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The question is not a duplicate. It's specific for the case of Windows Vista where there's no OS-provided method for reducing the size of the WinSxS folder (as opposed to Windows 7 and later, where there is such a method).
The question asks about a specific manual method of reducing that folder size. This is not addressed on other SU questions.

My Windows\Winsxs folder is currently about 20 GB in size and is full of files which where last accessed years ago.

Some files are hard-linked from some other folder in the system, but most of them have no hard links (hard link count = 1). They just seem to be taking space.

Is it safe to delete the files that have no hard links?
I have no intentions of uninstalling Windows updates, so I don't want to keep old versions of everything.

GetFree
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  • I assume you are trying to recover disk space. It would be plagiarism and a too-long, or a link-only, answer for me to create an answer with these: [Guide to Freeing up Disk Space under Windows Vista](http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GuideToFreeingUpDiskSpaceUnderWindowsVista.aspx) and [Windows Update Files](http://www.computerstepbystep.com/windows-vista-m-windows-updates-files.html). Make a complete backup first, of course. – Andrew Morton Jan 27 '17 at 21:06
  • You must not delete files from that folder. Why would the hard link count even matter? It doesn't mean nobody is accessing the file. – Daniel B Jan 27 '17 at 21:29
  • Not a duplicate. Added explanation. – GetFree Jan 27 '17 at 22:01
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    @DanielB, if you don't understand why the hard-link count matter, then just don't answer the question. It matters because the newest version of a file (the one that's actually used by the system) is hard-linked from it's proper location in the system. – GetFree Jan 27 '17 at 22:05
  • That doesn’t mean older version won’t be used. Otherwise there would be no point in keeping them around. – Daniel B Jan 27 '17 at 22:37
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    @DanielB, you've been speculating the whole time. Do you know the answer to the question or not? – GetFree Jan 27 '17 at 22:44
  • No. I’m just stating the obvious. This is also the comment section, so it’s obviously not an answer. // There is an (well, two) answer for Vista on the question linked as the duplicate. – Daniel B Jan 27 '17 at 22:51
  • winsxs size is being over reported. Items linked multiple times are counted multiple times when explorer is calculating file size on disk. That said, these files are or were required by something, so, identify that something and then uninstall it. They may be superceded packages e.g. vc runtime etc etc. – Yorik Jan 27 '17 at 22:52
  • conceptually, simply deleting things from the winsxs folder may not properly remove the {magic} the OS uses to make these redirection decisions. I would dig a littel to see how winsxs does its magic. It it probably more than simply hardlinking: the version control has to be maintained somehwere. – Yorik Jan 27 '17 at 22:54
  • http://superuser.com/a/14035/74026 This answer does mention Vista. Have you tried that solution in the linked post? – music2myear Jan 28 '17 at 01:04
  • Vista/2008 never got the update to clean Winsxs. the only way to reduce he size if to uninstall old updates like IE updates, that get replaced each month. But Vista support ends in April, so you should upgrade to a newer Windows that gets updates and has the option to clean WinSxS in disk cleanup – magicandre1981 Jan 28 '17 at 08:30

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