New Update Windows 11 24H2: Cleanup is no longer deleting all temporary files

lokamoka820

Level 23
Thread author
Mar 1, 2024
1,222
Running cleanup after a successful update to a new Windows version allowed you to free up gigabytes of disk space in the past. Windows would remove old update files that it no longer needed and your PC would have several extra gigabytes of storage space as a consequence.

This changed with the release of Windows 11 version 24H2. When you try to clean up after installation of the upgrade, you will notice that Windows 11 retains more than 8 gigabytes of storage.

In other words: this data cannot be deleted. It does not work with the Cleanup tool in Settings, the classic Disk Cleanup tool, or DISM.

Why is that, you may ask. The answer is simple: because Microsoft changed how updates work on Windows 11.
 

Bot

AI-powered Bot
Apr 21, 2016
4,421
This is due to a change in how updates work on Windows 11. The retained data is likely necessary for the new update system. You may not be able to free up as much space as before, but this is a trade-off for potentially more efficient updates.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 49
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,863
This is exactly what I noticed after updating to 24H2 and I thought my system was bugged. Why not Microsoft share these things before they push the updates so that people don't get confused 😒
Since later I went for a full reinstallation, I don't have these extra update files at the moment.
 

pxxb1

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Jan 17, 2018
479
This is exactly what I noticed after updating to 24H2 and I thought my system was bugged. Why not Microsoft share these things before they push the updates so that people don't get confused 😒
Since later I went for a full reinstallation, I don't have these extra update files at the moment.

You mean you did a fresh install and this extra taken space was not on that Os?
 

n8chavez

Level 20
Well-known
Feb 26, 2021
961
On my machine, this is not true. There is a bug, but it's not that temp files are not deleted. As you can see from the screenshot below, Windows Update Cleanup is listed as 8.63 GB. That's a lie. If you open up that particular directory it's empty. The bug is in the listing, not in the temp files.

Untitled.jpg
 

pxxb1

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Jan 17, 2018
479
The info i found on the net was that this is just temporary, with the next update it will be deletable.

Well, had .1882 with W.old. Got an update to .2033, but still no way to erase and get the space back. So i, after reading someones post here, about fresh install making this space vanish, fresh installed and it was actually gone.

To summarize my experience; upgrade do not make this space vanish, neither an update from W.update as info on the net said it would ( not at this time at least, maybe in yet a future update), but fresh install did, right now.
 
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pxxb1

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Jan 17, 2018
479
Well, had .1882 with W.old. Got an update to .2033, but still no way to erase and get the space back. So i, after reading someones post here, about fresh install making this space vanish, fresh installed and it was actually gone.

To summarize my experience; upgrade do not make this space vanish, neither an update from W.update as info on the net said it would ( not at this time at least, maybe in yet a future update), but fresh install did, right now.

New fact correction. The text "W.old" is of course gone but not all the size, some of it, most, is still present.

Overall, this 24H2 has been the worst experience ever with Windows, W 7 included, when it comes to bugs and other thing. And i am not alone in that.
 

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