Disk Cleanup

**Brink**

How to Use Disk Cleanup in Vista

Information

Disk Cleanup finds and then removes temporary files on your computer that you decide you no longer need to free up hard drive space.

Tip

For how to delete the Vista Temporary Files in Disk Cleanup that are less than a week old, see: How to Set Disk Cleanup to Delete Vista Temporary Files Less than a Week Old

WARNING

Checking the Hibernation File Cleaner option to be deleted will disable the Hibernate and Hybrid sleep mode. If you did accidentally delete it, then see: How to Enable or Disable Hibernation in Vista

RELATED LINKS:

Here's How:

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. Click All Programs and click Accessories folder and click System Tools folder.
3. Click Disk Cleanup.
A) Go to step 4.

OR

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type Cleanmgr.
3. Press Enter.
4. Choose if you want to clean files from just your user account or from all user accounts on the computer. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you do not have the Files from all users on this computer option, then you will need to make sure that you have UAC turned on. See: How to Turn UAC On or Off in Vista

Options.jpg

5. Select which drive you want to use Disk Cleanup on and click OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will not see this window unless you have more than one drive or partition on your computer.

Select_Drive.jpg

6. If you chose Files from all users on this computer above, then click Continue for UAC prompt.
7. You will now see this screenshot below.

Cleanup_Loading.jpg

8. When done loading, you will see either one of these screenshots depending on your choice. (See screenshots below)
NOTE: If you just did a Upgrade install recently, then you will also see the option Files discarded by Windows upgrade. This would be the C:\Windows\.old , C:\$INPLACE.~TR , and C:\$WINDOWS.~Q files.

9. Check the items you want to be deleted.
NOTE: When you highlight a item, it will give you a description of what it is. You may also have the option to View Files to be deleted or set the Options for a item.

10. Click OK.

My files only ------------------------------------------ Files from all users
My_Files_Only.jpg All_Files_Main.jpg

11. Click Delete Files button on the confirmation prompt. (See screenshot below)
12. Disk Cleanup will delete the files and close.
Confirmation.jpg

13. For More Disk Cleanup Options -
NOTE: If you chose Files from all users on this computer (Step 4), then you will have a extra More Options tab. (See screenshot below)

All_Files.jpg

14. To Uninstall Programs in Program and Features -
A) Click the Clean up button under the Programs and Features section. (See screenshot below step 13)
B) You will be taken to the "Uninstall or change a program" window in Programs and Features in the Control Panel.
NOTE: For more on Programs and Features, see: How to Uninstall or Change a Program in Vista

15. To Delete All but the Most Recent System Restore Point -

WARNING

If you have the 64 bit Vista and have not already done this first, then you will need to do this correction and close and restart Disk Cleanup, see: How to Correct Disk Cleanup Shortcut for Vista 64 bit

If you have the Vista Enterprise, Ultimate, or Business edition, then all but the most recent Complete PC Backup will be deleted also if you selected the drive in step 5 that the Complete PC Backup is stored on.

A) Click the Clean up button under System Restore and Shadow Copies. (See screenshot below step 13)
B) Click on Delete to confirm deleting all but the most recent system restore point. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you want to delete all system restore points, then turn System Restore Off and then back On to reset it. See: How to Turn System Restore On or Off in Vista

RestorePoint.jpg

That's it,
Shawn

**Digibean** · 07-19-2007

There's also a way to set up a batch file to run this. First you need to go to Start -> Run and then type in CleanMgr /sageset:99 (where 99 is just a reference number to refer to your configuration of CleanMgr when you run the batch file). When you hit enter, the Disk Cleanup window will pop up (shown in step #7 above). You can change to configuration and then click ok. After that, create a text file with the following in it:

cleanmgr /sagerun:99
exit

Save that text file as <filename>.bat and put it in a folder that you use for admin tasks (e.g. Documents\Admin\). Then go to your Task Scheduler and set this up to run whenever you want. You can also add other tasks to run in the batch (.bat) file, like copying or deleting temp files or folders, etc.

Thanks for the reminder on this.

**Brink** · 07-19-2007

Digibean,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for this tip.

Shawn

Arakai · 04-18-2008

Thank you very much for this guide. Appreciates much! ^^

**Brink** · 04-18-2008

Your welcome Arakai.

07-19-2007
Brink Administrator Join Date: Apr 2007 Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 Posts: 13,545 Location: Texas, USA	Re: Disk Cleanup Digibean, Welcome to the forum and thank you for this tip. Shawn
	There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them. Vista Forums Please post feedback to help others.

04-18-2008
Brink Administrator Join Date: Apr 2007 Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 Posts: 13,545 Location: Texas, USA	Re: Disk Cleanup Your welcome Arakai.
	There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them. Vista Forums Please post feedback to help others.

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07-19-2007
Digibean Newbie Join Date: Jul 2007 Windows Vista x64 Posts: 1	Re: Disk Cleanup There's also a way to set up a batch file to run this. First you need to go to Start -> Run and then type in CleanMgr /sageset:99 (where 99 is just a reference number to refer to your configuration of CleanMgr when you run the batch file). When you hit enter, the Disk Cleanup window will pop up (shown in step #7 above). You can change to configuration and then click ok. After that, create a text file with the following in it: cleanmgr /sagerun:99 exit Save that text file as <filename>.bat and put it in a folder that you use for admin tasks (e.g. Documents\Admin\). Then go to your Task Scheduler and set this up to run whenever you want. You can also add other tasks to run in the batch (.bat) file, like copying or deleting temp files or folders, etc. Thanks for the reminder on this.

04-18-2008
Arakai Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 32bit Home Basic Posts: 11	Re: Disk Cleanup Thank you very much for this guide. Appreciates much! ^^