Free up disk space after Windows 7 Service Pack 1
One command that removed the backup files SP1 left behind and gave back a couple of gigabytes.
From the archive: first published on mohamedsharaf.net in May 2011. Rewritten and checked in 2026; some details may be out of date.
After installing Service Pack 1, Windows 7 kept a copy of the old files in case you wanted to uninstall it. Once you were happy with SP1, you could remove that backup with one built-in command and get back around 2 GB, sometimes more.
Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:
dism /online /cleanup-image /spsupersededIt is a Microsoft tool and safe to use. The only cost is that you can no longer uninstall SP1 afterwards.
Today: Windows 7 has been out of support since 2020. On Windows 10 and 11, the equivalent cleanup is dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup, or “Clean up system files” in Disk Cleanup.