[Answered] Does Windows Automatically Delete Temp Files?

Does Windows ever delete temp files?

Known as a temp file, a temporary file is a file that is created to hold information while another file is being created or modified. Temporary files can save and move data, manage settings, help recover lost files, and manage multiple users.

Windows can delete temporary files automatically if you’ve configured specific settings. Moreover, if all programs have been closed and temporary files remain, it’s safe for you to delete these files.

Part 1. How to delete temporary files in Windows 10/11?

Since you’ve figured out the default path of temporary files, how to automatically delete temp files in Windows 10? Please refer to the following methods.

Solution 1. Automatically delete temp files in Windows 10/11

Does Windows automatically delete temp files? Of course, it does. With build 15014, a new option was added to Windows Settings, enabling Windows 10 to delete temporary files automatically.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.

Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left and turn it on. Then click the “Configure Storage Sense or run it now” button.

Step 3. Turn on the Storage Sense. Tick “Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using” and select the clean-up period as you need.

Similarly, you can create a batch file to delete temporary files automatically.

Solution 2. Delete temporary files from Windows Settings

Windows Settings is a practical feature for users to adjust, manage, or modify settings. In brief, Windows Settings allows you to remove temporary files via the following steps.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.

Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left. Then click “Temporary files” to open it.

Step 3. On the Temporary files window, tick “Temporary files” and tap the “Remove files” button.

Solution 3. Delete temporary files using CMD

CMD is a powerful utility that can help you delete or recover files. These steps describe how to delete temporary files using CMD. You can use the dir command to show hidden files.

Step 1. Enter “cmd” in the search bar and click “Run as administrator” to open the command prompt window.

Step 2. Enter “del / q/f/ s %TEMP%\*” in the window and hit “Enter” or press “OK” to start the process.

After that, you can go to the default storage path to check whether your temporary files have been deleted or not.

Solution 4. Delete temporary files using Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) is a Microsoft Windows computer tool that frees up disk space on computers’ hard drives. Let’s perform how to delete temporary files manually via Disk Cleanup.

Step 1. Type “disk cleanup” in the search bar. Then click “Disk Cleanup” to open it.

Step 2. Select the local disk C drive and click “OK” to open the Disk Cleanup window. Then click “Clean up system files” of your selected C drive.

Step 3. Under Files to delete, tick “Temporary Internet Files” or the temp files you want to delete. Then click the “OK” button.

Part 2. How to recover files from temp folder with no effort?

Sometimes, if you accidentally close a file without saving it, you can try to recover files from temp folder after activating the AutoSave feature.

Nevertheless, some users might have deleted essential temporary files without backups. At the moment, there’s no better way than using professional software like MyRecover to recover files from temp folder.   

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Recover the deleted/lost Word, Excel, PPT, PDF, photos, videos, audio, folders, and other 200+ types of data from HDD, USB, SD cards, and other portable devices.

Retain the recovered files based on their original paths, filenames, and format.

During Quick Scan and Deep Scan, enter filenames in the search bar to locate your desired files or wait to find all the deleted and other lost files on your computers.

Support NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, and ReFS file systems.

Download MyRecover on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Windows Server computers!

Step 1. Run MyRecover on your PC, and hover the mouse over the local disk C drive. Then click Scan.

Step 2. Quickly locate your needed files by Name, Date, Type, Size, or Path. After Quick Scan and Deep Scan, you can also wait to view all the deleted and other missing files.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Other Missing Files folder, and click “Recover x files” to get your selected temp files back. After recovery, please save them in a new location.

Bonus tips: How to prevent files being deleted automatically Windows 10?

Undeniably, Windows can automatically delete temp files. The same goes for other files. So how to prevent files from being deleted automatically in Windows 10? There’re four ways for your reference.

• Add/remove exclusions
• Uninstall/remove suspicious files/folders
• Uninstall malfunctioned updates
• Switch off Storage Sense

Let’s take the last method as an example. Please refer to the following steps.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings. Then click the “System” button.

Step 2. Click “Storage” on the left. Then click the “Configure Storage Sense or run it now” button.

Step 3. Turn off your Storage Sense to prevent files from being automatically deleted from the desktop.

Related suggestions

Does Windows automatically delete temp files? It seems it does. Please get an overview of temp files and learn how to delete temporary files automatically or manually via the above content.

For deleted files from the temp folder, you’re supposed to seek help from efficient data recovery tools like MyRecover. Because many of you might haven’t developed a good habit of creating backups using Windows features or free backup software for Windows.