Clean up system files not working

Question

Some recent Windows 11 Pro Update (likely 25H2) or Microsoft Edge Version 142.0.3595.53 is hogging ~5G extra disk space on my Surface Pro and I'm unable to recover it using Cleanup System Files. Normally Cleanup System Files shows some space (typically 100's of MB) that is reclaimable and after I trigger it, I recover a few GIG's. Currently it's showing 190 MB of System Files which can be cleaned up but the cleanup is not getting triggered even though I have tried to invoke Cleanup System Files multiple times from different interfaces (including after restarting). So, the 190 MB number which shows as reclaimable doesn't change, when in reality if the cleanup ran a couple of GIG's would actually be freed up and the 190MB number would drop to 0. Is there a way to really force cleanup of unused system files & temp caches used by apps? Also is there a way to track if Edge downloaded something huge to some hidden cache directory (because my storage went to 0 when browsing Yahoo in Edge, with a popup saying some package was taking that space).

Answer 1

Hi RK,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

The 190 MB portion likely consists of temporary files currently in use by applications or the Windows system, which is why "Cleanup System Files" cannot remove them. You may be able to delete some of these files by booting into Safe Mode and then running "Cleanup System Files".

The extra 5 GB of disk space may be related to the Windows Update cache. You can check two locations: C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and C:\Windows\System32\catroot2. If you recently upgraded Windows, there might be a C:\Windows.old folder. You also can manually clean up Recycle Bin by running this command in Command Prompt as Administrator: rmdir /s /q C:\$Recycle.bin

Not only the Windows system and Microsoft Edge, but most applications create temporary files to store data. Typically, these files are managed and deleted automatically; however, sometimes they are not properly cleaned up and remain on the system. My advice is that you do not need — and should not — perform cleanup tasks frequently unless your free space is low. Modern systems use SSDs for "C" drive, which have a TBW (Total Bytes Written) limit. Unnecessary frequent cleanups increase the total data written and can cause your SSD to wear out faster.

The "C" drive space is filling up not only by temporary files but also by files created for each application’s purpose. While temporary files are easy to delete, components like indexing are harder to optimize or remove. Over time, the indexing database can grow significantly as you use Windows.

For convenience, my suggestion is ignoring the temporary files. One day, may be next few years, when you realize that your system needs a smoother experience, then you may back up necessary data and perform a clean install.

I hope that above information is helpful to you.

If you have further questions, please feel free to let me know.

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Answer 2

If the Cleanup System Files feature is not effectively reclaiming disk space on your Windows 11 Pro device, you can try the following steps:

1. Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator: Ensure that you are running Disk Cleanup with administrative privileges. Search for "Disk Cleanup" in the Start menu, right-click it, and select "Run as administrator."
2. Use DISM Tool: You can use the DISM (Deployment Imaging Service and Management Tool) to clean up the component store. Open an elevated command prompt and run the following command:

      Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
   

   This command will clean up the component store and may help reclaim more space.
3. Check for Temporary Files: Sometimes, temporary files can accumulate and take up space. You can manually check the following locations and delete unnecessary files:
   • C:\Windows\Temp
   • %temp% (type this in the Run dialog)
4. Clear Microsoft Edge Cache: To check if Microsoft Edge is using excessive space, you can clear its cache:
   • Open Edge, go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data.
   • Select "Cached images and files" and click "Clear now."
5. Storage Sense: Enable Storage Sense to automatically clean up temporary files and manage storage. Go to Settings > System > Storage and turn on Storage Sense.
6. Check for Large Files: Use a disk space analyzer tool to identify large files or folders that may be consuming space unexpectedly. This can help you locate hidden caches or large downloads.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider checking for any pending Windows updates or performing a system restore to a point before the issue began.

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References:

• Clean Up the WinSxS Folder
• Determine the Actual Size of the WinSxS Folder

Answer 3

Download the free TreeSize app from the Store.

Very Important - to run TreeSize, you must right click its icon and choose Run as Administrator.

Please provide a screenshot of your C drive in that TreeSize utility, so I can see your hard drive and work out where that space is being used and if there is an underlying problem.

Please ensure the full TreeSize window is in the screenshot, there is information on the top and bottom bars I needs to see.

Answer 4

I tried 1&2 from Q&A Assist list but they didn't help. 3-6 I had already done/checked before. I had also tried WinDirStat & TreeSize before posting - while both provide a more detailed interface than Windows Storage Sense for seeing where storage is being used, they don't provide an answer to the question as to what is taking ~5G extra from a few days back. I of course didn't add anything that would take extra storage and the only updates installed recently are 2 security fixes and 1 minor .NET update (highly unlikely to be the cause of bloat). I also looked through the size of all the apps installed but didn't find an explanation for the sudden bloat.

The behavior of "Cleanup System Files" has changed and no matter what I do I can't trigger an actual cleanup, so the 190 MB number doesn't change (and based on prior experience that's most likely masking several GIG's of files which can be cleaned up but aren't getting removed).

Answer 5

After my Nov 14 post came across this (https://www.howtogeek.com/how-to-clear-your-update-cache-on-windows-11-and-10/) and was able to reclaim 5G+ by force deleting C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution (which Lucus-V also subsequently suggested).