Automate process of Disk Cleanup cleanmgr.exe without user intervention

Question

I am developing a powershell script file which shall execute some disk cleanup without user intervention. The user shall not be able to configure anything.

When I run cleanmgr.exe /d c: sageset:1 a popup window appears to select files/folders to be cleaned(cleanup options).

This will create a registry entry containing the settings with the cleanup options and after this, you can run cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:1 which will actually execute the cleanup.

Is there a way to specify the cleanup options directly with powerhell/command line(without the need to manually select things to be deleted)?

Answer 1

The following Powershell script automates CleanMgr.exe. In this case, it removes temporary files and runs the Update Cleanup extension to purge superseded Service Pack Backup files (Windows 10 now does this automatically via a scheduled task). To automate other extensions, create a "StateFlags0001" property in the corresponding Registry key, as done in the New-ItemProperty lines. You will find the Registry key names in the "VolumeCaches" branch.

As far as being silent, this script attempts to start CleanMgr.exe in a hidden window. However, at some point CleanMgr spawns new processes which are visible and must be waited on separately.

Write-Host 'Clearing CleanMgr.exe automation settings.'
Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\*' -Name StateFlags0001 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-ItemProperty -Name StateFlags0001 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Write-Host 'Enabling Update Cleanup. This is done automatically in Windows 10 via a scheduled task.'
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Update Cleanup' -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord

Write-Host 'Enabling Temporary Files Cleanup.'
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary Files' -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord

Write-Host 'Starting CleanMgr.exe...'
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:1' -WindowStyle Hidden -Wait

Write-Host 'Waiting for CleanMgr and DismHost processes. Second wait neccesary as CleanMgr.exe spins off separate processes.'
Get-Process -Name cleanmgr,dismhost -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Wait-Process

$UpdateCleanupSuccessful = $false
if (Test-Path $env:SystemRoot\Logs\CBS\DeepClean.log) {
    $UpdateCleanupSuccessful = Select-String -Path $env:SystemRoot\Logs\CBS\DeepClean.log -Pattern 'Total size of superseded packages:' -Quiet
}

if ($UpdateCleanupSuccessful) {
    Write-Host 'Rebooting to complete CleanMgr.exe Update Cleanup....'
    SHUTDOWN.EXE /r /f /t 0 /c 'Rebooting to complete CleanMgr.exe Update Cleanup....'
}

Answer 2

You can use cleanmgr /verylowdisk to silently automate all the cleanup steps.

Answer 3

I ran into the same issue. Researching the possible ways, I have found the following: http://stealthpuppy.com/cleaning-up-and-reducing-the-size-of-your-master-image/

It shows how to create the sageset registry settings via cmd. You can then use the sagerun:# cmd. I have not tried it via script yet, but have validated that it works...

Answer 4

The only solution I found is to manually set the registry values like this:

...

#Set StateFlags0012 setting for each item in Windows 8.1 disk cleanup utility
if  (-not (get-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Active Setup Temp Folders' -name StateFlags0012 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Active Setup Temp Folders' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\BranchCache' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Downloaded Program Files' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2

...

see full example

Answer 5

This script will get all the Volume Caches from the Registry, enable them to be cleaned and run the CLEANMGR.EXE for all caches.

$VolumeCachesRegDir = "hklm:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches"
$CacheDirItemNames = Get-ItemProperty "$VolumeCachesRegDir\*" | select -ExpandProperty PSChildName

$CacheDirItemNames | 
    %{
        $exists = Get-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name "StateFlags6553" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        If (($exists -ne $null) -and ($exists.Length -ne 0))
            {
                Set-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name StateFlags6553 -Value 2
            }
        else
            {
                New-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name StateFlags6553 -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord
            }
     }
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3


Write-Host 'Running CleanMgr.exe...'
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:65535' -WindowStyle Hidden -PassThru
cls