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When I choose to check for system files it shows about 950MB for windows update cleanup.

Windows 8.1 disc cleanup system files not working

After I click ok and confirm deleting them, it show the deleting process, ends without showing any message and after that when I check, the free space on my drive has not changed a bit even after restarting. I repeated that process and each time it shows the same thing but doesn't seem to remove them. What might be causing this problem? Is there a way to remove those files manually?

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    You are running Disk Cleanup as an Administrator?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 9 at 16:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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There is a period from the time of a Windows Update (on current versions of Windows) during which old files cannot be deleted; this is to allow rollback if an update causes issues.

Of course, there are no longer automatic updates for non-supported operating systems such as Window 8.1, but if you have manually installed an update, the same timeout still applies.

You can use DISM, run in CMD as Administrator, to force cleanup of old and update files, with the following two commands:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /SPSuperseded

That prevents rollback, but that hardly matters for Windows 8.1, so far beyond end of life.

BTW, is there any reason to use Windows v. 8.1? Playing an old game, or retrocomputing? It is no longer safe to use that version on the internet.

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