[Fixed] Disk Cleanup Not Working in Windows 11

Disk Cleanup is a Microsoft Windows computer maintenance program that is used to clear up disk space on a computer's hard drive. It has since been deprecated and replaced with a more contemporary version in the Settings program, while it remains available as a legacy utility in Windows.

However, some users might find that the Disk Cleanup not working in Windows 11 or Disk Cleanup not deleting files, and it’s not easy to find proper alternatives in this new system. So, in this article, we’ll show your how to fix the Disk Cleanup not working, some other ways to clean Windows 11, and two tricks to release more free space on your C drive in Windows 11.

How to fix Disk Cleanup not working Windows 11

In this part, we’ll show you how to fix Disk Cleanup with SFC and DISM. These two are frequently-used Windows built-in tools to scan and repair errors, so if Disk Cleanup not showing in Windows 11happens, we try these first.

1. SFC (System File Checker)

SFC, short of System File Checker, is a Microsoft Windows application that allows users to search for and recover broken Windows system files. You use it through CMD.

Step 1. Type “cmd” in the Search box. Right-click Command Prompt and choose “Run as Administrator”.

Step 2. Type “sfc /scannow” and press "Enter".

After that, you need to reboot your computer.

2. DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)

DISM is a command-line utility that can handle a wide range of servicing duties. It is capable of querying, configuring, installing, and uninstalling Windows features such as locale settings, optional components, device drivers, and Windows updates. What’s more, it also can restore damaged or corrupt Windows files by obtaining a fresh copy from the Internet.

Step 1. Type “PowerShell” in the Windows search bar. Right-click the best match and choose “Run as Administrator”.

Step 2. Type “dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” and hit “Enter”.

Wait for the process to finish and close the windows to try Disk Cleanup.

Other methods to clean your Windows 11

Windows offers users not only Disk Cleanup but also other tools to clean disk.

1. Open Storage Sense

Storage Sense is a utility to clean a computer and programs regularly, you can find and set it in Settings.

Step 1. In the Start menu, select “Settings”.

Step 2. On the page of Windows Settings, click on “System”.

Step 3. Select “Storage” on the left side and open “Storage Sense”. You can select “Configure Storage Sense or run it now” and hit “Clean now” to run it immediately. This tool also allows users to set schedules to run it regularly.

2. Delete Temp files

Step 1. Open “Run” by pressing “Windows” + “R”, type “%temp%” and press “Enter”.

Step 2. Select all files in the Temp window and delete all.

3. Disable Hibernation

Hibernate generates a huge number of hibernation files on drive C. You can disable and get rid of hibernation files to save the C drive capacity.

Step 1. Type “cmd” and right-click it to select “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. Then type “powercfg.exe -h off” and press Enter.

Tricks: How to release more free space on full C drive in Windows 11

Deleting files or cleaning the drive are both temporary ways, if the space of the C drive is small, it’ll be full soon. Thus, we recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to show some ways that can release more free space and extend the C drive capacity once and for all.

This software is a Windows disk and partition management tool. It simplifies lots of tasks like converting to GPT/MBR, extending volume… that have many limitations in Windows built-in tools to help users conveniently and flexibly adjust their devices.

Here, we’ll give you two examples:

▶ Case 1. You might know that programs can’t be moved once it’s installed on the assigned location. And the default storage location in Windows PC is the C drive, so, lots of users will find the C drive is full of applications that take much capacity. The “App Mover” of AOMEI Partition Assistant is the feature to handle this problem. It can find all data files, even those speared on other drives, and move them with the program to make sure it can run normally.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click the drive and choose "App Mover".

Step 2. Click C drive and hit on "Next".

Step 3. All movable apps in C drive will be listed, choose whichever you need to move, select the destination path, and click on "Move".

Step 4. In the pop-out window, click "OK" to close the running applications and start moving the app.

▶ Case 2. Many users who have a crowded C drive might also have empty D/E/F drives on the disk. If you can share the free space on other drives to the C drive, that wouldn’t be nice? The “Allocate free space” feature is for this situation. It allows users to split the free space from another drive to target drives that need space, and the operation is data-safe.

Step 1. right-click the partition from which you want to allocate free space and select "Allocate Free Space".

Step 2. You will get a pop-up window. Type in the size of the free space which you want to split from the D drive and this free space will be directly added to the C drive.

Step 3. You can view "Pending Operations" on the sidebar in case of corrections and then click "Apply" on the toolbar to execute pending operations.

Then, you can restart the PC to finish the task. Then you can deeply clean your PC by deleting large files, after that, your C drive will possess a larger space.

Ending

Now you know how to fix Disk cleanup not working in Windows 11. There are many methods we show in this post, you can try some or all of them to save your Windows 11 PC.

AOMEI Partition Assistant has Server Edition for Server users, if you’re also looking for a Server disk manager, it can be an excellent choice.