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

Wisewiz · Nov 3, 2021

@The-Hive said, "Has anyone deleted them? and was there any problems?"

From my W10Forum post: "I have exactly 800 of them on my compliant 11Pro282 system, and 1,200 of them on my non-compliant. Seems to be 20/day."

I deleted all of them on both systems, and disabled the logon task on both, and I have restarted about three times on each since. Zero problems. Nada. Zilch.

And no new empty folders so far.

Ghot · Nov 3, 2021

The-Hive said:
When it's at home is an English saying which in this case means when it's running

Ah, and main driver must be an English saying too.
I assumed that meant... main computer?

Bree said:
You didn't think of going to Seven Forums then? This, I think, was the last one available for all to install. Subsequent ones require an Extended Security Update contract, else they will not install.

KB4534314 Security Only Quality update for Windows 7 - Jan. 14

January 14, 2020 - KB4534314 (Security-only update) Applies to: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, Windows Embedded Standard 7 Service Pack 1, Windows Embedded POSReady 7

www.sevenforums.com

I have a SevenForums account. View Profile: Ghot - Windows 7 Help Forums
But some time in the Win 7 days, MS started putting out the Quality Update and the Security only patches, every patch Tuesday. All I wanted was the security patches. Started in October 2016.

Topic: 2000003: Ongoing list of “Group B” monthly updates for Win7 and 8.1 @ AskWoody

Hazel123 said:
It's all greek to me - but I vaguely remember in XP days when doing a clean up there were always lots of temporary files to clean up - anything to do with that?

We still have Buzz Lightyear. The original full sized one and he still talks (when turned on). Think they're collectors items now. Still in the "child's" bedroom (now a teenager) - but last time I looked he'd posed Buzz doing this

LOL. I wouldn't have believed we had a "middle finger" smiley.

Today is only the 2nd time I've ever heard of Buzz Lightyear.
The only other time was about 1-2 months ago, when @barman58, first mentioned him. :)

Wisewiz · Nov 3, 2021

That's what you get for not believing!

(JK)

Feuer · Nov 3, 2021

Ghot said:
Why are you disabling the Cellular Task?

I changed it with logon, sorry.

BrianInEngland · Nov 3, 2021

Well I disabled the Logon task as suggested here. No new files were created in the systemprofile folder, the only change was the Packages folder was updated to the logon time. Not noticed any adverse affects so far.

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

@Ghot I thought the main driver was an American term which means the main one or best one or the one I use the most

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

If I disable the logon task to stop the tw-xxx.tmp folders being generated, will ProvTool.exe not work at all or work when needed as if started by another app/program?

BrianInEngland · Nov 3, 2021

The-Hive said:
If I disable the logon task to stop the tw-xxx.tmp folders being generated, will ProvTool.exe not work at all or work when needed as if started by another app/program?

We'll only know that if/when it causes a problem. At least if it does we'll know the solution is to re-enable the task

Wisewiz · Nov 3, 2021

Ghot said:
Ah, and main driver must be an English saying too.
I assumed that meant... main computer?

I've seen that many times, I think from British users only. Things like "I won't put Windows 11 on my main driver yet."

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

BrianInEngland said:
We'll only know that if/when it causes a problem. At least if it does we'll know the solution is to re-enable the task

@BrianInEngland to put it another way, do any other apps or programs start ProvTool.exe or use it? I want to know what else if anything uses it as no one seems to know exactly what it does therefore you may get a problem later which is caused by ProvTool that is not evident. I don't think waiting to see if there is a problem is a good idea

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

Wisewiz said:
I've seen that many times, I think from British users only. Things like "I won't put Windows 11 on my main driver yet."

I don't know then, the first time I heard it was from an American on here. Us Brits have loads of funny sayings so it could well be. We also have a lot of saying that are only used in certain parts of the country

Bree · Nov 3, 2021

The-Hive said:
Us Brits have loads of funny sayings so it could well be. We also have a lot of saying that are only used in certain parts of the country

This 'Brit' uses the term 'daily driver' to indicate a machine I use for all my daily needs. More usually its applied to cars, distinguishing the one I keep on my drive from the 50+ year old classic mini I keep in the garage. But it's equally applicable to my PCs. In this case my System One below is my 'daily driver'.

Wisewiz · Nov 3, 2021

I thought that was the case. Thanks.

BrianInEngland · Nov 3, 2021

The-Hive said:
@BrianInEngland to put it another way, do any other apps or programs start ProvTool.exe or use it? I want to know what else if anything uses it as no one seems to know exactly what it does therefore you may get a problem later which is caused by ProvTool that is not evident. I don't think waiting to see if there is a problem is a good idea

Fair point, but as you say no one seems to know *exactly* what it's for - I think it's related to cellular network/LTE use - the Cellular task in Provisioning also uses provtool.exe but I see nothing else that does. My ethernet connection is working fine, games are loading, update checking is working, phone link is connected etc. Nothing I've used tonight seems to indicate provtool is *needed*

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

Bree said:
This 'Brit' uses the term 'daily driver' to indicate a machine I use for all my daily needs. More usually its applied to cars, distinguishing the one I keep on my drive from the 50+ year old classic mini I keep in the garage. But it's equally applicable to my PCs. In this case my System One below is my 'daily driver'.

By machine I mean anything, car, pc, boat it can be anything I use above others the same, eg I have a harley wide glide a honda sport plus and a Toyota rav 4 all good vehicles but I call the sport plus my daily driver as I use it the most. with pc's I have an area 51, an hp omen and a dell inspiron and the area 51 is my daily driver as I use it the most :)

The-Hive · Nov 3, 2021

BrianInEngland said:
Fair point, but as you say no one seems to know *exactly* what it's for - I think it's related to cellular network/LTE use - the Cellular task in Provisioning also uses provtool.exe but I see nothing else that does. My ethernet connection is working fine, games are loading, update checking is working, phone link is connected etc. Nothing I've used tonight seems to indicate provtool is *needed*

Thanks for the info, as long as we get the important things that's what matters. it is even possible things are using it in the background we don't know about and only the task is causing the problems

Ghot · Nov 3, 2021

The-Hive said:
If I disable the logon task to stop the tw-xxx.tmp folders being generated, will ProvTool.exe not work at all or work when needed as if started by another app/program?

Yeah. By disabling that Logon task, you aren't stopping ProvTool.exe from doing other things.
If some other program or task calls on ProvTool.exe, it'll still do w/e they want.

Now, if removing those folders by delete or by stopping the task, affects other programs... well that's why we're testing this.
The guy on the AskWoody forums said he had the task disabled for over a year now, and no problems.

My guess would be that MS was possibly planning on doing something with those folders, but changed their mind or something.
Maybe it was supposed to have something to do with telemetry.
If that's the case, then I for one don't care if I no longer create those folders.