Windows 10: Disk cleanup does not erase the totality of the files.

Hi. I am using Windows 10 and trying to liberate disk space. When using the disk cleanup app and giving the ok to clean, it erases 5 GB from the total 100 GB to clean; I need to re-open and run it repeatedly to erase 5GB at a time. Do you know why disk cleanup doesn't erase all the GB I am asking to erase? I've searched online, and the "run as administrator" solution doesn't change the outcome. I know I can do it manually, but I want to understand why disk cleanup doesn't work correctly. Thank you

:)

 

Files in disk cleanup

Hi Lynne

Rest assured, it is totally safe to delete everything suggested by the Disk Cleanup Process, please tun the Disk Cleanup twice as explained below, please remember to untick your Downloads folder if you actually store files in that folder . . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

 

DISK CLEANUP

Hello,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Which files are you trying to delete using disk clean up?
2. Which version of Windows are you currently using?

Please reply back with the information to the above questions in order to provide you with appropriate troubleshooting steps:



I understand that you are trying to free up memory using Disk Cleanup. If you are trying to delete files using disk cleanup on Windows 10, I suggest you to refer the following article on

Disk cleanup in Windows 10 for steps to perform disk clean up on your PC.



Hope it helps.



Sandeep Kumar M

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Windows Disk Cleanup tool

Hi Sam

Yes, it is totally safe to remove anything suggested by that Disk Cleanup tool, you must run that twice as explained below to totally clean your drive.

Yes, most likely when the next feature update is installed (most likely in April) then it would be best to clean your system again after that . . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete