Automate process of Disk Cleanup cleanmgr.exe without user intervention - powershell

Question

I am developing a powershell script file which shall execute some disk cleanup without user intervention. The user shall not be able to configure anything.
When I run cleanmgr.exe /d c: sageset:1 a popup window appears to select files/folders to be cleaned(cleanup options).
This will create a registry entry containing the settings with the cleanup options and after this, you can run cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:1 which will actually execute the cleanup.
Is there a way to specify the cleanup options directly with powerhell/command line(without the need to manually select things to be deleted)?

Answer 1

The following Powershell script automates CleanMgr.exe. In this case, it removes temporary files and runs the Update Cleanup extension to purge superseded Service Pack Backup files (Windows 10 now does this automatically via a scheduled task). To automate other extensions, create a "StateFlags0001" property in the corresponding Registry key, as done in the New-ItemProperty lines. You will find the Registry key names in the "VolumeCaches" branch.
As far as being silent, this script attempts to start CleanMgr.exe in a hidden window. However, at some point CleanMgr spawns new processes which are visible and must be waited on separately.
Write-Host 'Clearing CleanMgr.exe automation settings.'
Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\*' -Name StateFlags0001 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-ItemProperty -Name StateFlags0001 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Write-Host 'Enabling Update Cleanup. This is done automatically in Windows 10 via a scheduled task.'
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Update Cleanup' -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord
Write-Host 'Enabling Temporary Files Cleanup.'
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Temporary Files' -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord
Write-Host 'Starting CleanMgr.exe...'
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:1' -WindowStyle Hidden -Wait
Write-Host 'Waiting for CleanMgr and DismHost processes. Second wait neccesary as CleanMgr.exe spins off separate processes.'
Get-Process -Name cleanmgr,dismhost -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Wait-Process
$UpdateCleanupSuccessful = $false
if (Test-Path $env:SystemRoot\Logs\CBS\DeepClean.log) {
$UpdateCleanupSuccessful = Select-String -Path $env:SystemRoot\Logs\CBS\DeepClean.log -Pattern 'Total size of superseded packages:' -Quiet
}
if ($UpdateCleanupSuccessful) {
Write-Host 'Rebooting to complete CleanMgr.exe Update Cleanup....'
SHUTDOWN.EXE /r /f /t 0 /c 'Rebooting to complete CleanMgr.exe Update Cleanup....'
}

Answer 2

The PowerShell logic provided below is dynamic and ready for use or automation with the sageset options all being selected and no user interaction being required. This was inspired by multiple answers and comments from this post.
Note: I've adjusted for my needs and used successfully without any issues on multiple remote and local Windows 10 systems in particular.
Run on Local System
Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\*' | % {
New-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord -Force
};
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:1' ##-WindowStyle Hidden
Run on Remote System
$cred = Get-Credential "domain\administrator";
Invoke-Command -ComputerName "computer004" {
Process {
Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\*' | % {
New-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -Name StateFlags0001 -Value 2 -PropertyType DWord -Force
};
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:1' -WindowStyle Hidden
}
} -AsJob -Credential $cred
Supporting Resources
cleanmgr
Invoke-Command
-AsJob
Run the command as a background job on a remote computer.
Use this parameter to run commands that take an extensive time to complete.
Get-Credential
Automate process of Disk Cleanup cleanmgr.exe without user intervention
Creating a Disk Cleanup Handler

Answer 3

You can use cleanmgr /verylowdisk to silently automate all the cleanup steps.

Answer 4

The only solution I found is to manually set the registry values like this:
...
#Set StateFlags0012 setting for each item in Windows 8.1 disk cleanup utility
if (-not (get-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Active Setup Temp Folders' -name StateFlags0012 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Active Setup Temp Folders' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\BranchCache' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2
set-itemproperty -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Downloaded Program Files' -name StateFlags0012 -type DWORD -Value 2
...
see full example

Answer 5

I ran into the same issue. Researching the possible ways, I have found the following:
http://stealthpuppy.com/cleaning-up-and-reducing-the-size-of-your-master-image/
It shows how to create the sageset registry settings via cmd. You can then use the sagerun:# cmd. I have not tried it via script yet, but have validated that it works...

Answer 6

This script will get all the Volume Caches from the Registry, enable them to be cleaned and run the CLEANMGR.EXE for all caches.
$VolumeCachesRegDir = "hklm:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches"
$CacheDirItemNames = Get-ItemProperty "$VolumeCachesRegDir\*" | select -ExpandProperty PSChildName
$CacheDirItemNames |
%{
$exists = Get-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name "StateFlags6553" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
If (($exists -ne $null) -and ($exists.Length -ne 0))
{
Set-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name StateFlags6553 -Value 2
}
else
{
New-ItemProperty -Path "$VolumeCachesRegDir\$_" -Name StateFlags6553 -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord
}
}
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
Write-Host 'Running CleanMgr.exe...'
Start-Process -FilePath CleanMgr.exe -ArgumentList '/sagerun:65535' -WindowStyle Hidden -PassThru
cls

Answer 7

Running CleanMgr.exe in a powershell script or by itself seems to work fine as long as you run it locally with an account that has local admin rights. But try running it remotely via any remote management tool or remote scripting command (Invoke-Command) and it does not run. You might see the process running on the remote system but it doesn't seem to cleanup anything and the process never ends. I would be interested if anyone has been able to get cleanmgr.exe to run remotely without any user interaction. E.G. ConfigMgr Right Click Tools, ConfigMgr App or PKG, Task Scheduler.