Windows disk cleanup windows server 2012

Introduction

This tool allows you to cleanup unnecessary file both on a windows server environment andor a desktop PC.

This utility is not enabled by default in windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 and you have to enable it manually.

Sometimes its not easy particularly if the O.S. is new to you.

«Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer’s hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer

of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis»  Wikipedia 

Quick Notes to Sys Admin

This activity will require reboot.

Step By Step Guide to Enabling «Disk Cleanup Utility»

1. Open The Roles and Features Wizard

To open the roes and feauture wizard. Lauch the «server manager» by pressing the Windows key

and clicking on the server manage please see Screenshot as shown. 

2. Click on Add role and Feature

Click on add role and feture to launch the add role and feature wizard.

3.  Choose installation Type

Choose rolebase or feature based installation to install to local machine.

4. Click Next all the way to features

Click «next» all the way to features. Locate «User Interface and Infrastructure». Click on «Desktop Experience»

and install additional required feature.

5.  Proceed with the installation and Reboot

Make it sure that you reboot the system

6.  Verify that the Utility is indeed installed

Ready to run diskcleanup. See screen shot below.

Disk Cleanup in Action

Below is a sample snapshot of disk cleanup in action.

Утилита очистки диска (Disk Cleanup) позволяет администратору быстро очистить системный диск Windows Server, удалив ненужные и временные файлы, в том числе очистить каталог WinSxS от файлов устаревших компонентов, которые остались после установки обновлений. Утилита Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) по умолчанию уже установлена в графической версии Windows Server 2016/2019 (Desktop Experience), однако в предыдущих версиях Windows Server (2012 R2/ 2012/ 2008 R2) утилита cleanmgr.exe по-умолчанию отсутствует.

Очистка диска с помощью Disk Cleanup в Windows Server 2016

Чтобы очистить системный диск от ненужных файлов в Windows Server 2016 с помощью утилиты Disk Cleanup, нужно в File Explorer открыть свойства диска и нажать кнопку Disk Cleanup.

Также можно в поисковой строке набрать «disk cleanup» или cleanmgr.exe.

Выберите диск, который вы хотите очистить.

Дождитесь пока мастер очистки проверит ваш диск и найдет ненужные файлы, которые можно безболезненно удалить.

Вы можете выбрать компоненты, файлы которых можно удалить. Вам предлагается удалить следующие временные файлы:

• Setup Log Files
• Downloaded Program Files
• Temporary Internet Files
• Recycle Bin
• Temporary files
• Thumbnails

Чтобы удалить ненужные системные файлы нажмите на кнопку Clean up system files.

Дополнительно предлагается очистить:

• Устаревшие файлы Windows Defender
• System archived Windows Error Reporting (каталог C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsWERReportQueue)
• System queued Windows Error Reporting
• Device driver packages
• Windows Update Cleanup — при этом выполняется очистка хранилища компонентов в каталоге WinSxS. Удаляются старые версии компонентов, которые остались после установки обновленных версий.

Выберите нужные опции, при этом Disk Cleanup покажет количество места, которое освободится. Нажмите Ок и подтвердите удаление временных файлов.

Дождитесь, пока утилита cleanmgr.exe удалит ненужные файлы.

Очистка диска с помощью cleanmgr.exe из командной строки

Утилита
cleanmgr.exe
имеет различные параметры командной строки, которые позволяют использовать ее в различных сценариях автоматической очистки системного диска. Их можно использовать как в Windows Server, так и на рабочих станциях пользователей с Windows 10.

cleanmgr [/d driveletter] [/SAGESET:n | /SAGERUN:n | TUNEUP:n | /LOWDISK | /VERYLOWDISK | /SETUP | /AUTOCLEAN]

Ключ
/AUTOCLEAN
используется для очистки старых файлов, оставшихся после апгрейда билда Windows. Параметр
/SETUP
позволяет удалить файлы, оставшиеся от предыдущей версии Windows (если вы выполняли in-place upgrade).

Команда
cleanmgr /LOWDISK
– запускает графический интерфейс Disk Cleanup с уже выбранными параметрами очистки.

Команда
cleanmgr /VERYLOWDISK
выполняет автоматическую очистку, а после окончания оторажает информацией о выполненных действиях и свободном месте.

You have successfully resolved the low disk space condition. Your C: volume now has 10000 Mb of free space remaining.

С помощью параметров
/sageset:n
и
/sagerun:n
вы можете создать и выполнить настроенный набор параметров очистки.

Например, выполните команду
cleanmgr /sageset:11
. В открывшемся окне выберите компоненты и файлы, которые нужно автоматически очищать (я выбрал все опции).

Эти настройки сохраняются в ветке реестра HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerVolumeCaches. В этой ветке перечислены все компоненты Windows, которые можно очистить с помощью Disk Cleanup. Для каждой опции, которую вы выбрали создается параметр типа DWORD с именем StateFlags0011 (
0011
это число, которое вы указали в параметре sageset).

Чтобы запустить процесс очистки с выбранными параметрами, выполните команду:

cleanmgr /sagerun:11

Если вам нужно настроить автоматическую очистку дисков на компьютерах (или серверах) в домене, вам достаточно экспортировать эту ветку реестра и распространить ее через GPO.

Для автоматического запуска очистки системного диска на рабочих станциях с Windows 10 можно создать задание в планировщике со следующим PowerShell скриптом:

Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:11' -WindowStyle Hidden -Wait

Запуск cleanmgr в Windows Server 2012 R2/ 2008 R2 без установки Desktop Experience

В Windows Server 2012 / R2 и 2008 /R2 по умолчанию не установлена утилита очистки диска Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe). Чтобы воспользоваться утилитой cleanmgr сначала нужно установить отдельный компонент сервера Desktop Experience (Возможности рабочего стола) с помощью Server Manager или PowerShell (
Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience
).

Но вместе с Desktop Experience устанавливается множество других компонентов, которые абсолютно не нужны на сервере:

• Windows Media Player
• Темы рабочего стола
• Поддержка AVI для Windows
• Windows SideShow
• Windows Defender
• Disk Cleanup
• Sync Center
• Запись звука
• Character Map
• Snipping Tool

Для запуска мастера очистки дисков в Windows Server можно воспользоваться более простым методом: достаточно скопировать в системный каталог два файла из каталога WinSxS: Cleanmgr.exe и Cleanmgr.exe.mui. Ниже представлены команды для копирования файлов cleanmgr из каталога WinSxS для разных версий Windows Server (во всех случаях используется путь для английских редакций ОC).

Windows Server 2012 R2 x64

Рассмотренный выше трюк не работает в Windows Server 2012 R2 из-за изменений, внесенных обновлением KB2821895. Дело в том, что после установки данного обновления для хранения бинарных файлов компонентов стала использоваться компрессия. При попытке запустить скопированный cleanmgr.exe появляется ошибка:

The Program or feature ??C:Windowssystem32cleanmgr.exe cannot start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit version of Windows

В качестве обходного решения можно воспользоваться такой методикой:

1. Установить компонент Windows Desktop Experience:
   Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience
2. Перезагрузить сервер;
3. Скопировать файлы %windir%system32cleanmgr.exe и %windir%system32en-UScleanmgr.exe.mui в произвольный каталог (c:temp)
4. Удалить компонент:
   Uninstall-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience
5. Перезагрузка;
6. Скопировать файлы cleanmgr.exe и cleanmgr.exe.mui в указанные выше каталоги

В дальнейшем эти два файла можно скопировать и на все другие сервера или интегрировать в шаблоны виртуальных машин с Windows Server 2012 R2.

Ссылка на скачивание готового комплекта файлов cleanmgr.exe.mui + cleanmgr.exe для Windows Server 2012 R2 на ЯндексДиске (thks Alex Kornev).

Для запуска утилиты очистки диска теперь достаточно выполнять с правами администратора команду
cleanmgr.exe
.

Использование Disk Cleanup в Windows Server Core

В Windows Server Core 2016, в котором отсутствует полноценный графический интерфейс, утилита Disk Cleanup также не установлена. Если вы хотите использовать cleanmgr.exe для очистки диска в Server Core, достаточно скопировать следующие файлы из каталога WinSXS:

copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_9ab8a1dc743e759acleanmgr.exe C:WindowsSystem32

copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_en-us_8b4adb68af596a23cleanmgr.exe.mui C:WindowsSystem32en-US

The Disk Cleanup tool allows the administrator to quickly clean up the Windows Server system drive by deleting unnecessary and temporary files, including cleaning the WinSxS directory from files of outdated components that remained after installing the latest cumulative updates. The Disk Cleanup utility (cleanmgr.exe) is installed by default on the GUI editions of Windows Server 2016/2019 (Desktop Experience). However, in previous versions of Windows Server (2012 R2/2012/2008 R2), the cleanmgr.exe tool is missing.

Using Disk Cleanup Tool on Windows Server 2016

To clean the system disk from unneeded files on Windows Server 2016 using the Disk Cleanup utility, you need to open the disk properties in File Explorer and click the Disk Cleanup button.

You can also type the “disk cleanup” or cleanmgr.exe in the search box.

Select the drive you want to clean.

Wait until the cleaning wizard checks your disk and finds unnecessary files that can be safely deleted.

You can select components whose files can be deleted. You are prompted to delete the following temporary files:

• Setup Log Files;
• Downloaded Program Files;
• Temporary Internet Files;
• Recycle Bin;
• Temporary files;
• Thumbnails.

To remove unneeded system files, click on the Clean up system files button.

Additionally, it is proposed to clean up:

• Outdated Windows Defender files;
• System archived Windows Error Reporting files (the folder C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsWERReportQueue);
• System queued Windows Error Reporting;
• Device driver packages (see How to Remove Unused Drives from Driver Store);
• Windows Update Cleanup — this allows you to clean up the component store in the WinSxS directory. Old versions of components files that remain after installing updated ones are removed.

Select the options you need, and Disk Cleanup will show the amount of disk space you gave. Click OK and confirm the deletion of files.

Wait for the cleanmgr.exe tool to remove the unnecessary files.

Cleanmgr.exe: Disk Cleanup Command-Line Options

The cleanmgr.exe tool has several command-line options that allow it to be used in various automatic drive cleaning scenarios. They can be used both on Windows Server and on user desktop workstations running Windows 10.

cleanmgr.exe [/d driveletter] [/SAGESET:n | /SAGERUN:n | TUNEUP:n | /LOWDISK | /VERYLOWDISK | /SETUP | /AUTOCLEAN]

The /AUTOCLEAN parameter is used to delete old files left after upgrading a Windows build. The /SETUP option allows you to delete files left from a previous version of Windows (if you performed an in-place upgrade).

The cleanmgr /LOWDISK command runs the Disk Cleanup GUI with the already selected cleaning options.

The cleanmgr /VERYLOWDISK command performs automatic drive cleanup (without showing GUI), and after the end it displays information about the actions performed and available free space.

You have successfully resolved the low disk space condition. Your C: volume now has 10000 Mb of free space remaining.

Using the /sageset:xx and /sagerun:xx options, you can create and run a customized set of cleanup options.

For example, run the command: cleanmgr /sageset: 11. In the window that opens, select the components and files that you want to automatically cleanup (I selected all the options).

These settings are saved to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerVolumeCaches. This registry section lists all the Windows components that can be cleaned using the Disk Cleanup tool. For each option you select, a DWORD parameter is created with the name StateFlags0011 (0011 is the number you specified in the sageset parameter).

To start the drive cleanup task with the selected parameters, run the command:

cleanmgr /sagerun:11

If you need to configure automatic disk cleanup task on computers (or servers) in an Active Directory domain, you just need to export this registry key and deploy it on computers through the GPO.

To automatically cleanup the system drive on workstations with Windows 10, you can create a simple scheduled task with the following PowerShell code:

Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:11' -WindowStyle Hidden -Wait

How to Enable Disk Cleanup on Windows Server 2012 R2/2008 R2 without Installing Desktop Experience?

By default, in Windows Server 2012/R2 and 2008/R2 the Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) tool is not installed by default. To use the cleanmgr utility, first you have to install a separate server Desktop Experience feature using either Server Manager or PowerShell (Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience).

Together with Desktop Experience, many other unnecessary components are installed on the server:

• Windows Media Player;
• Desktop themes;
• AVI support for Windows;
• Windows SideShow;
• Windows Defender Antivirus;
• Disk Cleanup;
• Sync Center;
• Audio recording;
• Character Map;
• Snipping Tool.

To run the Disk Cleanup on Windows Server, you can use a simple method: just copy two files Cleanmgr.exe and Cleanmgr.exe.mui from WinSxS to the system32 directory. Below you can see commands to copy cleanmgr files in different Windows versions (in all cases, the path is used for Windows Server English language editions).

Windows Server 2012 R2 x64

The trick described above doesn’t work on Windows Server 2012 R2 due to the changes made by KB2821895 update. The matter is that after you install this update, compression is used to store the binary component files. When you trying to run the copied cleanmgr.exe, the following error appears:

Unsupported 16-Bit Application

The Program or feature ??C:Windowssystem32cleanmgr.exe cannot start or run due to incompatibility with 64-bit version of Windows.

As a workaround, you can use this method:

1. Install Desktop Experience feature using PowerShell: Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience
2. Restart your server;
3. Copy the files %windir%system32cleanmgr.exe and %windir%system32en-UScleanmgr.exe.mui to any directory (c:temp);
4. Uninstall the feature: Uninstall-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience
5. Reboot;
6. Copy the files cleanmgr.exe and cleanmgr.exe.mui to the directories mentioned above.

Later both of the files can be copied to other servers or integrated into your Windows Server 2012 R2 virtual machine template.

To start the Disk Cleanup tool, run the cleanmgr.exe command with the administrator privileges.

Tip. You can use the DISM command to delete outdated component files left after installing updates on Windows Server R2:

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

To use cleanmgr.exe to delete old update files on Windows 2008 R2 / Windows 7 SP1, you need to install a separate patch KB2852386.

Using Disk Cleanup on Windows Server Core Edition

In Windows Server Core 2016, which lacks full-fledged GUI capabilities, Disk Cleanup tool is also not installed. If you want to use cleanmgr.exe to clean up the disk on Server Core, just copy the following files from the WinSXS directory:

copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_9ab8a1dc743e759acleanmgr.exe C:WindowsSystem32copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_en-us_8b4adb68af596a23cleanmgr.exe.mui C:WindowsSystem32en-US

Dism disk cleanup: Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) is a command-line tool that allows you to install, uninstall, configure, and update Windows features, packages, drivers, and international settings. The /Cleanup-Image parameter of dism.exe provides advanced users more options to further reduce the size of the WinSxS folder.

The Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image has a few extra parameters (or switches):

• /AnalyzeComponentStore
• /StartComponentCleanup
• /ResetBase with /StartComponentCleanup
• /SPSuperseded

Throughout this article, I assume you’ll read help options, just add /?, like: dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /?.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy the following post summing up 5 extra ways to clean up disk space in Windows Server!

Analyze WinSxS folder (Component Store) with /AnalyzeComponentStore

First you can use the /AnalyzeComponentStore parameter. This analyzes the size of the Component Store in Windows. The AnalyzeComponentStore option is available in Windows 8.1 Windows Server 2012 R2, and it’ll notify you whether a Component Store Cleanup is recommended or not.

dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

In the above image, AnalyzeComponentStore recommends a Component Store Cleanup. Let’s do so.

/StartComponentCleanup parameter

Dism.exe removes superseded and unused system files from a system with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter.

dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

There is also a registered scheduled task called StartComponentCleanup. You can start this task from the command line:

schtasks.exe /Run /TN "MicrosoftWindowsServicingStartComponentCleanup"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The /StartComponentCleanup parameter is supported on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and up.

Using the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of Dism.exe on Windows 10 gives you similar results to running the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler, except previous versions of updated components will be immediately deleted (without a 30 day grace period) and you will not have a 1-hour timeout limitation.

From an elevated command prompt, type the following:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

/ResetBase switch with /StartComponentCleanup parameter

Using the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of dism.exe, all superseded versions of every component in the component store is removed.

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

All existing service packs and updates cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed. This will not block the uninstallation of future service packs or updates.

The /ResetBase parameter is supported on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

/SPSuperseded parameter

The /SPSuperseded parameter removes any backup components needed for de-installation of a service pack. The service pack cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed.

Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /SPSuperseded

The Service Pack cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed.

The /SPSuperseded parameter is supported on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, 2012, 2012 R2.

The /AnalyzeComponentStore option is available in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Use this to analyze the size of the Component Store (WinSxS folder) in Windows.

Disk Cleanup Tool is available on Windows Server 2012 but not Windows Server 2012 R2

As said at the beginning of this article, the Disk Cleanup Tool is available in Windows Server 2012, if you install the Desktop Experience-feature.

In some versions of Windows Server, you can simply copy cleanmgr.exe and cleanmgr.exe.mui to C:Windowssystem32 and C:Windowssystem32en-Us from an old Windows 2008 R2 server, if you don’t want to install the Desktop Experience feature.

The following steps to install (copy) cleanmgr may not work on all versions of Windows Server. Try for yourself.

Disk Cleanup Wizard addon on Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft KB2852386 adds a Disk Cleanup option on Windows Server 2008 R2, similar to the Windows 7 update. I’ve tested this on Windows Server 2012. It may not clean up everything, but at least a lot.

Here’s how to make cleanmgr.exe available on Windows Server 2012 Standard (Windows version 6.2.9200), without installing the Desktop Experience feature:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.9200]
(c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:Usersjan> $osversion = [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
PS C:Usersjan> write-host $osversion
6.2.9200.0

C:WindowsSystem32>cd ..

C:Windows>copy WinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_en-us_b6a01752226afbb3cleanmgr.exe.mui Windowssystem32en-US
        1 file(s) copied.

C:Windows>copy WinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_none_c60dddc5e750072acleanmgr.exe Windowssystem32
        1 file(s) copied.

C:Windows>system32cleanmgr.exe

C:Windows>
Code language: PHP (php)

Unfortunately, this no longer works on Windows Server 2012 R2 (6.3.9600), probably due to KB2821895. As Aaron pointed out in the comments, the above solution to copy over the cleanmgr.exe and cleanmgr.exe.mui files doesn’t always work well. Therefore I removed this information for Windows Server 2012 R2.

Fortunately, the Disk Cleanup functionality is back in Windows Server 2016 (at least TP5).

After cleaning up the disk, a server reboot is required. Don’t forget to reboot your computer – or server – afterwards! The actual cleanup of the WinSxs directory occurs during the next reboot.

Error 0x800f0906 with DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image, PowerShell Install-WindowsFeature and SFC /scannow

Some reports are available explaining Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-046 broke DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, PowerShell Install-WindowsFeature with -Source parameter, and SFC /scannow. Yes, it broke a lot…

An update is made available by Microsoft: KB3005628

Update for the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. This update resolves an issue that prevents the optional Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 feature from being enabled after you install security update 2966827 or 2966828 (described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-046) for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.

Move Windows Server SoftwareDistribution folder

Over time, your Windows Updates SoftwareDistribution folder in c:WindowsSoftwareDistribution can become quite large, for example when multiple updates were not installed successfully.

Windows Update files are downloaded to this folder and removed after successful installation. When you find yourself in a situation where your C: partition is rather small, and SoftwareDistribution folder eats up too much disk space, follow these steps to move the SoftwareDistribution folder to a different location.

All in a cmd.exe shell (Start > Run > cmd and press enter). In this example the new location is D:Windows-SoftwareDistribution.

1. Stop the Windows Update service: net stop wuauserv
2. Rename the folder c:WindowsSoftwareDistribution to c:WindowsSoftwareDistribution.old: rename c:windowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
3. Create a link using Windows Sysinternals Junction, or Windows mklink
   • Create the new directory:
     mkdir D:Windows-SoftwareDistribution
   • Create the Junction:
     c:>junction C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution "D:Windows-SoftwareDistribution", or:
     c:>mklink /J C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution "D:Windows-SoftwareDistribution"
4. Restart the Windows Update Service: net start wuauserv

When, after a while, everything seems to run and update fine, you can delete your SoftwareDistribution.old folder safely.

Move User Documents folder

Another way for you to gain some extra free space is to move the User Documents folder (and others, like Downloads), for instance from C:Users$USER$Documents to D:User$USER$Documents (substitute $USER$ with the username whose Documents folder you want to move). Here are the steps for you to follow (screenshots taken from Windows Server 2016 TP5):

1. Open Explorer and right click on the Documents folder and then Properties
2. Choose Location
3. Change the location where files are stored
4. When the destination does not exist, Windows asks to create the folder for you
5. After completion, files are moved to their new location.

Conclusion

Yes, the Windows component store (WinSxS folder) can become large, very large. But fortunately, Microsoft provides us the tools to monitor, manage and clean up the WinSxS folder to regain that used disk space.

If you are comfortable with installing the Desktop Experience Windows feature on your system, you can have the Disk Cleanup utility on your system. Otherwise, you can use the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) command for various clean up tasks.

To gain some extra free space, you can also move the Windows SoftwareDistribution folder to a different partition.

What is Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility first introduced with Windows 98 and included in all subsequent releases of Windows. It is designed to free up disk space by removing files that are no longer needed or that can be safely deleted.

There are a number of different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis:

• Compression of old files
• Temporary Internet files
• Temporary Windows files
• Downloaded program files
• Recycle Bin
• Removal of unused applications or optional Windows components
• Setup log files
• Offline web pages (cached)

The above list is not exhaustive.

Disk Cleanup is missing in Windows Server 2012

Windows Disk Cleanup is very useful utility and I’ve used it to free up disk space from Server 2003. It helps remote most of junk and unnecessary files safely and easily. Many people feedback that Disk Cleanup is missing in Server 2012 (R2).

If you try to run Disk Cleanup in Server 2012 from Run with command, you’ll receive the error: Windows cannot find ‘cleanmgr’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

This is because that Disk Cleanup is not enabled in Server 2012 by default, before running it to free up disk space, you must enable or install this tool.

Enable Disk Cleanup in Windows Server 2012

There are two ways to enable Disk Cleanup in Windows Server 2012 (R2):

1. Copy files from WinSxS
2. Install Desktop Experience

The first option is easy and fast, but in some environment Disk Cleanup won’t work. The second option make sure Disk Cleanup work in most conditions, but it requires reboot to complete installing the Desktop Experience feature. Furthermore, together with Desktop Experience, many other unnecessary components are installed on the server, such as:

• Windows Media Player
• Desktop themes
• AVI support for Windows
• Windows SideShow
• Windows Defender
• Sync Center
• Audio recording
• Character Map
• Snipping Tool

1. Enable disk cleanup in Server 2012 without reboot

Note: This method is invalid for Server 2012 R2.

All you need to do is copying two files Cleanmgr.exe and Cleanmgr.exe.mui from WinSxS to system directory, steps:

1. Locate files:

• C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_none_c60dddc5e750072acleanmgr.exe
• C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_en-us_b6a01752226afbb3cleanmgr.exe.mui

2. Move files:

• Copy Cleanmgr.exe to %systemroot%System32
• Copy Cleanmgr.exe.mui to %systemroot%System32en-US

You can now launch the Disk cleanup tool by running Cleanmgr.exe from the command prompt.

2. Install disk cleanup in Server 2012 (R2) with desktop experience

Step 1: Click Server Manager on bottom left, click the 2nd option “Add roles and features“.

Step 2: Click Next till you see the Features.

Step 3: Click the check-box in front of “Desktop Experience” and click Next.

Step 4: Within several minutes, the installation complete, click Close.

Step 5: Restart the server to finish adding features.

After booting to desktop, when you right click C drive in Explorer, you’ll see Disk Cleanup.

How to run Disk Cleanup in Windows 2012 server

If you installed Disk Cleanup in Windows 2012 server, there are 2 ways to start this uility:

1. Press Windows + R keys together, type cleanmgr and press Enter.
2. Press Windows + E to open File Explorer, right click C drive and click Disk Cleanup.

If you enable Server 2012 Disk Cleanup by simply copying files, only method 1 is valid.

No matter which method you use, a dialog-box will be pop up, you just need to select the files to remove and confirm the operation.

Important step after cleaning up disk

Disk Cleanup is a good tool to help free up disk space, but in most cases you cannot reclaim large amount of free space. Therefore, C drive will become full again shortly. To completely solve this problem, you’d better add more free space to C drive from other partitions.

Step 1: Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right click D: drive (the adjacent volume behind C drive) and select “Resize/Move Volume“.

Step 2: In the pop-up window, drag the left border rightwards or enter an amount in the box of “Unallocated space before”.

Click OK and back to the main window, D drive is shrunk and Unallocated space is made on the left. A new pending operation is added on bottom left.

Step 3: Right click C: drive in NIUBI and run “Resize/Move Volume”, drag the right border rightwards to combine this Unallocated space.

Step 4: The second pending operation is added, click Apply on top left to take effect.

In most cases, there’s plenty of free space in other partitions on the same disk, so you can move free space to C drive. In this way, operating system, programs and anything else (except partition size) keep the same with before. Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has Virtual Mode, Cancel-at-well and 1-Second Rollback technologies to protect system data. Besides shrinking and extending partition without losing data, this tool helps you do many other disk partition management operations.

Tips: you’d better expand C drive as large as possible with NIUBI and run Disk Cleanup in Windows Server 2012 (R2) monthly to remove new generated junk files.

Learn More Download to try

The added features and useful updates are the main reason why people go for Windows Server series at the first place. Windows Server is an amazing operating system specially designed for small to medium enterprises. However, many people experience low disk space on Windows server 2008 and 2012 R2. And if you’re reading this article, there are greater chances that you’re experiencing low disk system space and unable to find the disk cleanup tool in the server.

Enable/Install disk cleanup Windows Server 2012 r2

I’m amazed myself because they didn’t add the disk cleanup tool (cleanmgr.exe) in Windows Server 2008/2012 R2 by default. But you can still enable this option by using a Server feature known as “Desktop Experience”. However, after enabling the Desktop Experience, you must reboot your system. Moreover, it installs many other components, tools, and updates on the computer. Anyways, if you are willing to reboot the system, follow the steps below

Step 1 — Click Server Manager on bottom left, and then click the 2nd option «Add roles and features». And confirm the following steps that come along and leave everthing as default settings.

Step 2 — Click the triangle to unfold User Interface and Infrastructure, and then click the check-box in front of «Desktop Experience».

Step 3 -Get ‘Desktop Experience’ selected

Step 4 — Click ‘Include management tools’, and click Add Features button

Step 5 — Confirm the installation by clicking ‘Install’

Or you may use this following steps if possible

• Simply go to Programs and Features
• Under the Features Section click on Enable Desktop Experience
• Done!

Solution 1 to Enable Disk Cleanup Server 2008 R2 without a reboot

Copy the files at the following location

• C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_c9392808773cd7dacleanmgr.exe
• C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_en-us_b9cb6194b257cc63cleanmgr.exe.mui

After you have found the files, copy the file cleanmgr.exe to C:WindowsSystem32, and copy the cleanmgr.exe.mui to C:WindowsSystem32en-US. After this

• Press Windows+R
• Type “cleanmgr” and press enter
• Disk cleanup will pop-up
• It’s that simple

Solution 2 to Enable Disk Cleanup Server 2012 without a reboot (Not R2)

Note: Windows Server 2012 R2 needs an another method which is included in the following part. This one just works for Windows Server 2012.

STEP 1: Press Windows and X together on the keyboard and select Command Prompt (Admin), or PowerShell (Amdin)

STEP 2: Copy and paste the command text in the command prompt window and press Enter to execute.

copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_none_c60dddc5e750072acleanmgr.exe C:WindowsSystem32

STEP 3: Copy, paste and execute the second command:

copy C:WindowsWinSxSamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.2.9200.16384_en-us_b6a01752226afbb3cleanmgr.exe.mui C:WindowsSystem32en-US    

Unfortunately, Windows Server 2012 R2 does not support the above method and shows an error message if applied. Therefore, you must use the Desktop Experience feature to install/enable the Disk Cleanup utility.

You can use the following method to enable disk cleanup on Windows Server 2012 R2.

• Install Desktop Experience
• Reboot the computer
• Copy these files %windir%system32en-UScleanmgr.exe.mui and %windir%system32cleanmgr.exe and paste them to any directory
• Uninstall the Desktop feature
• Reboot the server
• And then copy the above files to the same directories as in Windows Server 2008 R2

Third Party Disk Management: IM-Magic Partition Resizer

If the Disk Cleanup utility does not help you to free up enough disk space, then you can resize the system partition to make space for new programs. IM-Magic partition resizer lets you shrink, extend, create, delete, format, and resize partitions without any data loss risks. Here is how you can resize disk drive using IM-Magic Partition Resizer without data loss.

• Install and open the IM-Magic Partition Resizer Server or Unlimited Edition
• Right click on the data partition with enough free space and click on “Resize/Move”
• Drag the cursor to left over the bar indicating used/free space

Steps to shrink large disk space in Windows server 2012

• The shrink space will be grayed-out and marked as unallocated space
• Open each partition and move the unallocated space to the left until it reaches right next to c drive
• Skip the above step if unallocated space is already adjacent to c drive
• Open the c-drive and acquire the unallocated space

Steps to extend c disk space in Windows server 2012

Note that all the system and application files remain untouched during the whole process. IM-Magic partition resizer will not harm your computer or its content in any way. And if you still fail to free up disk space, add a new hard disk or change to a bigger one.

New added disk can be combined to the Server volumes using RAID array and then you can reditribute disk space from new disk to old disk.

В Windows Server 2008 /R2 и 2012 / R2 по умолчанию не установлена утилита очистки диска — Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe), позволяющая удалить ненужные файлы и очистить каталог WinSxS от файлов старых обновлений. Для ее запуска нужно сначала установить отдельный компонент сервера Desktop Experience (Возможности рабочего стола) с помощью Server Manager  или с помощью PowerShell  (Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience).

В Windows 2008 R2 для возможности использовать cleanmgr для удаления устаревших обновлений нужно установить обновление KB2852386.

Но вместе с Desktop Experience устанавливается множество других компонентов, которые абсолютно не нужны на сервере:

• Windows Media Player
• Темы рабочего стола
• Поддержка AVI для Windows
• Windows SideShow
• Windows Defender
• Disk Cleanup
• Sync Center
• Запись звука
• Character Map
• Snipping Tool

Если весь этот мусор в сервере не нужен, то можно пойти более простым способом.

Для запуска мастера очистки дисков в Windows Server можно воспользоваться более простым методом: достаточно скопировать в системный каталог из каталога WinSxS два файла  Cleanmgr.exe и Cleanmgr.exe.mui.

Папки назначения у файлов:

• Cleanmgr.exe в %systemroot%System32.
• Cleanmgr.exe.mui в %systemroot%System32en-US.

И команды, что б скопировать

Windows Server 2008 R2 x64

copy C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_c9392808773cd7dacleanmgr.exe C:WindowsSystem32

copy C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_en-us_b9cb6194b257cc63cleanmgr.exe.mui C:WindowsSystem32en-US

Windows Server 2008 x64

copy C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6001.18000_none_c962d1e515e94269cleanmgr.exe C:WindowsSystem32

copy C:Windowswinsxsamd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6001.18000_en-us_b9f50b71510436f2cleanmgr.exe.mui C:WindowsSystem32en-US

Для Windows Server 2012 x64 не всё так просто. После обновления KB2821895 пропала возможность копировать файлы из winsxs, так как стала использоваться компрессия.

Просто скопировать файлы не удастся, так как система будет ругаться на несоответствие архитектуры. Если установить Desktop Experience, то видно, что файлы бóльшего размера чем те, что из папки winsxs.

Но их можно скопировать отдельно и развернуть на другом сервере простым копированием.

Архив с файлами, взятыми из Windows Server 2012 R2 ENU можно скачать отсюда.

Распаковываем и копируем их так же, как и для других систем, только заменив папку источник. Папка назначения остаётся той же.

Далее же утилиту очистки можно запустить командой cleanmgr из-под администратора.

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