Move dllcache to another drive
My dllcache folder in system32 has a size of almost 450 Megabytes on my Windows partition. The dllcache is used to replace a system file (dll) that has been changed with the original one. It bothers me that this feature of Windows takes up so much space on my hard drive.
It is even more serious in my case because I decided to have a rather small Windows partition, every byte counts if you know what I mean.
The idea was born to move the dllcache folder to another drive while keeping its functionality. To change the location of the dllcache folder you open the Windows Registry and make a modification to it. To do so press the Windows and R key at the same time to open the runbox. Type in regedit in the form and tap on the enter key afterwards.
Use the folder structure on the left to navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Right-click on the key afterwards and select New > String from the context menu. Name the string SFCDllCacheDir and click ok.You should now see it on the right side. Double-click it once you see it there to change its value, and add the new location for it as the string, for instance e:\dllcache\.
After rebooting your computer for the next time you will probably be prompted to put the Windows XP CD into the drive so that some files can be copied from it to the new dllcache location. Another way would be to simply move the files from the old folder into the new one.
If this is not happening automatically on your system you can use the command sfc /scannow to force Windows to fill the new folder with the files.
You may alternatively configure the setting in the Group Policy Editor if it is available on the system. Load gpedit.msc on the system and navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Windows File Protection, and enable the policy "Specify Windows File Protection cache location".
Update: Please note that this works only for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003.. The dllcache folder is no longer a part of newer versions of Windows. Newer versions of Windows use the WinSxS folder instead which is located under c:\windows\winsxs\ by default.
