Windows 11 Disk Cleanup will not Remove Windows Update Cleanup

Anonymous

I recently ran disk cleanup on Windows 11 Pro to clear about 2 gig of Windows Update files. This has always worked in the past, but, now, it acts like it's working except that the process moves much too quickly compared to how it used to work. If I run it again, it says that the same amount of space is still present and available to be deleted.

I have tried all of the posted (here, in Microsoft docs, and elsewhere on the net) to try to resolve this issue, but nothing has worked. Those include renaming the Software distribution folder, rebooting and removing the old one, checking services to make sure the proper ones are running, running SFC and DISM and going through the Microsoft published process of manually resetting the Windows Update and cleanup systems.

I have a four computer peer to peer network. Three computers are on Windows 11 and one on Windows 10. The Windows 10 computer is working properly, but all three of the Windows 11 machines are exhibiting this problem. Is this something that Microsoft is aware of or is it a temporary thing because of the problems with the recent updates?

Any suggestions are welcome, but I have tried all of the things previously posted about this problem. Thanks.

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98 answers

Anonymous

2022-06-07T13:29:23+00:00
Just current update:
1. MS support obviously has no solution regarding this problem. Its only proposed solution is reset or re-install the entire system. This is a typical situation in a case when a suitable solution is not known.
2. The problem progressively escalates with other consequent MS Windows updates of any kind. The size of un-removable "Windows update cleanup" is still rising.
So far, no reliable solution known... :(
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Anonymous

2022-06-06T14:23:33+00:00

So far, you seem to be absolutely right ... :(
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Anonymous

2022-06-06T14:13:48+00:00

Microsoft doesn't seem to think this is a problem.
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Anonymous

2022-06-06T12:21:58+00:00
appears there are some dism commands that help confirm, after running cleanup, RestoreHealth and AnalyzeComponentStore

the response remains,

Number of Reclaimable Packages : 4

Component Store Cleanup Recommended : Yes

see below

C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.22000.653

Image Version: 10.0.22000.708

[=========== 20.0% ]

The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.22000.653

Image Version: 10.0.22000.708

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.

The operation completed successfully.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.22000.653

Image Version: 10.0.22000.708

[==========================100.0%==========================]

Component Store (WinSxS) information:

Windows Explorer Reported Size of Component Store : 13.42 GB

Actual Size of Component Store : 12.61 GB
```
Shared with Windows : 6.02 GB 

Backups and Disabled Features : 5.03 GB 

Cache and Temporary Data : 1.55 GB 
```
Date of Last Cleanup : 2022-06-06 07:13:28

Number of Reclaimable Packages : 4

Component Store Cleanup Recommended : Yes

The operation completed successfully.
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Anonymous

2022-06-05T12:50:23+00:00

That is great except for those of us who are not part of the Insider Program. However, it is a hopeful sign that a fix is in the future.
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