How To Run Windows Disk Cleanup
Freeing up space on a disk drive is sometimes necessary. In Microsoft Windows, this is done through the Disk Cleanup program. Learn how to start the Disk Cleanup in Windows and what options to use.
Rather than just cleaning the Recycle Bin, Disk Cleanup will also delete temporary files and log files. Temporary files are created by programs, by browsing the Internet, or by installing programs. Log files are the result of programs running, or Windows tasks being executed, as well as by operating errors that occur.
Starting Disk Cleanup from the GUI
The common method to start Disk Cleanup for all Windows versions is to use the Windows File Explorer.
- Open a File Explorer window.
- Right-click the drive to clean up.
- In the context menu, click Properties.
- In the drive properties window, click the Disk Cleanup button.
The Window will look different depending on the Windows version. For example, in Windows 10 it will look like this:
Starting Disk Cleanup from the Command Prompt
In some cases, the Disk Cleanup option will not show in the drive properties. So it is not possible to start Disk Cleanup from the GUI.
When this is the case, or if you simply prefer the command prompt, you can invoke Windows Disk Cleanup using a command prompt.
- Open a command prompt from the Start menu option. If the user account does not have administrator rights, make sure to use the Run as administrator option by right-clicking the Command Prompt icon.
- In the command prompt window, type “
cleanmgr
” and press Enter. This will start the Disk Cleanup, which will bring up a new window.
- If the command is not recognized, you need to add the path to the program. E.g. “
C:\Windows\cleanmgr.exe
”, or “C:\Windows’System32\cleammgr.exe
” depending on the Windows version. - When invoked from the command prompt, Disk Cleanup will first ask you to select a drive.
- Select the drive and click the OK button.
To skip the drive selection box, you can type the drive letter in the command prompt window directly:
Cleanmgr /dC
The /d parameter tells the cleanmgr program to use the drive specified. In this case the C-drive, but C can be replaced by any valid drive letter present in the Windows PC.
Executing the Disk Cleanup Process
After the drive is selected using the command prompt option, or the Disk Cleanup button is clicked in the GUI option, a drive scan will be performed to assess which files can be removed and how much space can be freed.
Once the disk scan is complete, you will be presented with a list of options for files to delete. In most cases, the default selection will be a good place to start with. It will delete Temporary Internet Files, Offline webpages, Setup Log Files, Temporary files, and Thumbnails.
Note that additional options will be available in newer Windows versions, like DirectX Shader Cache, and Delivery Optimization Files.
Once the selections are made, click the OK button to start the Disk Cleanup.
A confirmation window will show to confirm the deleting of the files. Click the Delete Files button to start the Disk Cleanup. Depending on the disk type (SSD/HDD), and size, this process can take some time (seconds to minutes).
Once the process completes, the progress window will disappear, and you will only see the drive properties window. Here you can see the result of the Disk Cleanup, as the Free space should have increased.
Free up more space by deleting Restore points
All the latest Windows versions have a system restore option that is activated by default. Windows and programs running in Windows can create system restore points. Simply said, these are snapshots of the Windows configuration, and they can be used to revert to a previous state when something goes wrong.
Although the space used by system restore points is limited by a configuration setting, the disk space in use can still be significant. So if more disk space needs to be freed up, it is possible to remove all but the last system restore point.
- Start the Disk Cleanup following the earlier steps.
- In the Disk Cleanup window, select the More Options tab.
- Next, click the Clean up button under System Restore and Shadow Copies.
- A confirmation window will show to confirm the removal of the restore points. Click the Delete button to continue.
After this, you can again check the drive properties windows to see the increase in Free space.
Free up more space by cleaning up system files
Need to free up even more space? Use the Clean up system files option in the Disk Cleanup program.
Once invoked, the Disk Cleanup window will refresh after a new disk scan. Now the list of Files to delete will include more items, like Windows Update files. Using the additional options, more files, and as a result, more space can be freed up. The actual cleanup process will also take longer in this case.
More information on freeing up disk space on a Windows computer can befound in the articles about the size of the hibernate file, and deleting the Windows.old folder if present.
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