Q: I have a 160GB Western Digital Hard Drive partitioned into a 40GB Operating System partition and the other 120GB for my files. However, when I run Disk Cleanup utility from within Vista Ultimate, it shows multiple 131GB options for me to clean up. After I clicked OK to cleanup the selected entries, it erased everything on the 40GB partition. I then had to reinstall Windows Vista, but the problem seems to be recurring.
(Information in this post applies to Windows 7 & Vista systems only)
A: Having received three more such questions, I decided to work on this issue. Here is the screenshot of what Disk Cleanup displayed:
Fig 1: Disk Cleanup showing the list of files to delete.
According to the above Disk Cleanup graphic, the Windows Error Reporting files constituted to 196 GB, which certainly is impossible! I asked for the registry export of this key from one of my clients:
The above registry location contains the list of Disk Cleanup handlers and their registration information. Once I got the registry export, I compared it with my system and noted that a really important value named Folder was missing in each of the following subkeys under the VolumeCaches branch:
|_ Windows Error Reporting Queue Files
|_ Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files
|_ Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files
I came across this paragraph from the MSDN documentation:
Description for the Folder registry value:
A specific folder or folders to search for items matching entries in the FileList value. You can specify wildcards using the ? or * characters. If the value is of type REG_SZ, multiple folder names are separated using the | character, without spaces on either side of it. If a CSIDL value is present, only one folder can be specified in this value. The location indicated by the CSIDL value is prepended to that folder path to compose a search path. For an example, see the CSIDL value description. If this value is absent, the root folder of the current volume is used. The DDEVCF_DOSUBDIRS flag is needed in that case to search the entire drive.
Note the last line which states that the Disk Cleanup will recursively search the entire volume for the list of files mentioned in the FileList registry value (*.* wildcard used in this case) and include everything on the volume for deletion, if the DDEVCF_DOSUBDIRS flags is enabled (which is enabled by default).
Fixing the Disk Cleanup WER Handlers in the Registry
I created the REG file cleanmgrfix.reg (for Windows 7/Vista systems) to fix the Folder registry values in each of the above registry keys, and the issue was resolved after applying the fix. This is what Disk Cleanup showed:
Fig 2: Disk Cleanup screenshot, after fixing the registry values.
Editor’s Note: I could identify where the problem was, but I had no clue on how the Folders registry value vanished in the above registry keys. This may have been a result of running a registry cleaner. At any case, have an eye on the disk space showed in Total amount of the disk space you gain: section of the Disk Cleanup window every time when you do the cleanup work.
I hope this post helped you avert a major problem in your system. Readers who’re using registry cleaners and experiencing this issue, feel free to comment on this article.
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Hi,
i had the same problem, but i proceeded with disk cleanup thinking this is a display error, and all my files were deleted, everything that is on my laptop disappeared.
has it occured to anyone? is there a way of restoring anything?
it is very urgent for this is the work laptop.
thanks for your help!
August 29 2009.
Thanx tons, I just want to add that reading this left me very confused (as I lack knowledge of the technical wording here ) , but I eventually clicked the link (… cleanmgrfix.reg …) under the heading (… Fixing the Disk Cleanup WER Handlers in the Registry … ) and found a warning about adding to my registry. I proceeded to run the download, based on Felipe from Chile’s post above and it showed the file location. I double-clicked on the file and Voila, my problem is fixed. Many thanx again … Lyzek
Hey
I’m Felipe from Chile, I have to say, this post is very helpful!
I was about to clean up 32GB but I found it very strange !
So I search the web for problems related to Disk Cleanup and I found some pages like this one.
Thanks for post this. I think, it could definetily help a lot of people.
I have to say that my “Per user .. ” and “System queued” are just 55 MB aproximadtly, but the item called “Temporary files” is 32.0 GB.
I have to say I’ve read a lot of problems to other users to have deleted all of that data. Big lost for them, and I’m very sorry.
Be carefull, and I suggest you to delete temp files with another tool.
I suggest Microsoft to fix this…I have Service Pack 2 and this problem as I can see has been detected a lot time ago.
Be happy :)
This is NOT unique to Vista. I have seen this occur on three separate XP (all Home) systems. The error has only been observed in the Temporary Files selection where the folder entry location has been lost in the registry. The suttle indication something is amiss is that there is no kb or Mb extension as to the size of the files found in the Disk Cleanup selection screen. WinOptimizer and Registry Mechanic were the tools of choice for these three systems. I don’t believe it’s a MS problem. If these tools are being used pay close attention or lose a weekend!
This cant be true …this must be what everyone who experienced the same must have thought…i still cant believe it!!!
Quick Info – YES!! this problem can be caused by vista RegCleaner only!!!! (No viruses, no crappy regoptimizer toolz involved…just a plain and clean mashine)
“Lets clean up a little bit” were his(my) last words …and the system never booted ever since!!!Fucking Hell!!!
…anyone has found out anything?..any hope?…
cheers N
A very long and focused day!
It is (our Registry Cleaners) that are the culprints. It is not the fault of SP1. I accused SP1 of this problem early on, but I was dead-wrong.
I spent the day reinstalling Vista Business and downloading Windows updates (including customs). I then began to tweak the system. When I was finished with processes and services I made a back-up of the C:drive then installed and ran (RegistryFix Version 7).
As each group of errors was found, I would abort the scan and open each error to see where it was pointing to in Windows Registry. Low and behold when I got to the errors for “Complete Registry Scan” there were the 4 Keys for Windows Error Reporting! RegistryFix was going to delete those keys if I did not choose “ignore” each one.
DANGER Will Robinson!
I restarted the scan and allowed it to find and what it interpreted as errors, made a backup of those errors so I could reverse the cleaning, then allowed it to delete the keys.
I then ran Disk Cleanup and sure enough, there were all the huge files in GB’s and 100′s of MB’s all related to Windows Error Reporting and Archives. The four infamous keys had been deleted.
No Reboot yet.
I then restored the keys through RegistryFixe’s Backup and ran the Disk Cleanup again without a reboot. When it finished the four Keys were (not missing)! I allowed Disk Cleanup to finish and restarted the computer. Bingo! Right back to the desktop without a hitch.
So..bottom line is the Developers of our Registry Optimizers/Cleaners need to figure this out on their end. Believe me! I love to dump on M$ for allowing us to be the guinea pigs, but this time I know 100% that it has nothing to do with SP1. It has everything to do with our third party Registry cleaners/optimizers.
Took a long time but it’s worth it knowing that you all can do the same thing and adjust your Cleaners to “ignore” the Reg Keys for Windows Error Reporting before you finish the cleanup process. It’s tedious but it’s worth it. Phew!
[...] I’ve not come across the bug personally but it is well documented over on the Winhelponline blog. [...]
Well this happened to me the weekend of August 9th. I didn’t know about this website or had even heard of this issue. Like Kelly commented above, I thought the GB a mistake (I have seen Windows programs misreport file sizes before) and let Disk Cleaner do its evil thing. I am still in the process of trying to recover my data because then Windows XP (my backups had been done in XP b/c my Vista machine was new), deciding that my backup was corrupted about a 1/4 way through restoring my files, went and then deleted my backup file without my permission (didn’t even ask me). Right now I am not too impressed with Microsoft’s programming ability. I did have a second incremental backup but so far, a number of things (not all the things) are lost. After reading over the posts, I don’t think this is just a Registry Cleaner issue but also an SP1 issue. Ultimately, regardless of fingerpointing, even Microsoft should have safeguards to protect data – in ANY case – from being deleted. This isn’t just a registry issue – but a programming issue. In my view anyway it is.