Disk Cleanup can be oddly stubborn: it may not open, may sit on a scan for ages, or may finish without freeing meaningful space. Often the tool is slow or scanning a category that does not matter much anymore.
These steps apply to Windows 10 and Windows 11 when using Disk Cleanup, also known as cleanmgr.
Does This Affect You?
Disk Cleanup is an older Windows utility. It still works, but some categories can take a long time, and the basic scan misses the larger system-file cleanup areas. Run it with administrator access first, then use DISM or Storage Sense if the graphical tool keeps hanging.
Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator
The system-file scan is the one that usually frees real space.
- Click Start, type Disk Cleanup, and open it.
- Choose the main drive, usually C:, and click OK.
- Click Clean up system files.
- Choose the drive again and wait for the second scan.
- Select large categories such as Windows Update Cleanup, Previous Windows installation(s), Temporary files, and Delivery Optimization Files.
- Click OK, then confirm Delete Files.
The normal scan may only remove small temporary files. The administrator system-file scan is where old update and upgrade files appear.
Free Space with DISM Instead
If Disk Cleanup freezes, DISM can clear old Windows component files from the command line.
- Open Command Prompt as administrator.
- Run
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup. - Wait for the command to finish. It can take several minutes.
- For a deeper cleanup, run
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBaseonly if you are sure you do not need to uninstall recent updates.
Fix Freezing on Compressing Old Files
On some PCs, Disk Cleanup hangs while checking the old compression category. Removing that category from the scan can make the tool usable again.
- Press Windows key + R, type
regedit, and press Enter. - Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerVolumeCaches. - Find Compress old files under VolumeCaches.
- Right-click Compress old files, choose Delete, and confirm.
- Close Registry Editor and run Disk Cleanup again.
That category rarely saves much space on modern PCs, so removing it from the scan usually has little practical downside.
More Disk Cleanup Notes
Use Storage Sense for Ongoing Cleanup
Open Settings > System > Storage and configure Storage Sense if you want Windows to clean temporary files on a schedule.
If Disk Cleanup Will Not Open
Press Windows key + R, type cleanmgr, and press Enter. If that also fails, run sfc /scannow from an administrator Command Prompt to repair Windows system files.
If It Barely Frees Any Space
Check Settings > System > Storage to see what is actually using space. Installed games, apps, videos, downloads, and personal files can be much larger than anything Disk Cleanup removes.
Sources
- Microsoft Support: Free up drive space in Windows
- Microsoft Support: Disk Cleanup and system file cleanup
- Microsoft Learn: Manage disk space with Storage Sense and DISM