Solved Windows 10 & 11 create tons of empty folders in System32

I found 2200 of them on my Windows 10 install, and 180 of them on my recent Windows 11 install.
Location: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local

They're all empty folders, beginning with tw and ending with .tmp
Deleting them seems to have no side effects.

Yes i have them as well, i will leave them alone, they don't occupy much space.

FreeBooter said:

Yes i have them as well, i will leave them alone, they don't occupy much space.

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Correct... they don't occupy much space. But... my OCD doesn't like them.

Ghot said:

... my OCD doesn't like them. :)

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There's an app a pill for that.

Wisewiz said:

There's an app a pill for that.

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Somewhere there has to be at least some disk space used, to remember all the file names, and the locations of those files.
Or if they're never gonna be accessed again...why not delete them or just not create them at all.
It's like walking around leaving Dorito crumbs all over the place.
Pretty sloppy coding, if you ask me. :)

Ghot said:

MS couldn't code in, to delete the older ones, after four or five were gathered there?

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MS coders didn't give a flying f---. "Hey, should we code in 'autodelete all but the latest ten days'?" "Nah. Nobody but that guy called Ghot will even notice them. Fuggeddabawdit."

Wisewiz said:

MS coders didn't give a flying f---. "Hey, should we code in 'autodelete all but the latest ten days'?" "Nah. Nobody but that guy called Ghot will even notice them. Fuggeddabawdit."

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At least it helps explain why over time, Windows get slower and slower.
Makes ya wonder how many other things like that exist in Windows code.

It probably has nothing to do with this but I understand there can be empty folders for windows to use if needed rather than create as needed. I guess that not many. I remember back on 10 I deleted an empty folder and something went wrong, I can't remember what it was maybe an empty start up folder, so now I leave them

I always think of things like running a virus scan, or doing a search. All those junk folders add up after a while.
Even something simple like right clicking the C:\ drive and choosing properties.
That would have to check all those folders to see how many bytes they were, before it could give you a total... for "used space".

Yeah, I think I recall the same thing: you have to have a Startup folder, even if it's empty except for desktop.ini, in both the All Users and the Current User Start Menu\Programs folders.

Wisewiz said:

Yeah, I think I recall the same thing: you have to have a Startup folder, even if it's empty except for desktop.ini, in both the All Users and the Current User Start Menu\Programs folders.

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That must be it then @Wisewiz

Just found this: Windows 11 creates hundreds of temporary folders on the system drive

The TW at the beginning of those folder names must stand for "time wasted" or "total waste" or something.
Or maybe... "that wanker".

I have been using "for /d %1 in (tw*.tmp) do rd %1" in the C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local folder from the command prompt to clean it up but it keeps coming back after a while. Disk Cleanup won't work for this issue. These folders are completely empty.

Ghot said:

The TW at the beginning of those folder names must stand for "time wasted" or "total waste" or something.
Or maybe... "that wanker".

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"Typically Windows," the MS equivalent of the military's SNAFU.

Ghot said:

Windows 11 creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory - gHacks Tech News

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory, just like the Windows 10 operating system.

www.ghacks.net

I found 2200 of them on my Windows 10 install, and 180 of them on my recent Windows 11 install.
Location: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local

They're all empty folders, beginning with tw and ending with .tmp
Deleting them seems to have no side effects.

Click to expand...

On my system which was a Windows 10 from May 201 upgraded to Windows 11 on July 3, 2021 - I found about 900 of them and there were also 2 *.tmp files in that same folder which I deleted.

Ghot said:

I always think of things like running a virus scan, or doing a search. All those junk folders add up after a while.
Even something simple like right clicking the C:\ drive and choosing properties.
That would have to check all those folders to see how many bytes they were, before it could give you a total... for "used space".

Click to expand...

Yes because every file will take up the file cluster size regardless what the real size shown is, for NTFS, that would be 4KB per folder even if it was 0 bytes in size and those do add up if there are lots of them.

Here is explained, how you can stop the creation of these folders (3rd contribution on the page, not the script)

Ghot said:

Windows 11 creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory - gHacks Tech News

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system creates lots of empty folders in a System32 directory, just like the Windows 10 operating system.

www.ghacks.net

I found 2200 of them on my Windows 10 install, and 180 of them on my recent Windows 11 install.
Location: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local

They're all empty folders, beginning with tw and ending with .tmp
Deleting them seems to have no side effects.

Click to expand...

On my new desktop running Win 11 I have 20 folders. I also have Win 11 running in a VM and it has 80 empty folder.

Has anyone deleted them? and was there any problems?