Windows 10 Disk Cleanup question  

win10freak said:

I wanted to free up some disk space using the Disk Cleanup utility and I noticed that among the list is called Windows Update Cleanup. If I leave it selected, will this remove or uninstall all Windows security updates?

I have an attached image to show what I am referring to.

Thank you.

It removes the WU leftovers. Iirc it no longer does even that since 20H2.

It used to remove all but the last of these folder (which are large).






Since Disk Cleanup stopped doing that, I personally have changed to using this, instead...
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Again, this removes all but the last (most recent) folder in LCU.

If you keep decent backups, you don't really need these folders. They allow you to uninstall or rollback, w/e update they correspond to. Backup software, ofc, does this as well.

I also use Wise Disk Cleaner which finds more stuff to delete and delete the contents of the large update files in C:/Windows/Servicing/LCU - see LCU folder is LARGE-But what is it?

I also use CCleaner to delete browser cache files and user temp files but not to fiddle with the registry. Use CCEnhancer to augment it.

Hello @win10freak,

win10freak said:

I wanted to free up some disk space using the Disk Cleanup utility and I noticed that among the list is called Windows Update Cleanup. If I leave it selected, will this remove or uninstall all Windows security updates?

It does NOT Remove or Uninstall ANY WU's. It just cleans up older versions of the system files.

Windows Update Cleanup: When you install updates from Windows Update, Windows keeps older versions of the system files around. This allows you to uninstall the updates later. However, if you don’t plan on ever uninstalling any Windows updates, this is a waste of space. This is safe to delete as long as your computer is working properly and you don’t plan on uninstalling any updates.

If you create regular System Images then you DON'T really need these as you can Mount the System Image and retrieve the folders if needed.

I hope this helps.

NavyLCDR said:

I like to add /resetbase to the end of that command.

ResetBase damages windows updates, but unless you enable it via a reg tweak, it is not running anyway.

NavyLCDR said:

It has never damaged Windows Updates on any of my computers.

Have you enabled it? It caused a damage about 3 times on mine (0x800f081f), on 20H1/2 and 21H1, the fix is difficult, it is easier to restore a system image. MS fixed it, then it broke again, etc. I used to run it for years, but it is not worth the risk and a wasted time on restore just to install a single update.