Temp folder just keeps building up

JohnnyGui · Jan 3, 2024

I'm noticing the temp folder is taking up more and more space. The amount of space I can clean via the Windows Settings or Disk Cleanup (as Administrator or not) is not enough to compensate for that and only clears up a small fraction.

I read that temp files that are used within a week won't get deleted but I'm seeing way older files that haven't been changed for months. Furthermore, I don't expect the cleanup option to show temp files that can't be deleted.

Apart from being able to delete the temp files manually, what is the reason I can't do this by simply using the cleanup setting of Windows?

allan · Jan 3, 2024

Is storage sense enabled? Manage drive space with Storage Sense - Microsoft Support

Turn On or Off Storage Sense in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Storage Sense to automatically free up system drive space for your account in Windows 11. Storage Sense can automatically free up drive space for you by getting rid of items that you don't need, like temporary files and items in your Recycle...

www.elevenforum.com

Personally, I just empty my temp folders manually a couple of times a week.

JohnnyGui · Jan 3, 2024

allan said:
Is storage sense enabled? Manage drive space with Storage Sense - Microsoft Support

Personally, I just empty my temp folders manually a couple of times a week.

No it's not, should that be the cause?

I understand I can do it manually, but I'm just surprised it doesn't work normally through standard means.

Is anyone else noticing this?

garioch7 · Jan 3, 2024

@JohnnyGui ,

Personally, I use System Ninja once a week to clean out all of the junk temp files that accumulate. There are both free and Pro versions of that software. I have a Pro license for both of my computers.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

allan · Jan 3, 2024

Storage Sense will help if your free disk space gets too low. As for Temp files being deleted after a week, I'm not aware of any such function built in to Windows.

BamaInArk · Jan 3, 2024

I guess this somewhat depends on what Temp files are bring cleaned. I have at least 2 Temp folder locations. One is Windows\Temp while another one is Users\Userprofile\AppData\Local\Temp

I'll have to test to see what folders/*.tmp files are deleted via Disk Cleanup.

allan · Jan 3, 2024

FWIW, I always use Environment Variables to move my temp folders (System & User) to a new TEMP folder in the root of C: drive. This makes it easy to manage / delete content.

BamaInArk · Jan 3, 2024

I used to do that with older version of Windows. I haven't messed with it much with Win7/10/11. But if you change the Temp folder(s) location how does that effect Disk Cleanup? I still use CCleaner however.

allan · Jan 3, 2024

The system knows where the Temp folder is. But as I said, I empty the folder the old fashioned way :wink:

OAT · Jan 3, 2024

allan said:
FWIW, I always use Environment Variables to move my temp folders (System & User) to a new TEMP folder in the root of C: drive. This makes it easy to manage / delete content.

That is what I do as well but both go on another drive altogether.

Drawbacks:
1- Should only be used on a system with a single user. Those are System Variables. command line C:> set (enter)
2- I am on Canary & Dev and every release change it back to default.

Deleting the content of those temp folders is not an issue but it is recommended to close as many programs & Apps as possible.
You will get some warnings otherwise & will be prevented from deleting active files.

trumpy81 · Jan 4, 2024

I use Empty Temp Folders. It's an older program that will empty any temp folders you point it to.

I keep it pinned to the taskbar and I run it multiple times a day. Files that are in use are silently skipped and they will be cleaned the next time you run Empty Temp Folders provided they are no longer in use.

abactuon · Jan 4, 2024

Let's switch to C:\

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("TEMP","C:\Temp","User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("TMP","C:\Temp","User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("TEMP","C:\Temp","Machine")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Tmp","C:\Temp","Machine")
$i = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Temp"
Remove-Item $i -Recurse -Force
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path $i -Value "C:\Temp"

Removal:

Remove-Item C:\Temp\*" -Force -Recurse

--------------------
There are other Temp folders.

Kees · Jan 4, 2024

The TEMP folder in my system is deleted automatically every system-startup.
How did I do that?

I have 32 GByte Memory, of which I assigned 8 GB for a RamDisk space (I called it drive Z:).
I do that by means of the (freeware) program ImDisk, of which the (main) settings are:

Every startup a new TEMP folder will be made and every shut down the TEMP folder will be deleted.
I never experienced any problems by doing this and the size of the TEMP folder stays within reasonable amounts.
The biggest space consumer is my anti-virus program. The total space used for that is about 170 MByte.

The other available space I use for having a work area, which automatically will be destroyed when restarting or shutting down.
Files that are having confidential contents (for instance pdf's containing bank overviews), I always download to that area and read-protect them before moving them to a normal data folder.

But I use the space as well for scratch area for my photo-editing software. No SSD 'consumption' for that purpose!

BamaInArk · Jan 4, 2024

allan said:
The system knows where the Temp folder is. But as I said, I empty the folder the old fashioned way

I went and tested using Disk Cleanup with Temporary Files selected. It appears hardly any of the files on both my Temp locations was cleaned. It's possible some were deleted but looking at my 2 Temp folders before and after they appeared pretty much the same. I then ran CCleaner and all files except those with the current date were deleted. Although I can't remember now if it took care of both. Dangit, will have to run it again to check. So it appears Disk Cleanup doesn't do a good job at least with *.tmp files depending on location of said *.tmp files.

JohnnyGui · Jan 4, 2024

BamaInArk said:
I went and tested using Disk Cleanup with Temporary Files selected. It appears hardly any of the files on both my Temp locations was cleaned. It's possible some were deleted but looking at my 2 Temp folders before and after they appeared pretty much the same. I then ran CCleaner and all files except those with the current date were deleted. Although I can't remember now if it took care of both. Dangit, will have to run it again to check. So it appears Disk Cleanup doesn't do a good job at least with *.tmp files depending on location of said *.tmp files.

Thanks for testing. I think Disk Cleanup should clean the one in Appdata/Local because the one in C:\Windows\ is empty and yet Disk Cleanup shows temp files taking an amount of space that almost resembles the one in Appdata/Local. And yet it barely deletes any of these files.

@garioch7 @OAT @trumpy81 @abactuon @Kees

I am wondering whether Disk Cleanup or the option via Windows Settings actually cleans all the temp files in your cases.

trumpy81 · Jan 4, 2024

I have never known Windows to clean any files from AppData\Local\Temp other than some temp system files, not since XP was released, hence the Empty Temp Folders program.

It is mostly your apps that populate that folder in any case and unless they clean up after themselves (very few do), that folder will continue to grow until all disk space is consumed or until you manually clean it.

Since XP it has been regarded as a performance boost to manually clean that folder.

As for the Windows settings, I cannot say if it does clean anything or not as I manually clean the folder via Empty Temp Folders and I have never bothered to change any of those settings in Win11 so they remain at their default settings.

My disk space never gets low, so Storage sense never runs in any case.

OAT · Jan 4, 2024

JohnnyGui said:
I am wondering whether Disk Cleanup or the option via Windows Settings actually cleans all the temp files in your cases.

It does but I use :

Code:

CLEANMGR /sagerun:64

Once again, applications & programs that are active and use tmp files can't usually be deleted.

JohnnyGui · Jan 4, 2024

OAT said:
It does but I use :

So you are using your mentioned command or have you tested the standard Windows settings option?

OAT said:
Once again, applications & programs that are active and use tmp files can't usually be deleted.

As mentioned, many of the folders are not modified for months and I can even see folders containing photos for some reason.

trumpy81 said:
It is mostly your apps that populate that folder in any case and unless they clean up after themselves (very few do), that folder will continue to grow until all disk space is consumed or until you manually clean it.

But shouldn't Disk Cleanup or the option via Windows settings fulfill the goal of removing the files that are left by programs? Why isn't it working?

trumpy81 · Jan 4, 2024

As far as I am aware, Disk Cleanup will only remove temp system files, it does not touch application files, at least not those in use.

Storage sense will only run when the drive is low on space or daily, weekly, etc... depending on your settings. You can run it manually at any time, but that is rather cumbersome if you ask me.

OAT · Jan 4, 2024

@FreeBooter has a script that does a pretty thorough job if I recall.

Code:

:: Batch Script Created by FreeBooter

@Echo Off & Cls

net sess>nul 2>&1||(powershell start cmd -ArgumentList """/c %~0""" -verb Runas & exit)

Call :IsAdmin

Mode CON LINES=5 COLS=50 & Color 0E

Echo                   PLEASE WAIT...


:: Clear Temporary Folder.
Cd %TMP%
For /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('Dir /b %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp') do (
Echo Y | Rd /s /q "%%a" 2>NUL 1>NUL
If Exist "%%a" Echo Y | Del /a /f "%%a" 2>NUL 1>NUL
)
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo        FINISHED DELETING TEMPORARY FILES
Echo.
Echo.
ping -n 5 localhost >Nul


Cls