disk cleanup not working in Windows 11

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I have a laptop with Windows 11 Pro 21H2, upgraded from Windows 10 Pro. For a couple of weeks now disk cleanup does not work at all. Never had a problem before. The non-functioning seems to have started after I installed July updates at the end of July.

How to fix?

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What happens?

Does it open?

Does it run?

Does it delete any items?

Does it not delete all items?

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It opens and runs, goes through the progress bars, but no files are ever deleted. Rinse, repeat accomplishes nothing. Also does not delete file groups that I  select individually. Worked OK till a couple of weeks ago.

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Try sfc:

Windows 11 Disk Cleanup Not Working: How To Fix It [MiniTool Tips]

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scoobydoo

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Using the instructions for removing the  temp files manually, I was able to remove the  temp files. But the others remained , especially the 2.28GB windows update cleanup files, which are the primary ones I wanted to clean up.

Could this have something to do with the windows updates I installed last month? Could the non-functioning disk cleanup be due to an error in the windows update?

 

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Try this first:

• Open an elevated CMD prompt.
• Type: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
• Let it finish
• Type: SFC /SCANNOW
• Let it finish
• Reboot

Now use your disk  clean operation.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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Microfix

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You can use Storage Sense / Storage instead of Disk Cleanup

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I prefer DISM++ over all those previously mentioned but @geekdom has supplied the first two steps to recovery in using the proprietory MSFT disk cleaner.
@OP you could also lookup sageset/sagerun switches for Disk Cleaner which opens up a lot more options to remove excess 😉

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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