Solved How to delete folders under C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\InFlight

Scott · Jun 24, 2025

Tester said:
Have not seen that error code before, What happend if you run the command again? Even now you have emptyed the folder. However if it does work a second attempt, i might have an idea where the issue originates from.

I ran it multiple times with the same result. Even now with the InFlight folder completely empty.

Tester · Jun 25, 2025

RFS said:
On her PC there's an "admin" user so I tried that, and it still fails. So logged back on to her account and tried once more, and it worked!

Ok that somehow confirms my suspicion why it happens, but not sure of the solutions. Or why it happens. I think the handle gets invalid because process is not yet created, or already ended. And so not able to get the handle. Are the machines that failed, older machines, or really slow/heavy load?

Have done the test with Highest UAC and the removal of administrators from secpol.msc. And it still worked at my end. So people don't have to test that anymore.

edit: New script with some more debug info.

RFS · Jun 25, 2025

Tester said:
Ok that somehow confirms my suspicion why it happens, but not sure of the solutions. Or why it happens. I think the handle gets invalid because process is not yet created, or already ended. And so not able to get the handle. Are the machines that failed, older machines, or really slow/heavy load?

Have done the test with Highest UAC and the removal of administrators from secpol.msc. And it still worked at my end. So people don't have to test that anymore.

edit: New script with some more debug info.

There's 4 systems in our household - mine and the wife's desktops are both Intel 10th generation based sysrtems, so fully W11-compliant (and configured as such). Other 2 are an older 8th generation desktop and a 14th generation Dell laptop. All are running Windows Home 24H2. The only failure was on the wife's desktop. Happened a couple of times with two different accounts, but then worked. The others all worked first time. The desktops deleted 190,000, 90,000 and 85,000 directories and the laptop 15,000.

braaphub · Jul 6, 2025

garlin said:
Those folders can't be cleaned up using DISM commands.

@Tester wrote a PowerShell script to safely clean them up.
C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\InFlight\ Deleting Empty Folders

It's attached below for your convenience. Run this command as Admin:

Code:

powershell -ep bypass -f .\WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders.ps1

Nice, thanks for the script @garlin @Tester

click click · Aug 2, 2025

I tried the script as suggested and get the following:

Code:

D:\>powershell -ep bypass -f .\WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders.ps1
Invoke-WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders : Failed to change privilege 'SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege'. Error code:
6.
At D:\WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders.ps1:187 char:31
+ ... voke-Command -ScriptBlock { Invoke-WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders }
+                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Invoke-WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFl
   ightFolders

cereberus · Aug 2, 2025

I just boot into Macrium Reflect Recovery Mode and use its file explorer to delete such folders. No faffing with dism or regedits.

Steve C · Aug 3, 2025

What is the purpose of the files in this folder? I'm wary of breaking something fiddling with such files. There are many directories indeed but only 50MB on my laptop.

Kees · Aug 3, 2025

Because of this thread I looked at the properties of that folder C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\InFlight: about 350 MB.

As in the past I once had been using some Dism command to cleanup WinSxS, that completely ruined my system, I did not want to use some unknown Powershell script for cleaning whatever part of WinSxS.

I now used the regular built-in Disk Cleanup instead and did a system clean as well, including old updates.
Did the disk clean twice, because the second scan still showed about 120 MB to possibly clean from old updates.

The result was remarkable: after cleanup the system partition had 1.33 GiB less than before.
And the folder C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\InFlight now only had 38 MB.

So in my opnion: let Windows do the cleanup, no need for (possibly unreliable) scripts.

neldog · Aug 3, 2025

pseymour said:
For what it's worth, I don't change the ownership on these folders. I just make sure the admins group has full control.

Thank you so much. I am not one that has the knowledge that you have, so you seem like a good person to ask this question. Please excuse my lack of expertise in this area, I just need to ask someone, (like you - or any other here reading this) just to make sure that I don't mess something up.

Question: If I were to run this command, (below) as administrator, would this do the same as you explained? Would this work to grant "Administrators" full control of a folder, but not take "Ownership"?

The reason I am asking is because this seems like an easier way for me. I like your way too and it's the best way I'm sure, but it seems above my paygrade and I'm just apprehensive trying all that.

Thank you or "anyone reading this" in advance for your help.

Command:
icacls "<folder_path>" /grant:r Administrators:F /t /c

Step-by-step:
Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

Execute the icacls command:
Use the following command, replacing <folder_path> with the actual path to your folder:

icacls "<folder_path>" /grant:r Administrators:F /t /c

Explanation:

icacls: The command-line tool for managing file and folder permissions.

"<folder_path>": The path to the folder you want to modify. Enclose the path in quotes if it contains spaces.

/grant:r: Specifies that you are granting permissions.

Administrators:F: Grants the "Administrators" group full control (F).

pseymour · Aug 3, 2025

That looks like it will work; I’m not at a PC where I can test it.

If you’re unsure of what you’re doing, and this isn’t on a test device you can afford to mess up, I would recommend you take a full backup first, in case something goes awry. Nothing wrong with learning and experimenting, just have a way to recover.

neldog · Aug 3, 2025

Thank you sir...

Jiekoe · Apr 23, 2026

Tester said:
Ok that somehow confirms my suspicion why it happens, but not sure of the solutions. Or why it happens. I think the handle gets invalid because process is not yet created, or already ended. And so not able to get the handle. Are the machines that failed, older machines, or really slow/heavy load?

Have done the test with Highest UAC and the removal of administrators from secpol.msc. And it still worked at my end. So people don't have to test that anymore.

edit: New script with some more debug info.

hi, I run this script on w10 ltsc up to date, version 10.0.19044.7184, but i get an error and apparently the script never ends (still running after 15min, it tries over and over to execute on the folders in C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\InFlight)
the error: PowerShell: "Some or all identity references could not be translated". I went into secpol and i have indeed the administratorS as authorized

Administrateur _ WinSxSDeleteEmptyInFlightFolders_2026-04-23 16_57_47.webp

Propriétés de _ Prendre possession de fichiers ou d’autres objets_2026-04-23 16_58_48.webp

garlin · Apr 23, 2026

I don't believe @Tester's script is language independent. French for Administrator is "Administrateur".

Can you try this updated version?
(Removed bad script, see post #2).

Jiekoe · Apr 23, 2026

garlin said:
I don't believe @Tester's script is language independent. French for Administrator is "Administrateur".

Can you try this updated version?

this one returns the error: impossible to convert some string into an identityreference

garlin · Apr 23, 2026

Try this one.
(Removed bad script, see post #2).

Jiekoe · Apr 23, 2026

yeah this one works if the ":x" is removed below "public class AdjPriv"

garlin · Apr 23, 2026

That typo was my fault.

“:x” is the save & exit command in my vim editor.

Slavic · Apr 23, 2026

cereberus said:
I just boot into Macrium Reflect Recovery Mode and use its file explorer to delete such folders. No faffing with dism or regedits.

This should work, but there is more easy way. Start Windows in recovery (safe) mode: press and keep Shift and then restart. Select Command prompt in recovery environment menu, then you can delete the files manually from this prompt or (as I have done) start a compatible file explorer, Total Commander in my case, select all folders and delete them with their content. It takes a few seconds on a system with SSD.

neldog · Apr 23, 2026

Slavic said:
This should work, but there is more easy way. Start Windows in recovery (safe) mode: press and keep Shift and then restart. Select Command prompt in recovery environment menu, then you can delete the files manually from this prompt...

This should work but be careful, deleting this way the objects deleted will not go to the Recycle Bin.

For clearing contents while keeping the folder, use del /q /s "C:\Path\To\Folder*"

EDIT: Well, I just tried that and it did not work as desired. It did not delete the sub folder, just the files in that sub folder.

garlin · Apr 23, 2026

There's nothing in those temp folders that requires special rights, other than running as Administrator.
You don't need to reboot out of Windows.

The problem is the script made a naive assumption that "Administrator" is the same word across the 38 supported Windows language editions. If you're not used to coding for multiple regions, then devs will forget details like this.

A similar problem is enabling firewall rules in other languages.

Code:

Get-NetFirewallRule | where { $_.Group -match '-32752|-28752' } | select -Unique DisplayGroup,Group

DisplayGroup      Group              
------------      -----              
Network Discovery @FirewallAPI.dll,-32752
Remote Desktop    @FirewallAPI.dll,-28752

Code:

Get-NetFirewallRule | where { $_.Group -match '-32752|-28752' } | select -Unique DisplayGroup,Group

DisplayGroup        Group              
------------        -----              
Recherche du réseau @FirewallAPI.dll,-32752
Bureau à distance   @FirewallAPI.dll,-28752

Hopefully, @Tester can update his copy of the script.

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