Disabling WinSxS in XP

[monohouse]

does anyone know how can I disable WinSxS in XP ?

I think that ntdll.dll loads it somewhere but when I try to replace ntdll.dll with a win2000 versions of it, I get a session5_initialization_failed 0x00000071, I have tried to load additional dll's from win2000 but that error does not seem to disappear, I also tried to replace hal.dll even ntoskrnl.exe to make it load, but when trying that, the boot driver stage does not pass and the system gets a dll loading error when replace these two.

maybe someone else knows how to get rid of winsxs ?

[monohouse]

the first step at getting rid of winsxs : common controls 6.0.10.0 :

original contents of file : x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10.0_x-ww_f7fb5805.Manifest

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
	<noInheritable/>
	<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" version="6.0.10.0" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/>
	<file name="comctl32.dll" hash="1a6b71f5cc9e1d2ec0b648a9309321b96b7bc7a1" hashalg="SHA1">
		<windowClass>ToolbarWindow32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>ComboBoxEx32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>msctls_trackbar32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>msctls_updown32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>msctls_progress32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>msctls_hotkey32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>msctls_statusbar32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysHeader32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysListView32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysTreeView32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysTabControl32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysIPAddress32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysPager</windowClass>
		<windowClass>NativeFontCtl</windowClass>
		<windowClass>Button</windowClass>
		<windowClass>Static</windowClass>
		<windowClass>Listbox</windowClass>
		<windowClass>ScrollBar</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysLink</windowClass>
		<windowClass>tooltips_class32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>ButtonListBox</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysAnimate32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysMonthCal32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>SysDateTimePick32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>ReBarWindow32</windowClass>
		<windowClass>Edit</windowClass>
		<windowClass>Combobox</windowClass>
		<windowClass>ComboLBox</windowClass>
	</file>
</assembly>

when modified to :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
	<noInheritable/>
	<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" version="6.0.10.0" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/>
	<file name="" hash="1a6b71f5cc9e1d2ec0b648a9309321b96b7bc7a1" hashalg="SHA1">
	</file>
</assembly>

will apperantly allow software to load the already existing system32 common controls file, and use it, instead of loading 2 different libraries for the same thing which of corse, loads an another 1 MB of crap into memory, not anymore !

as for the rest of the winsxs directory, it is likely to be safe to remove all the libraries and their directories inside it except for the manifests and policies directories, on which I am still working on ways to get rid of.