Can USOShared log files be deleted?

Question

On my PC (Windows 10) the directory c:\ProgramData\USOShared\Logs contains over 700000 .etl files of between 8 and 100kb in size, totalling 50gb.

I know these are logs related to the UpdateSessionOrchestration or NotificationUxBroker (and based on the names, most at the former) (Docs), but can I just delete them?

I've tried running disk cleanup & cccleaner and neither have automatically removed them.

_{[Update: I never got the to bottom of why I was getting so many of these files. I just wrote a script to clean them up periodically and it never caused any issues. After an upgrade to Windows 10 Version 1809 (OS Build 17763.379) these files have stopped accumulating for me so the problem seems to be resolved]}

Answer 1

ETL stands for Event Trace Log file which is created by Microsoft Tracelog, a program that creates logs using the events from the kernel in Microsoft operating systems. It contains trace messages that have been generated during trace sessions, such as disk accesses or page faults. ETL files are used to log high-frequency events while tracking the performance of an operating system.

Microsoft Windows records application and system-level warnings, errors, or other events to these binary files called the event trace logs, which can then be used to troubleshoot potential problems.

To answer your query, you may delete these files and deleting will not affect anything on your system.

The abnormal part is why do you have so many of them. If you cannot remember having turned on tracing in some part of Windows, it will take real detective work to find it out.

Answer 2

As you know, it includes UpdateSessionOrchestration or NotificationUxBroker. Some programs depend upon those files, other times they are just for informational purposes. They're mainly controlling update. If stopped, your devices will not be able download and install latest updates. So the folders and their contents are part of Windows Update. Please leave your fingers off it!