How to safely delete AppData Temp folder? (2026)

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Deleting contents of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp folder is always safe. Well, except when it's misused to store anything of relevance like in this similar case - a website stored projects in browser cache. Desktop apps also might use it for similar purposes, but mostly for storing truly temporary work that is being worked on. Just quitting programs while saving your work should be enough in 99+% of cases.

For deletion of the files you don't need anything special. All you need is Windows Explorer. Just select all files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp there and delete them. Using any tools for this purpose is pointless, except that they automatically "click" Skip for the files in use for you.

If the folder keeps getting big despite deletion or the big files are in use after closing apps, here are some advices to track down what's recreating files:

• Delete the files directly in safe mode, check if they come back once you restart the system in regular mode
• If they do, you could use e.g. Process Monitor to verify which processes keep creating files there. You could do it with help of 2 filters: Path -> Contains -> C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\Temp and Operation -> is -> CreateFile. Then delete and wait until the files reappear.

• Have you actually tried doing this? I (in Windows 10) invariably get Acess Denied for dozens or hundreds of folders/files in my Temp folder, and even elevating to Administrator only works sometimes. Obviously Windows itself is abusing that location.

  –kreemoweet

  Commented Jan 21 at 18:07

• Yes, tons of times... All you get is some potential "file is in use" warnings and if you read the answer, the clearly stated recommendation is to close apps first. Or to do it in safe mode.

  –Destroy666

  Commented Jan 21 at 18:44

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While a file is in use, it may be locked, making it hard to delete. For most files, it is not a good idea to delete them when locked.

The files in Temp folders, though, are meant to be deleted at the end of a session. If they're locked (i.e., you've tried to delete the Temp folder manually, from Explorer or CMD, and it has failed), then there are a few ways to free up space, safely removing those files.

• Use one of the free third-party tools to clean up many of the Temp folders, such as Wise Disk Cleaner or an alternative. Most list locked files, and set up a process to run after the next full shutdown and reboot, before they are locked, to delete them.

• Use a free third-party tool to unlock files, such as LockHunter or an alternative. Then manually select and delete them.

  In some cases, a file might be in use, and you do not want to stop the process locking it, and these applications can schedule deletion after reboot, too.

Caveats:

• Deletion of locked files may require full shutdown, i.e., not Sleep or Hibernation. It is might be possible Fast Startup could also interfere. If in doubt, close all applications, press WindowsR, type shutdown /s /t 00 and Enter to perform a full shutdown.
• As with any software, check downloaded files at VirusTotal before using them.

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The temp folder is not always deleted, even after proper shutdowns, and the space can pile up to large proportions.

You don't need to delete the folder itself though, only its content.

You can safely select everything, and shift-delete the files to permanently delete the files. It will fail deleting everything and will complain that some files are in use. Just say Ignore for all occurrences. You'll see a 50GB usage drop to a few hundred megabytes. If you reboot the system after that, there's a chance those files get cleaned by themselves too.

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• windows-10
• temporary-files
• disk-cleanup