08-04-2021

Disk Cleanup On Windows 10



This guide shows how to use the Disk Cleanup tool for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10. The Disk Cleanup tool, part of Windows, will perform a search on the hard disk for files that can be deleted from your computer without affecting its functionality or your personal files:. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanupfrom the list of results. Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK. Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it. Aug 22, 2020 The built-in disk cleaner utility can remove old Windows installation files after a feature update to free around tens of GBs of space on your PC. Just pull up the Start Menu and type Disk Cleanup. Smart Disk Cleanup provides a safe and easy way to clean up junk files, duplicates, and large files. In just a few minutes you can safely and easily free up GBs of disk space. Items cleaned with Smart Disk Cleanup: Duplicates - Unnecessary duplicate files can take up GBs of disk space.

This guide shows how to use the Disk Cleanup tool for the following Windows versions: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10.

The Disk Cleanup tool, part of Windows, will perform a search on the hard disk for files that can be deleted from your computer without affecting its functionality or your personal files:

  • Temporary Internet Explorer files (related: How To Clear Internet Explorer 6-to-11 Cache)
  • Java applets or ActiveX controls
  • Files from Recycle Bin if Recycle Bin has not been emptied
  • Windows temporary files (related: How to delete temporary files. You can also read how to clear the thumbnails cache and how to clear the icons cache)

Contents

  • 1 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows XP
  • 2 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows Vista and 7
  • 3 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 8 or 8.1
  • 4 Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 10
  • 5 Troubleshooting
  • 6 More Information

Run Disk Cleanup in Windows XP

To run Disk Cleanup on a Windows XP computer, you can run it from My Computer or from Command Prompt.

Run from My Computer

Method #1

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Run
  3. Type cleanmgr
  4. Click OK or press Enter

Method #2

  1. Click Start
  2. Go to All Programs
  3. Go to Accessories
  4. Go to System Tools
  5. Click Disk Cleanup

Method #3

  1. Open My Computer
  2. Right­-click on the drive you want to run Disk Cleanup. This is usually C:, the drive where
    Windows XP is installed.
  3. Click Properties
  4. Go to the General tab
  5. Click Disk Cleanup

Run from Command Prompt

To open Disk Cleanup via Command Prompt, follow these steps:

  1. Open Command Prompt
  2. Type this command:

    where c: is where Windows XP is installed.

  3. Press Enter

Run Disk Cleanup in Windows Vista and 7

Run from My Computer

To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start
  2. Go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools
  3. Click Disk Cleanup
  4. Choose what type of files and folders to delete at the Files to delete section
  5. Click OK
  6. To delete system files that are no longer needed, click Clean up system files. You may be
    prompted by UAC (User Account Control) to confirm the action.
  7. Click Delete Files

To free more space, go to the More options tab:

  • Click Clean up at the Programs and Features section to remove program files that are no longer needed
  • Click Clean up at the System Restore and Shadow Copies section to remove restore points, except the last one

Run from Command Prompt

To open Disk Cleanup via Command Prompt (command line) on a Windows Vista or Windows 7:

  1. Open Command Prompt
  2. Type cleanmgr
  3. Press Enter

Windows 7 Disk Cleanup screen

Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 8 or 8.1

Run from My Computer

To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 system, follow these instructions:

  1. Click Settings > Click Control Panel > Administrative Tools
  2. Click Disk Cleanup
  3. At the Drives list, select which drive you want to run Disk Cleanup on
  4. Select which files you want to delete
  5. Click OK
  6. Click Delete files

To delete system files that are no longer needed on your computer, click Clean up system files.

Shadow copies and restore points (except the last ones) can be deleted by going to the More options tab > Click Cleanup.

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Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 10

Run from My Computer

To open Disk Cleanup on a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 system, follow these instructions:

  1. Type Disk Cleanup in the Search Bar
  2. Press Enter
  3. At the Drives list, select which drive you want to run Disk Cleanup on
  4. Select which files you want to delete
  5. Click OK
  6. Click Delete files

To delete system files that are no longer needed on your computer, click Clean up system files.

Shadow copies and restore points (except the last ones) can be deleted by going to the More options tab > Click Cleanup.

Windows 10 Disk Cleanup screen

Troubleshooting

Disk Cleanup is stuck

If Disk Cleanup is getting stuck at a certain deletion process (deletion of temporary files or deletion of Windows updates), try any of the following tips:

  • Run Disk Cleanup as an Administrator
  • Delete the files and folders manually, but be logged in as an Administrator.If Disk Cleanup is getting stuck at deleting Internet Explorer temporary files, delete the temporary files manually. Be logged in as Administrator or as any user with administrative rights to the system when doing so.
  • Run a sfc /scannow command. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Open Command Prompt
    2. Type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=D: /offwindir=D:Windows, where D: is your Windows drive letter, and D:Windows is your Windows installation path
    3. Press Enter

More Information

Linked Entries

How To Do Disk Cleanup On Windows 10

Support Links

Disk
  • Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows – our repair and recovery disk.
    It’s an easy-to-use and automated diagnostics disk. It’s available for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It’s also available for Windows XP and Windows Server.

    Read more at Windows Recovery Disks.

  • The NeoSmart Support Forums, member-to-member technical support and troubleshooting.
  • Get a discounted price on replacement setup and installation discs: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.
Disk Cleanup On Windows 10

Applicable Systems

This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:

  • Windows XP (all editions)
  • Windows Vista (all editions)
  • Windows 7 (all editions)
  • Windows 8 (all editions)
  • Windows 8.1 (all editions)
  • Windows 10 (all editions)

Disk Cleanup deleted downloads folder by mistake? Do not wait. You should undo disk cleanup and try to recover files within the folder via a backup or third-party file recovery software.

Disk Cleanup Deleted My Downloads Folder

This is a snippet picked from the Reddit forum. It's said about a user routinely performs Disk Cleanup to free up disk space, and he has done it probably hundreds of times, but this time he did not pay attention to the 'Downloads folder', and he deleted it.

'Disk Cleanup deleted my Downloads folder which contained 5 years worth of personal files and pictures. How can I get them back?'

According to the official explanation of Microsoft, Disk Cleanup is a utility used to free up disk space by deleting temporary files, junk files, and many other unnecessary files. You'll get an option to choose what to remove from your hard drive disk. Mostly, the personal files and system files are not included in the option, which makes it unlikely that Disk Cleanup delete personal files. However, 'Downloads' in Disk Cleanup is newly introduced in version 1809 in Windows 10, and many of us are not aware of that. This is why many other Windows 10 users are facing the same accidental deletion of Downloads folder while freeing up disk space.

As the screenshot demonstrates, when I execute the Disk Cleanup for my C drive in Windows 10 1809, the Downloads folder show up in the list, and it's checked by default.

Except for the downloads folder, users are likely to delete Windows ESD installation files as well, and deletion of such files may result in your computer not working properly. Can you undo disk cleanup so as to restore the wrongly cleaned up files? Windows utility does not have an undo option for Disk Cleanup, but you can try to retrieve mistakenly deleted files from Windows File History backup, or directly use a third-party data recovery program.

How to Undo Disk Cleanup in Windows 10/8/7 and Restore Deleted Files

Quick navigation:

How To Free Up Space Windows 10

  • If you've created a backup of your computer disk partition data with File History, please refer to Method 1. Use the other restore function of particular backup methods, e.g. if you created backups to the cloud, using data backup software.
  • If you don't have a backup at all, directly go to Method 2. EaseUS data recovery software is able to recover deleted files & folders after deletion, formatting or virus infection. It's by far one of the best Windows data recovery software for file recovery after performing Disk Cleanup as well as other disk cleaning tools.

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Method 1. Restore from File History Backup

Step 1. Find the folder path of your lost files on Windows 10/8/7 PC. You may click on 'This PC' to see the folder path where you lost disk files by Disk Cleanup utility: Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos or Libraries, etc.

Step 2. Type: File History in the search box > Select and click on Restore your files with File History.

Step 3. Click the 'History' button to show all your backed up folders.

Step 4. Choose files that you want to restore and select the right version that you need. Then click the 'Restore' button to get lost files back from File History backups. Select 'Replace the file in the destination' if the computer already contains a file or folder with the same name.

You may also choose 'Skip This File' or 'Compare Info for Both Files' if there is a file conflict. After restoring your lost files from the File History backup, exit Windows File History. Try to open, check and continue using the restored files again.

Method 2. Restore from File Recovery Software

If you don't have a File History backup or a system restore point, the best way to find your removed files is to let professional file recovery software to help. Here you should try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for a full recovery of all your lost files. It's secure and clean, and it will thoroughly scan your disk partition with an advanced scanning algorithm.

Disk Cleanup On Windows 10 Free

Moreover, EaseUS recovery software is recognized as a simple, super easy-to-use yet powerful DIY data recovery software. The whole recovery process is for three steps.

Step 1. Select a location and start scanning.

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover on the partition, external hard drive, USB, or memory card where you want to perform erased data recovery, and then click 'Scan'.

Step 2. Select the files you want to recover.

When the scanning has finished, select the deleted files you want to recover. Double-click the file to preview its content if you need to.

Step 3. Recover lost data.

After choosing the data, click 'Recover' and choose a location on another drive to save the deleted data.