The page introduces ways to fix the problem when disk cleanup not showing or running in Windows 11 10 7 or server 2012 2008 r2 etc.
If Disk Cleanup is not showing up in Windows 11 or 10, here are some potential fixes you can try:
#1 Use the Start Menu Search: Open the Start menu and type "disk cleanup". If Disk Cleanup is installed on your system, it should appear in the search results.
#2 Check System Files: Go to the Control Panel, then select "Programs and Features". From there, click on "Turn Windows features on or off" on the left-hand side. Make sure that "Desktop Experience" is checked. If it is not, check it and click OK. Then, try searching for Disk Cleanup again.
#3 Use Command Prompt: Open Command Prompt as an administrator and run the following command: "cleanmgr.exe". This should launch Disk Cleanup.
Or you may use the following cmd to clean the drive C
cleanmgr.exe /d c
#4 Reinstall Disk Cleanup: If none of the above steps work, you may need to reinstall Disk Cleanup. To do this, go to the Microsoft website and download the Windows Update Cleanup tool. Run the tool to remove the existing Disk Cleanup files, then download and install Disk Cleanup from the Microsoft website.
Hopefully, one of these fixes will help you get Disk Cleanup up and running on your Windows 11 or 10 system.
If Disk Cleanup more options is showing up for you to remove system restore points, here are the ways to open it.
If Disk Cleanup is not showing your Windows update files, it may have been cleaned. You may empty the following folders and files to remove them all manually. Here is the folder address that saved the Windows OS update files:
file:///C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution/Download/
Or you may try the following fixes.
Run Disk Cleanup as an administrator: Sometimes, Disk Cleanup may not show system update files if it doesn't have the necessary permissions. To run it as an administrator, right-click on the Disk Cleanup shortcut and select "Run as administrator".
Enable "Clean up system files" option: Disk Cleanup may not show system update files if you haven't enabled the "Clean up system files" option. To do this, open Disk Cleanup, click on "Clean up system files", select the drive you want to clean up, and check the box next to "Windows Update Cleanup". Click "OK" to start the cleanup process.
Use the Command Prompt to clean up system update files: If Disk Cleanup is still not showing system update files, you can use the Command Prompt to clean them up. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator, and type in the following command: "dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup". This will clean up the system update files on your computer.
Use a third-party disk cleanup tool: If none of the above methods work, you can try using a third-party disk cleanup tool like CCleaner or Glary Utilities. These tools are designed to clean up system files and may be able to detect and remove system update files that Disk Cleanup is not showing.
It's worth noting that system update files can take up a lot of space on your computer, so it's important to clean them up regularly to free up disk space and improve system performance.
Also read: disk cleanup not deleting files
Note: Disk Cleanup is to help clean the trashes and temp files created by the Windows system. If you want to delete personal data files, you may delete them manually.
Partition Resizer is a free tool that can help delete files on a volume permanently. (The whole drive instead of one specific folder/file)
Here are the steps to wipe a hard disk volume: