SP2 Disk Cleanup Tool

How to Use the Vista SP2 Disk Cleanup Tool​

   Information

This will show you how to run the Vista SP2 Cleanup tool to permanently remove the Vista RTM and SP1 backed up files created during the installion of the Vista SP2 to gain more hard drive space.

   Warning

Running the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Disk Clean-up tool permanently removes the ability to uninstall the Vista SP1 and SP2. Do not run this tool unless you have no plans of uninstalling the Vista SP1 or SP2 and just want to save or regain hard drive space. The only option to remove them after using this tool is to do a clean install of Vista.

   Note

To see how much space you recover, make a note of how much free space you have on the C:/ drive in Computer before and after you run the SP2 Cleanup Tool.

It appears that most people are gaining on average 1GB of space back afterwards.

Here's How:

1. Open a elevated command prompt.​

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2. In the elevated command prompt, type compcln.exe and then press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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3. Type Y when you see Would you like to continue? and press Enter.​

NOTE: Tying N will cancel running the Vista SP2 disk cleanup tool. You can also just close the command prompt window to cancel to.​

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4. It will take a little bit to finish. When it is finished, you will see the Windows Component Clean completed message. (See screenshot above)​

NOTE: You will see the Windows Component Clean was already run on this install message instead if you already ran this or installes Vista with a Vista installation disc that included SP2 with it.​

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5. When it's done, you can close the elevated command prompt.​

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6. Now, you just need to let all of us know how much space the tool cleared and saved for you. ​

NOTE: I would happily tell you mine, but I have a Vista installation DVD that already includes the SP1 and SP2, so I have not backup files to clean up.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Use the Vista SP1 Disk Cleanup Tool
• How to Use Disk Cleanup in Vista
• How to Clear Vista Temporary Files in the Temp Folder
• How to Clear the Thumbnail Cache in Vista
• How to Delete the Internet Explorer Browsing History in Vista
• How to See and Flush the Contents of the DNS Resolver Cache in Vista
• How to Remove a Uninstall Entry in Programs and Features for Vista
• How to Uninstall or Change a Program in Vista
• How to Turn Windows Features On or Off in Vista
• How to Reset and Clean the Notification Icons List in Vista
• How to Create a Clear Clipboard Shortcut in Vista
• How to Uninstall a Windows Update in Vista
• How to Enable or Disable Clear Virtual Memory Paging File at Shutdown in Vista
• How to Uninstall the Vista SP1
• How to Uninstall the Vista SP2 Prerelease Version

 

[ikjadoon]

Great find, mate. I just got 2.23GB back! :D I hadn't run the SP1-version of this tool. Very very happy, I'm on a tight budget (went from 4.47GB free to 6.7GB free!).

Fantastic stuff! :D

~Ibrahim~

 

[pacinitaly]

Great find, mate. I just got 2.23GB back! :D I hadn't run the SP1-version of this tool. Very very happy, I'm on a tight budget (went from 4.47GB free to 6.7GB free!).

Fantastic stuff! :D

~Ibrahim~

Wow, time for a bigger HDD

 

[ikjadoon]

Great find, mate. I just got 2.23GB back! :D I hadn't run the SP1-version of this tool. Very very happy, I'm on a tight budget (went from 4.47GB free to 6.7GB free!).

Fantastic stuff! :D

~Ibrahim~

Wow, time for a bigger HDD

Haha, I have Vista on a separate 50GB partition (but it's a 640GB drive); short-stroking, if you've heard of it? Keeps all my Windows files on the innermost section of the disk and I think it helps a little:

~Ibrahim~

 

[pacinitaly]

Interesting

 

[ikjadoon]

Interesting

It feels "snippy", but I could easily see that as placebo.

~Ibrahim~

 

[sky173]

Cleaned up 1 GB. Worked just like you said. Thanks so much for this tip and for many others I have used.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Dan (Sky173).

 

[evilhugbear]

I gained 1 GB after I did this :D

 

[Ruby]

Greetings, thought I'd share my findings. I took snapshots of the properties dialogs of the drive and the winsxs folder before and after running the SP2 cleanup tool. I had done a fresh install 2 weeks earlier with Vista, then SP1 followed by SP2. Take a close look at the Contains: Files, Folders section of the winsxs properties. Also the winsxs folder seems to have gotten way more space back than the drive it resides on.

 

[Wii Master 64]

can't you run this out of something else as well...? I remember doing it through a GUI. and what exactly does disk cleanup remove?

 

[Brink]

Hello Wii,

This is not the Disk Cleanup in Vista. It is the separate SP2 Disk Cleanup Tool instead.

 

[sassofalco]

Thanks Shawn,

........how simple is that? 1.2GB gained in 30 seconds, flat!!

 

[Brink]

LOL, not bad at all Tony.

 

[Ruby]

Hello Brink,
I was hoping to get some feedback on my post, is it possible that my winsxs folder's properties is calculating it's size based on some uncompressed data in archives, there seems to be a significant difference ~1.2GB.

 

[Brink]

Hello Ruby,

Sorry about that. This is a perfectly normal amount of space to be recovered. When the SP1 and SP2 is installed, they create backups in case you want to uninstall them later. Using this SP2 Disk Cleanup Tool removes these backups to recover the space since you would not likely uninstall them afterwards anyway.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Brink,

I think you meant to say a normal amount of space, anyway I understand what the tool does, I should have been a little more specific, there seems to be more space recovered ~2.3GB in my winsxs folder compared to my drive ~1.2. You would think that it should be the other way around.

 

[Brink]

Oh, DOH!

I'm not exactly sure why it would be like that either unless the data was compressed as you thought as well in the winsxs folder.

 

[Ruby]

O.K. It seems with Windows there's always something. The reason I posted my findings in the first place was because of the amount of space people were reporting. My initial reason for the snapshot of the winsxs properties dialog was to see how many files/folders were actually being deleted. So I guess it's safe to assume that I recovered 1.2GB. Anyway I'm off to do a little research on this matter as my curiosity has now peaked.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Brink,

I'm back from my brief research which landed me here. I believe it is beyond the scope of your tutorial, but thought you might be interested in my findings. From this I believe it is safe to assume that what the drive properties dialog reports is the correct space recovered. Am I correct?

 

[Brink]

Yes, I would always trust the drive properties over anything else. Hidden files or subfolders can affect a folder's size by not being included in it until they are unhidden.

Thank you for posting back with this.