How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows 10 [5 Ways] 2025

If you run out of storage on your Windows 10 PC, do not worry. You probably have a ton of temporary files that occupy your space. Removing these temporary files will not fail to give you much more room on your disk. Want to know how to delete temporary files in Windows 10? They are listed in the lower sections of this article.

But what are the temporary files? Will their removal pose any problems?

These are valid questions. Temporary files are used by the operating system and other programs to store the temporary data they need to function properly. they usually handle editing by the user. Functions such as Cancel are possible thanks to these files. They can also function as virtual memory for programs as they free up RAM for other applications. This memory is usually cleared automatically, but sometimes, due to a program or system lock, they are not removed. These files are usually harmless but over time they can take up a lot of space.

So, yes, it is totally safe to delete temporary files from your system. Let's learn now how to do it.

How to delete temporary files in Windows 10?

There are many methods that you can use to delete temporary files in Windows 10. They are fairly simple and you can use them to free up your storage space.

Method 1: Delete Temporary Files by Using Disk Cleanup

It is a cleaning tool that has been part of the Windows operating system for a long time since Windows 98. This tool is your answer to "how to delete temporary files in Windows 10". This is a very good tool because its cleaning is not limited to temporary files of Windows 10 operating system. It can also clean Internet browser caches and other applications. We recommend that you run this check at least once a month. To use this tool, simply follow the steps below.

First, open This PC.
Right click on the drive on which Windows 10 is installed and select properties. In my case, it's on the local disk (C :).
In the lower right corner of Capacity, you can find the Disk Cleanup option. Click on it.
Cleaning the drive will calculate how much space you can free. It will be a few seconds or minutes; depending on your system.
Then, a list of temporary file locations will be presented to you. You can choose the folder to delete. Note that this is permanent but temporary files are not really important.
Press OK to start.
Wait a few seconds or minutes, because it still depends on your PC.

There you go. All of your temporary files will be deleted and you will have more free space on your Windows 10 PC.

Method 2: Delete temporary files in Windows 10 with the help of settings

This is also a pretty simple method to get rid of these temporary files. Just follow these steps.

launching settings and select System.
To choose Storage room and you can see your storage space.
Click on the option Free space now it's highlighted.
You will be presented with a list of unnecessary file locations. Check all that you want and if you have something specific that you want, uncheck it.
In addition to all these temporary files, you can find the button that says Delete files. Tap it and your temporary files will be deleted.

Otherwise, you can also activate Storage direction so that Windows 10 can automatically delete these temporary files. It will also clean your trash if something remains for thirty days. In addition, you can also schedule disk cleaning.

Method 3: Delete the Temporary Folder

This is the classic way to eliminate temporary files. There are two folders in Windows 10 that store temporary files. One stores general temporary files while the other stores temporary files specific to the current user. We will explain how to do both.

Go to This PC and select the drive on which your operating system is installed.
Double click the Windows folder and open Temp folder.
Select while pressing Ctrl + A and press Delete.
You will encounter dialogs stating that this file can not be deleted. Just skip them. This occurs when the file in question is still being used by a program or Windows 10.
Now press the Windows and R keys together to open the race dialogue.
type % temp% and press OK.
You will be directed to a folder located in the C: Users MisterX AppData Local Temp location. Select all files and delete them as well.
If you encounter files that can not be deleted, simply ignore them.

Method 4: Delete Temporary Files with CMD Help

If you want to know how to do this using the command prompt, we have what you need. Just use the following steps.

Press Windows + R to launch the runtime dialog.
Type cmd and press Enter.
In the command prompt, enter the command rd% temp% / s / q and press Enter. The / s and / q are parameters that delete all the subfolders and delete the confirmation prompts.
If that does not seem to work, enter the command rd "C: Users MisterX AppData Local Temp" / s / q. Make sure the path is in quotation marks and replace MisterX with your user name.

If you wish, you can also create a small program that will save you the hassle of typing each time. Just type the command in step 3 in Notepad. Save it as a .BAT file. Open it to start the command.

Method 5: Install a third-party application

These are dedicated utilities that will clean up unwanted files, including temporary files, in Windows 10. If you do not want to install other applications, go for it. They are usually simple to use. Advanced System Optimizer and CCleaner are good options. You can download both right here and right here respectively.

Final words

Here are the five methods you can use to get rid of temporary files. If you have any doubts or want to share other methods, please use our comments section.

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