XP Disk Cleanup not working

Mr. F ... it's an HP Pavillion - Pentium 4 - 2.6GHz with 512 RAM

As far as third party utilities ... typical stuff ... nothing that I'd suspect would be causing this anomaly.

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Well, well, well....

Sir Gerald, Has it ever worked???!!! I want to know...get back to me

 

Yes ... it worked up until just recently.
The last time I ran it was maybe 3 weeks ago.

 

Ah Ha...!!!

...so what is new to your computer in the last 3 weeks???!!! Now we are starting to get somewhere...

 

That's why this feature fell into disfavor with many people. If you want to run Disk Cleanup, you're faced with a decision. You either must find out what is causing this problem or you must remove the Registry Key so that it will not stall the process. That way you can avail yourself of all the other features of Disk Cleanup but not compress any old files.

To make the decision even easier for you, I'll link a Reg file that will remove the Key for you automatically when you double click it. Then you can run Disk Cleanup. Then if you're a purist and want to replace the Key you removed, run the second file I link. It will put the Key back the way it was initially.

Remove Compress Old Files Key

Reinstall Compress Old Files Key

You need not download either of those files if you don't want to.. Just run them from the Net. Either way will do it.

It gets no better than this. As for a tip on what may be causing your compression problem, often it gets hung up due to some Temporary Internet File that is corrupt. Sometime merely dumping the temps restores the function. Other times it requires that you use special procedures or 3rd party software to delete the index.dat file associated with the TIF's. There are times when no apparent reason can be found. That's why deleting the Key became the method of choice for many people. I just don't consider it worth the effort to troubleshoot. Frankly I don't want any of my files compressed anyway. If I do, I'll use something like Winzip that I trust.

 

Find The Problem

...I always say, "find the problem" because it adds to the whole "computer experience" --- avoiding it solves nothing '''''''''''' leave no stone unturned -unless you are afraid of snakes....my guess is, 512mbs. of DDRAM may not be enough to run all Sir Geralds background processes and initialize Disk Cleanup...if you wait too long in between cleanings, it has a hard time...gamers especially...

 

Quick reply

Mr. F ... no new programs downloaded between then and now.
And I'm running Disk Cleanup after a reboot with no background tasks running.
System status shows minimal CPU and RAM usage.

surferdude - thanks for the links ...

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I hope you have things going your way by now sir gerald. I'll post a link to what MS has to say about the problem you are experiencing. You'll notice they recommend deleting the Registry Key in question and not reinstalling it. They advise you to make a backup of it but do not say to reinstall it unless you experience trouble. They're a bit ambiguous but I think it's clear enough that they are actually advising you to dump the "Compress Old Files" Key forever. They may have choked when trying to recommend dumping some feature they have previously touted.

I tend to agree with Mr. Fixit's attitude of trying to repair things that are broke but you can only carry that so far. Some things aren't easily fixed and if they fit the description of being something I'll never need, I don't hesitate to jettison them. Compressing old files fits that criteria for me.

If MS backs that decision, that's even further justification. That seems to be the case here.

What Microsoft has to say about the Compressing Old File Problem
You'll notice MS says:

They don't say where that incorrect entry might be nor do they advise you to seek it out.

While reviewing your other posts here, I noticed that you asked some questions that never got answered. I'll try to do that now:

They are files that haven't been used for 500 days or more. That's user adjustable in the Applet (up to a max. of 500 days) by highlighting the item and clicking the Options button.You can also change that setting by editing the Registry entry.

No, we're talking mainly of your own personal data files and certain program and install files. Actually the TIF's shouldn't even be in the mix but I suspect that can happen and could sometimes the heart of the problem. Other corrupt files can also cause this problem. BTW, system files are excluded from this action.

Since they may contain your personal data files, I doubt you want to do that. You could select to back them up to other media but if you don't need the space, why bother? Old doesn't necessary mean worthless.

Yes, there is one for each User Identity. That means you may have several. It means that you likely have one at C:\Documents and Settings\<your user ID>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files (unless you have elected to move it). The standard way to manually dump these, if you choose to, is to right click the Internet Explorer Desktop Shortcut and choose Properties. You'll see the option offered from there in the Temporary Internet Files area. In addition, you can click on the Settings button there and see other options such as moving the TIF folder to another location. I have moved mine to my secondary HD for some good reasons.

 

Can you run disk cleanup from a command line? Click start>run and copy and paste the following line.

cleanmgr /sageset:1

In the window that opens you should be able to uncheck the compress old files thing and any others you want. Then close the window and click start>run and type the following line.

cleanmgr /sagerun:1

This should start the disk cleanup tool and it will run with the settings you chose before with no other intervention on your part. This cleanup will be applied to all drives you have so there's no need to do each one individually. If this suits you you can create a new shortcut and in the command line for the shortcut, type cleanmgr /sagerun:1 and you'll have a quick and easy way to get the job done.

If you ever want to change the settings you chose for sagerun:1 you just run cleanmgr /sageset:1 again and change the settings again.

You can also make others shortcuts that do different cleaning routines by running sagerun again but use a number other than 1. In other words, type cleanmgr /sageset:2 and choose which settings you want for it, then type cleanmgr /sagerun:2 to run disk cleanup with the settings you used in sagerun:2. Don't know why one would want to do this but it can be done. I suppose if you wanted to compress old files you could set one to do just that and then run it before you go to bed at night.

Give this a try and see if it works.

 

Hi Zander!

Yes, he could but it won't escape this problem since it still invokes the GUI Applet and runs the precursor check of the possible old files to be compressed, if you should so choose. You get no opportunity to exclude them until after that runs. You just can't drill around the problem this way unless you have previously performed a sageset run and excluded the Compress old files option. Then you could run perform a sagerun of that session and get around this problem but that's a stretch since most people never use the command line version.

Best regards.

 

Are you sure about that? I have to ask because when I run sageset the window for selecting the items you want opens immediatly. I don't see anything else. Type the command, click ok and the window pops up? In other words, I don't see the usual thing where it checks for files to be compressed or deleted.

 

Yes, I'm sure. You won't see anything else except that Applet window but the work is still being done in the background. If the system has this problem we are dealing with, it'll still stall out on trying to determine how much space it can save you by compressing the old files. If you don't have this bug manifesting itself at the moment, you'll not know why anyone alse would be having the stalling problem.

 

OK. I guess I'll have to take your word for it. The only thing that makes me wonder is that when I run disk cleanup via start>all programs>accessories>system tools, and then select the drive that windows is installed on, I always see the small applet where it's checking for space that can be saved. It only lasts for a few seconds but it's there. I never see it when running sagerun. As I said, it makes me wonder.

 

You Broke It --- So What

...just do a "repair" installation of Windows and be done with it already...It would take all of 1-hour (or so)...oh yea, and another hour or so to re-install SP-2...face it, you broke it and it's real hard to fix...so what, we all fuss around with Windows until we break something...that's how we learn...ain't that right people???

 

Not exactly. A Repair Install will not fix problems of this nature since they are caused by corruption that is in an area that isn't addressed by that procedure. Registry problems are hard to repair unless you have special skills or guidance. They can also be corrected by doing a clean install but that's a bit of an over reaction in this case.

That's probably why MS advises the Registry Key deletion. Given that their fix takes about 5 minutes and I shortened that down to around 5 seconds and even offer a reverse procedure for those who have Registry Edit Remorse, I don't see any further problem.

Zander said:

Zander, the point is, you won't see it when running sagerun since you probably configured that particular run to not do the compression of old files when you did the initial sageset run. Do you see the point? If you would try running sageset to configure a new sagerun you'd see the problem quickly enough.

 

Zander ... thanks for the suggestion.
I tried it earlier this afternoon.
When I ran - cleanmgr /sageset:1 ... the Compress old files box was already unchecked.
Then when I ran - cleanmgr /sagerun:1 ... I still had the same problem.

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Well, actually I goofed there. I meant to say that I never see if when running sageset. I realize I already have set sageset:1 but if you begin with a new one by running sageset with a different number I would think you should see it again. In other words, I've never run, lets say sagerun:3. If I run sagerun:3 the window opens imediately and none of the boxes are checked just as it was the very first time I ran sagerun:1. This is different from running sageset:1. When I run it all of the boxes that I selected before are still checked.

I was always under the impression that this didn't do the disk check because it's strictly for setting the command line options that you want. As I said, if you run a new one, none of the boxes are checked when it opens including the compress old files. If that's the default when running any sageset why would it need to do the check if compress old files is already unchecked? Give it a try with a number you've never used before and you'll see what I mean although I guess you mentioned you axed that key so you wouldn't have the option so you wouldn't be able to tell. Guess somebody else would have to try it to find out if it does the disk check for them.

Always skeptical..... Zander

 

That's odd. I would guess it has something to do with the registry key that Dude was talking about. It would seem to confirm though that you can run sageset without it doing the disk check though. That's what I was wondering about. Don't know what to tell you to do. If it were me, I'd just try deleting the registry key and be done with it.

 

surferdude ... I'm gonna go with your suggestion on editing the Registry, but my lack of knowledge on the subject leaves me scratching my head.
I read back over your post and I can't figure out what to do with the Reg file you linked.
Double-clicking on the first link, just opens up a new browser window with the Compress old files Key.
I was expecting it to actually perform a Registry Edit without any other intervention on my part and remove the Key ... which it didn't do.

I guess what I can't figure out is how to use the link to actually do the edit.
Or if I download the file, then what do I do with it ?

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Dude, I was reading your last post again and I can kind of see where the confusion is coming from here. I think we're sort of talking apples and oranges here. Perhaps you meant it runs the check when you run sagerun even if the compress old files is unchecked in sageset??? I wouldn't know about this but I know it doesn't seem to run when you run sageset. I thought if he could run sageset and leave that unchecked and perhaps it would then skip the check when he ran sagerun. You'd think it would but apparently it doesn't. Just as you said. I wave the white flag in humiliation and surrender to you.