Microsoft have revealed more details on how Windows 10 will create a compact footprint using the Windows Image Boot (WIMBOOT) and how the OS compresses system files to make the OS smaller in size allowing for more free storage on low-end devices that need it.
Windows 10 has two separate and independent approaches for achieving a compact footprint. Firstly, Windows 10 features an efficient compression algorithm to compress system files. Secondly, the recovery enhances have been updated in Windows 10 which removes the requirement for a separate recovery image. In current builds of the OS, Windows can efficiently compress system files to give back 1.5GB of storage for 32-bit versions of Windows and 2.6GB for 64-bit versions of Windows. Windows 10 on phone devices will also be using this same efficient compressional algorithm giving the same benefits found on Windows 10 PC’s.
Microsoft’s redesign of the Windows Refresh and Reset recovery options means that there is no longer a separate recovery image required to bring Windows devices back to an “out of the box” experience. The storage footprint found on Windows 10 is reduced by anything from 4GB to 12GB varying by the type of device. Reset and Recovery options will now rebuilt the operating system in place using runtime system files. This means less disk space is used and it also eliminates the idea of having a huge list of Windows updates to reinstall after recovery. Windows can also still recover a device from corruption when you create recovery media and back up the OS and preinstalled software meaning you can recover it to this state sing your recovery media as if you’re getting it “out of the box” again. This type of change won’t be seen on phones which feature a storage-optimized recovery solution.
The bottom line? Devices running Windows 10 will simply have more free storage for all the stuff you want to put on them. The example in the image below shows a 64-bit version of Windows which in turn has given 6.6GB free storage to the device.
As for applications installed on Windows 10 devices, it OS uses compression to keep Store apps’ footprint small like with system files. This means more storage for more apps and the apps themselves can use far less capacity.
Time for the WIMBOOT talk. This a deployment configuration and Windows 8.1 actually used this technology, which reduced the footprint of the OS significantly. It was installed on specially prepared Windows 8.1 devices (Windows 8.1 with Bing devices such as the HP Stream, this is where Windows is compressed so it runs with such little storage in its vicinity) and was done using a different install process via the OEM’s. However, it meant only very few of Windows 8.x devices actually got to take advantage of this efficient compression. Windows 10 has the compression algorithm found in WIMBOOT so it can seamlessly integrate with the rest of the OS so the install process is minimally impacted. Furthermore, Windows 10 can compress the OS upon upgrade if a device needs to be compressed.
Those of you with Windows 8.1 (with Bing) devices which use WIMBOOT cannot upgrade yet to Windows 10 because WIMBOOT devices have such low system storage. This is because during the upgrade process, both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 need to be present on the device at the same time in case anything goes wrong during the upgrade and the device needs to revert back to Windows 8.1. Microsoft have said they are working on the upgrade process to Windows 10 for these devices which will follow a safe and reliable path for WIMBOOT devices.
So there you go, quite the technical article but I’ve tried to summarise it to the best of my ability. The main take-away should be that Windows 10 will compress both operating system files and application file sizes in order to give users more storage space on their devices. Whether it’s a phone, desktop PC, laptop or tablet, Windows will optimize how it stores and compresses these files based on the requirements needed by the hardware so Windows can run as smooth as possible. If there’s any thoughts in your mind, make sure to stick it in the comments below!
Alan Walsh is a games journalist, head writer at AR12Gaming. They contributed 52 articles to ICXM in 2015, focused on game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: leads editorial for AR12Gaming and reviews titles for OpenCritic.