Maximum PC

how do i get all the setup files off my PC 's Drive. It is takeing up space on my SSD

Don't know if you can do it with Win 8 just yet... You can't just go in & delete the files That would be too easy... too easy for power users, & too easy for the general public to screw up their Windows install...

But, if you can do it, you'll need to start by downloading the Windows 8 ISO if you haven't already done so, & will have to create a custom "lite" install.

Here's an extreme guide for fitting Win7 onto a 4GB partition... http://www.multimolti.com/blog/2009/01/ ... c-4gb-sdd/

Should be pretty much the same but substituting the Windows 8 image for the Winodws 7 image.

No that is not the problem i ran some installer from MS and it left some files on the drive almost 2 gigs worth. That would be easy. But i have not installed it yet. This program to download it' just left shit everyware.
I downloaded the setup files and chose to put it on usb key and when i run it. I will choose a seperate partition to put it on.

if no one has any help i guess i will delete all files created today in a few weeks. I did find them but cant find them all. also this is the consumer preview

Which installer? It may just be a matter of uninstalling the installer from Control Panel>Programs

If it's indeed the Windows 8 setup files as the original post indicated, these are classified as Critical System Files & cannot be deleted through normal means any more than you can terminate a Critical System Process(system.exe or csrss.exe for example) through Task Manager. The only way to "get rid of them" is to not let them be installed in the first place which requires a custom installation like I posted previously.

thanks for your help. i found where the two files were and deleted them with no problems.

1 C:\Users\my user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Web Setup
2 C:\ESD

#2 is the big file 2.62 gigs. both are hidden files

thats what is dose with the setup files i guss. I was dual booting with XP and 7 installed 8 to a seperate partition tried it did not like it fired up msconfig made 7 defalt, deleted the entry for 8 made the changes perminent and reformated that partition so 8 is gone forever. I can install again because i put the setup files on a USB key to install it the first time.

Okay, now I understand, the 2.62GB file is most likely the bootable USB image file that is used to create the USB thumb drive &/or installation DVD. Windows does seem to keep the file on the drive after the thumb drive is built, I have the same thing on my drive after building a new USB installation drive. Other than being large & in a hidden folder, there's nothing special about the file.

I thought you were talking about the setup files left in the Windows 8 partition that Windows 8 uses in its automatic self-repair mode in the event of file corruption or other failures. A neat feature of Windows 8, but it still needs improvement.

no i wanted to get off my SSD its all good now thanks