How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows

One way to free up disk space in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP is to delete temporary files. Temp files are files that your operating system only needed to exist temporarily while in use, but are now just wasting space.

Most temporary files are stored in the Windows Temp folder, the location of which differs from computer to computer. Manually cleaning this out in Windows usually takes less than a minute, but it could take longer depending on how large the collection of temporary files is.

How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows

Follow these simple steps to delete your temporary Windows files:

1. Open the Run dialog box.

   In Windows 11, 10, and 8, right-click the Start button and select Run.

   In earlier versions of Windows, choose Start to bring up the search box or find Run.

   Another way to open the Run dialog box is to enter the WIN+R keyboard shortcut.

2. In the Run window or search box, enter the following command exactly:
   

   %temp%
   

   This command, which is technically one of many environment variables in Windows, will open the folder that Windows has designated as your Temp folder, probably C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp.

3. Select all the files and folders within the Temp folder that you want to delete. Unless you have a reason to otherwise, select them all.

   If you're using a keyboard or mouse, click one item and then use Ctrl+A to select every item within the folder. If you're on a touch-only interface, choose Select all from the Home menu at the top of the folder.

   You don't need to know what each temp file you're going to delete is for, or what or how many files are included in any subfolders you select. Windows won't let you delete any files or folders that are still in use. More on that in a bit.

4. Delete all the temporary files and folders you've selected, either using the Delete key on your keyboard or the Delete button from the Home menu.

   Depending on your version of Windows, and how your computer is configured, you might be asked to confirm that you wish to Delete Multiple Items. You may even have to select Yes on a special Confirm Multiple File Delete window that appears. Handle any messages about hidden files in this folder the same way—it's fine to delete those, too.

5. Choose Skip if you're presented with a File In Use or a Folder In Use warning during the temporary file deletion process.

   This is Windows telling you that the file or folder you're trying to delete is locked and still in use by a program, or maybe even Windows itself. Skipping these allows the deleting to continue with the remaining data.

   If you're getting a lot of these messages, check the Do this for all current items checkbox and then select Skip again. You'll have to do it once for the file messages and again for the folder ones, but warnings should stop after that.

   Rarely will you see a message like Error Deleting File or Folder that will stop the temp file deleting process completely. If this happens, restart your computer and try again. If even that doesn't work, try starting Windows in Safe Mode and repeating the steps above.

6. Wait while all the temp files are deleted, which could take anywhere from a few seconds if you only have a few files in this folder, and up to several minutes if you have many and they're large.

   You won't be prompted when the process is complete. Instead, the progress indicator will just disappear, and you'll see your empty, or almost empty, temp folder up on the screen. Feel free to close this window.

   If you happen to be deleting so much data that not all of it can be sent to Recycle Bin, you'll be told that they'll be permanently removed.

7. Finally, locate Recycle Bin on your Desktop, right-click or tap-and-hold the icon, and then choose Empty Recycle Bin.

   Can't find Recycle Bin? It might have been hidden. You can still open a hidden Recycle Bin in File Explorer.

8. Select Yes on the prompt to confirm that you want to delete the items, which will permanently remove those temporary files from your computer. You now, in the short term, have an empty temporary files section.

Using a Command Line Command

The steps shown above are considered the normal way to delete temporary files, but you have to do it manually. If you'd rather, you can build your own mini-program that can delete these temp files automatically with a simple double-click/tap of a BAT file.

You can do this using the rd (remove directory) Command Prompt command to delete the entire folder and all the subfolders.

Type the following command into Notepad or some other text editor, and save it with the .BAT file extension:

rd %temp% /s /q

The q parameter suppresses confirmation prompts to delete the files and folders, and s is for deleting all the subfolders and files in the temp folder.

If the %temp% environment variable is for some reason not working, feel free to substitute in the actual folder location mentioned in Step 2 above, but make sure you type the correct folder path, and to be safe, surround the path in quotes like this (change the username, of course):

rd "C:\Users\jonfi\AppData\Local\Temp" /s /q

Other Types of Temporary Files in Windows

The Windows Temp folder isn't the only place temporary files, and other no-longer-needed groups of files, are stored on Windows computers.

The folder you found in Step 2 above is where you'll find some of the operating-system-created temporary files in Windows, but the C:\Windows\Temp\ folder contains a number of additional files that you no longer need to keep. Feel free to open that Temp folder and delete anything you find in there.

The Settings app in Windows 11 and Windows 10 has an entire section dedicated to deleting temporary files. Get there through Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files. Included there are things like delivery optimization files, Windows upgrade log files, temporary files left over by apps, and more. Choose what to remove, and then select Remove files.

Those same, harder-to-find locations for temporary files are accessible in older versions of Windows, too, like Windows 7, via Disk Cleanup. This utility is included in all versions of Windows and can help remove the contents of some of those other temp folders for you automatically. You can open that in a Run dialog box (WIN+R) via the cleanmgr command.

Check Your Browser Cache

Your browser also keeps temporary files, usually in an attempt to speed up your browsing by loading cached versions of web pages when you revisit them. Review our guide on how to clear your browser's cache for help deleting these types of temporary files. Ctrl+Shift+Del (Windows) or Command+Shift+Delete (Mac) is usually the shortcut to that option.

Handy Tools for Easy Removal

Dedicated "system cleaners" like the free CCleaner program can make this, and similar jobs, really easy. Many free computer cleaner programs exist to choose from, too, including Wise Disk Cleaner.