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

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• 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

 

[Riptorn]

I Saved 1GB, Thanks Shawn

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Phillip.

 

[Riptorn]

I Saved 1GB

 

[pacinitaly]

I saved 517MB

 

[piaborgs]

Thanks for the tutorial. I was able to recover 1 GB.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Piaborgs, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[piaborgs]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I have actually been lurking in the forums trying to learn as much as I can from your posts. They are highly, highly informative.

 

[lse096]

I ran the tool because of 136 GB on the c drive; with no docs stored on the machine, with all extra software except security, adobe, and majicjack, i had 1.16 GB free space! After cleaning, I have 1.68 GB freespace.

Still trying to figure out what eats up 132+GB of space on the OS C:\ drive with Vista installed.

Thanks for the cleanup. It worked well and did do its job.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome lse096, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might also check to see what the maximum disk space is set to for the storage of system restore points, and adjust as needed. This can sometimes get up to 15% of your HDD size.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[daw1cb]

Cleared up 1.4 GBs

 

[derekimo]

Great tut as usual Shawn, I cleaned out over 300 mb.

 

[Brink]

Hello Derek,

Not bad.

 

[CyPein]

cool sp2 disk cleaner

 

[stlcardsfan]

Nice tutorial! Cleaned out about 1 GB. Thanks Shawn!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jeff. Nice amount.

 

[Lantern]

Hey all. I saved 1.47 GB.

To properly see how much space you recover don't rely solely in the information in Windows Explorer, if you View the "My Computer" in icon view.
Instead, right click the drive (most likely your C://) and select properties. then go back to the properties once again affer running the cleanup described in the tutorial and note the new numbers.

from "My Computer" it appeared I too had not recovered anything at first glance.

On a side note:
If you leave the window open during the clean, you may want to refresh the data shown manually to ensure the accuracy of the auto update mourns.
To Do This screen Refresh: simply press <CTRL> R when that window is active on your desktop or if you have the menus available it can be found in he menu "View". Refresh is at the bottom.
(menu referred to is on the /File /Edit/View/Tools/Help/ menu bar)

 

[Frenchy2]

Did this out of curiosity and reclaimed 1.5 GB disk space. Nice little tidbit.

 

[kruelas]

Hey,

You helped me free up 3GB of space on my drive.

Thanks, Would have never known

Karen

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Karen, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[dshadow069]

Greetings...your tutorials have all worked as described, thank you. I recovered approximately 1.4GB after completing this process.