of them contain backup copies of Windows XP components. I found one folder with over 100 copies of Internet Explorer! A few of them were just shortcuts, but most of them were exact copies of the iexplore.exe program.

 

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

dllcache is designed to prevent you from changing any core components, by automatically fixing anything you changed with the copy out of dllcache.

 

The i386 directory is essentially a copy of the installation files and such. It's useful simply because if you install new hardware, XP can just look in that folder for drivers rather than having you insert the installation disc again so it can find them.

 

System Restore is something you don't want to get rid of, because it can be so useful to fix your computer. I don't know why you'd want to remove that bit (even though I don't have System Restore on), but it saves all sorts of things and then protects itself from viruses.

 

And yes, Microsoft is trying to make it difficult to modify any part of Windows. That's why it's proprietary software.

[herme3]

The i386 directory is essentially a copy of the installation files and such. It's useful simply because if you install new hardware, XP can just look in that folder for drivers rather than having you insert the installation disc again so it can find them.

 

I think you mean the "C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386" folder. I was talking about the "C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386" folder which is almost the same thing as the dllcache. If you try to delete a file from System32 and dllcache (who would accidentally do that?) it will replace the file with one from the i386 folder.

[Daecon]

Sounds like a virus to me.

[Primarygun]

I agree with you as I don't think I'd use the back-up thing provided for every single file

[herme3]

I just found another hidden backup in the "C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall$" folder. These appear to be the old Service Pack 1 copies. Microsoft should make it easy for people to delete all of these backup copies. Each one is between 300MB-500MB. That is a lot if you are running out of hard drive space.

[Klaynos]

Some of them are backups so if you break something it can fix itself.

The restore point ones are the saves made at each restore point, because if you want to restore it you need what it looked like at that time.

Most of the others are due to when you install a windows update it makes a backup of the files it changes so that you can uninstall the backup...

 

But yeah sounds like a virus reinstall windows... That fixes all...

[H2SO4]

the total size of xp is about 2 gigs, so im not worried.

[5614]

i386 is just a backup of the installation. I do not have it so when I add new hardware I might have to insert the winXP CD to get the drivers. If I had i386 I would not need to do this.

 

How did you get into System Volume Information? I would use Linux which can bypass all of Windows file and folder protection.

 

I'd leave System Restore on although a virus could back itself up in there so be very careful when you are infected.

 

I am on SP1 and do not have a $NTServicePackUninstall$ folder. Instead I have 65 folders in the c:\windows\ directory all beginning with $NtUninstall but the total space is 80.8MB so I'm not too fussed.

 

The whole of the Windows directory sums to 1.17GB of HDD space, so it's nothing to worry over really.

 

I wouldn't really worry about any of this, it's all normal for Windows. When you select show hidden files and do not hide system files this is the kinda thing you run into a lot. Maybe the most interesting one is c:\boot.ini which, if you're careful, can be fun to edit. Actually I'm gonna go and make a thread on it in Computer Help.

[herme3]

the total size of xp is about 2 gigs, so im not worried.

 

Yes, but a lot of that is just backup files. It will make a huge difference when you start running out of hard drive space. You can install a lot of programs, or store a lot of music and pictures with 2 gigs. In 1998 I bought a computer with a 12GB hard drive. I thought it would be impossible to use that much hard drive space. After several years, I was searching through the hard drive trying to delete any file that I could. I'm sure it will eventually be the same way with today's 80GB and 120GB hard drives. I think Microsoft should at least give you the option to delete these backup files.

 

How did you get into System Volume Information?

 

Go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531

 

I had to use the Cacls command.

 

I am on SP1 and do not have a $NTServicePackUninstall$ folder. Instead I have 65 folders in the c:\windows\ directory all beginning with $NtUninstall but the total space is 80.8MB so I'm not too fussed.

 

You should probably download SP2. You won't be able to download other security updates without it. Also, the $NtUninstall folders are from the updates you download from Windows Update. Whenever Windows Update makes changes to any files, it copies the old files to one of these folders.

[Dave]

To be honest, I think it's a reasonably sensible idea to keep backup copies and system restore points. Working in Linux can sometimes be a pain; it's very easy to delete a fundamental library by accident or have glibc installations die on you, and all of a sudden nothing works. At least for the sacrifice of a few gigs of space, you have a certain amount of protection against this sort of thing.

[1veedo]

I installed Windows Server 2003 and everytime I boot, it asks me if I want to boot into install 1 or install 2. Both still see all my files and share all my configurations. What happened, I think, is I accidently installed it twice. It asked for the CD to finish up some server thing (after rebooting for the third time) and I think it auto installed again.

 

You can have two different installs of Windows side by side if you dont want to format (at least for 98 and 2003 server). It's like installing a program in two different directories -- 98 would ask you before you installed, at least. "Format and loose all data." "Some other option. No loss of data."

[softdragonz]

Such restoration sometimes hinders work...

 

Once i got an updated version of the OpenGL32.dll library. It had many fixes. So, i copied the new file to c:\windows\system32 directory and replaced the old file.

 

But in few seconds, the new OpenGL32.dll was deleted and the older version was restored from the so called i386 as herme3 said.

My application ( a game ) couldnt be run because of this.

[chemfreak]

If I delete one of the copies of windows XP could it possibly speed up my PC? If so how do you find these copies and delete them?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

It would not speed up your PC at all. Freeing up hard-disk space doesn't do much for speed.

[chemfreak]

How do I get in?

[encipher]

Chemfreak, It will do you no good. Neither will messing around with system files. Leave your operating system as it is. If you wish to get more speed out of your computer, upgrade your hardware.

[bluesmudge]

noo delete everything! then start a thread about how to recover from a serious windows faliure

 

Oh and i don't think they're replicated they could be pointers