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

 

[Brink]

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

 

[vic20gmr]

Hello, I realize this is an old post, but I'm currently using Vista, and I'm sure there are people out there also using it today.

I followed your instructions, and I saved almost 500MB exactly.

Note: I downloaded the stand alone (offline) installers for SP1 and SP2, and installed them back to back, and didn't install many (if any) updates through Windows Update prior to instaling the service packs.

My internet connection was poor, and WU kept failing before finishing, and I've been through the update marathon, and 'Oh! now let's install SPx', and so on before.
I wonder if the stand alone installer and/or not installing a bunch of updates through WU has anything to do with my relatively low savings.
I'd like to point out that I remembered hearing/reading that SP2 brings Vista's performance and resource usage much closer to Windows 7, than was the case with Vista RTM. I can not imagine any circumstance under which anyone would want to uninstall a service pack, save (what I'm sure is) the rare case where some critical application or driver will not work above a certain service pack 'level'.

 

[Brink]

Hello vic20gmr, and welcome to Vista Forums.

The lower amount could have been from installing SP2 directly instead of via Windows Update, but the amount will always vary per system.

If you haven't already, you might also see what Disk Cleanup may be able to free up for you as well.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76073-disk-cleanup.html

 

[vic20gmr]

Thank you for the reply!

I suspected the lower savings was due to my having used the stand alone installers, and possibly also that I 'skipped ahead' to the service packs, instead of installing many other updates that Windows seems to want to install before it even displays any service packs as available.

I followed the instructions in the following thread and gained over 2GB of additional space.
Thank you for pointing me to this thread

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76073-disk-cleanup.html