Windows 10 / 11 post WU installation cleanup script

jessewilliams56 said:

I was directed in one of my forum help posts to run this script. Can anyone tell me what it does? Either I am out of the loop, or I missed what the script is supposed to do.

Thanks, Jesse

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antspants said:

It basically just runs these commands but automated and in succession, Jesse.

/drivers/maxclean
dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealh
sfc /scannow
dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
dism /online /Cleanup-Image /Startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

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So, to clarify a little more, the script I have linked in the first post is my attempt to collate all of the usual steps many of use power, pro and expert users here at Eleven FOrum (11F) use to help clean up our systems after a major update to Windows, specifically those line items that @antspants mentions. I did a lot of research and evaluated various ways to make the script more automated, and settled on a way that the batch file run and automatically elevated its own privileges so the commands can be run without unnecessary (and repeated) UAC elevation prompts, or potentially failing because of a lack of elevation in the first place.

In post #47 (<-- clickable link) above, though, I link to a utility that can run all of these commands with a bit more clarity, giving a small explanation of each, and while less automated than my script, it is, I feel, the superior approach to accomplishing these same steps that my script does, partially because of the independent windows with respective command output, as well as the ability to run other commands that are not included in the script that I compiled.

jimminy said:

Your approach is probably the best way!

I removed another app called web experience something or other. It apparently controls the widget stuff which I don't use. Bofore the day was out, I noticed that windows had re-installed it.

I'm beginning to think this particular minion function really isn't useful.

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I suppose it depends on the approach - but removing pre-installed Windows app does require a bit of research. As Garlin noted in post #54 above, one such example is one app the was renamed and a new app that was added using the old name lol. Whereas the old app was removable, the newer one is not, and you noted that it still showed up even after you tagged it for removal - quite possibly because Stefan's utility was still trying to remove the old one versus the new one.

I've played around in the part with removing things, but I've found that simply disabling most of them suffices for me, and it's a lot less hassle in the long run, particularly when

1. I tend to cleanly install Windows 2-3 times a year, and
2. Windows can pull things like the above-noted app rename and replace, potentially rendering pre-written scripts (at least partially) useless, unless you are made aware of such changes in newer builds and adjust accordingly.

It's already so much of a headache to maintain such a script because of that second point, and since I run multiple VMs of various Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions, I've resorted to using Stefan's utility for everything my script can do and basically nothing else.

Just some input about the script:

1) rundll32.exe pnpclean.dll,RunDLL_PnpClean /drivers/maxclean
which when I did a search to figure out what it does before reading beyond the post #1, it can have bad consequences as seen here:

2) dism /online /Cleanup-Image /Startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

A few days ago when I had the Error 6824, I was reading about /resetbase and according to post #2 in this thread:
/resetbase has been disabled and it does more harm than good but /resetbase is ignored regardless.
Comment #26 in the current thread actually tells what /resetbase does in the "Warning" section.

Burgurne said:

I downloaded your script, but at this line in the script, dism /online /Cleanup-Image /Startcomponentcleanup /resetbase, I get this error at 23%:
Error: 6824 - The operation cannot be performed because another transaction depends on this property not changing.
What to do??

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That has nothing to do with the script or the build of Windows you are running as others had mentioned when responding to you and also, /resetbase has nothing to do with it as it's ignored and disabled by Windows .

I had the same issue two days ago and the solution is mentioned in my post here with full credits to @Bree who along with others experienced the same problem over a year ago:

Is it a good idea/recommended to run this after the update to 24H2 from 23H2 ? And if it is, should I be running all of the commands or ?

MultiDoc said:

Is it a good idea/recommended to run this after the update to 24H2 from 23H2 ? And if it is, should I be running all of the commands or ?

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I run Virtual Machines of numerous Windows 11 builds, mostly the various Insider Preview builds, but I do have one bone stock Windows 11 23H2 VM and another Windows 11 24H2 bone stock VM.

I run this script (mainly through the app I mentioned in post #47) on all of them. it's caught a few issues here and there along the way, early on, so for that reason alone I highly suggest doing this every time there is a massive update like changing the build version (23H2 --> 24H2) but even when there are simple build version changes (26100.2859 --> 26100.3025, as an example).

So, long story short - yes, it is always worth it to run these steps. I even run them on my main machine that is running 24H2.

Since you're asking specifically for the major update, it really is worth your while to run all of the steps.

@Almighty1 mentions a few posts up that the driver cleaning might cause issues, and resetbase has been ... relegated to being ignored.

So, these are the commands you'll want.


Technically, you don't even need to run the first one, so these two should be good enough: