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CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file taking up all of my hard drive space - how do I delete or fix?

Anonymous
2024-04-21T11:34:23+00:00

There is a single file called CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal taking up 122.1GB of hard drive space and now windows is unable to run properly due to lack of hard drive space. When I delete other files this one just grows in size and quickly grabs up the newly freed space.

I do not want to try and delete it if it will mess up my system and do not even know if I can and am wondering what other options if any I have.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-10T23:19:44+00:00

    I wrote this PowerShell script to kill the services that hold those files open and then delete the files.

    Write-Output "Stop the 'Capability Access Manager Service'" $id = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "Name='camsvc'" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ProcessIdWrite-Output "Found service with process id: $id"

    $process = Get-Process -Id $idStop-Process $process.Id -Force -VerboseStart-Sleep 5 -Verbose

    Write-Output "Stop the 'SuperFetch (SysMain) Service'"$id = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "Name='SysMain'" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ProcessIdWrite-Output "Found service with process id: $id"

    Write-Output "Stop the 'Geolocation Service'"$id = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "Name='lfsvc'" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ProcessIdWrite-Output "Found service with process id: $id"

    Write-Output "Delete the large files from: 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager'"Remove-Item "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager\*"Start-Sleep 5 -Verbose

    Write-Output "Re-start the 'Capability Access Manager Service'"Start-Service -Name "camsvc"Start-Sleep 5 -Verbose

    Write-Output "Re-start the 'SuperFetch (SysMain) Service'"Start-Service -Name "SysMain"Start-Sleep 5 -Verbose

    Write-Output "Re-start the 'Geolocation Service'"Start-Service -Name "lfsvc"Start-Sleep 5 -Verbose

    Write-Output "Done"

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-16T20:23:32+00:00

    I ended up disabling then stopping the Capabilityaccessmanager service. I was then able to delete CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal. Started the service and haven't heard a peep from the 5 users I did this for. So, I assume all is well.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-06-27T12:10:35+00:00

    You will have to make your account owner of that folder. Back out of the CapabilityAccessManager folder, then right click on it and go to Properties.

    Go to the security tab then click advanced, then at the top where you see owner, next to it, there's a change button. Then make your account owner. Then at the bottom add your account to have full access to the folder.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-16T20:15:54+00:00

    same. treesize identified CapabilityAccessManager as 125gb

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-14T16:16:44+00:00

    Did you ever resolve this? I have ran into 5 users with storage drives nearly full. When looking into what's causing this, it's ended up being their CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file being extremely large.

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