Windows 11 Disk Cleanup will not Remove Windows Update Cleanup

Anonymous
2022-05-16T16:04:16+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-15T15:15:41+00:00

    Nice find. I also suspect that these updates may be what cause the SiriusXM app to not work as that went down about the same time.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-25T18:34:54+00:00

    I have the same problem, indeed the cleaner is working only the the reporting size is incorrect, we have to wait for an update, to mutch work to do a clean install. My Windows 11 laptop have the same updates and that one works good, only my desktop have this problem, so not al machines have this problem.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-07-16T19:03:47+00:00

    It appears that Microsoft's solution is to remove the option to remove Windows Update files from the system.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-07-17T19:47:12+00:00

    I have exactly the same problem. Disc cleanup shows a wrong report of 2.1GB that can be removed but these files are not existing because I have deleted all files in SoftwareDistribution folder. Every time disc cleanup runs it finds the same 2.1GB that "can be removed".

    Is there any chances of a fix by MS?

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-07-17T20:08:27+00:00

    If you report the problem officially to the MS support then Yes, there is a chance!!!

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