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I have a large hard drive, but over the course of time, I find that I now only have 5 GB of space. While manually looking through my hard drive, I noticed that the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft takes up 2.2 GB of space.

Is it possible to manually delete C:\ProgramData\Microsoft folder or at the very least reduce the size of this folder without breaking Microsoft programs?

If there are other ways to reduce the size of this folder, please detail the necessary steps to take.

Dennis
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Trevor Boyd Smith
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    Unlikely...The files contained in that folder are there for a reason. It sounds like your space is being used by something else if 2.2GB is even worth asking about. – Ramhound Jan 30 '13 at 16:58
  • You can move it to another drive using dir junctions if you're running out of space on your OS drive (see [Moving Windows 7 ProgramData folder after installation](http://superuser.com/questions/84536/moving-windows-7-programdata-folder-after-installation)), but some things [will break](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949977). – Karan Jan 30 '13 at 17:01
  • Why would you do that? It's obviously used by Windows, as it's _created_ by Windows. – TFM Jan 30 '13 at 17:37

5 Answers5

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You cannot delete the Program Data folder. Instead look at other options. Some of them will be:

  1. Disable hibernation and delete the hidden hiberfil.sys
  2. Move the page file from C:\ drive to an alternate drive.
  3. Run CCleaner and see if helps clean up some stuff.
  4. See if you can uninstall some junk / obselete / now unwanted programs.
  5. Check for Memory.dmp file in C:\Windows. This is a BSOD file that may take up space.
Community
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Ganesh R.
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Is it possible to manually delete C:\ProgramData\Microsoft folder or at the very least reduce the size of this folder without breaking Microsoft programs?

No.

If there are other ways to reduce the size of this folder, please detail the necessary steps to take.

There is one possibility.

That is the default location for the windows search database, which can be several gigabytes on its own. If this happens to be indexing more information that you really need, then you could reduce the database size by excluding these options from the index.

To do that, you go the your Control Panel and search for 'Indexing options' it this should allow you see what is being currently indexed and you can modify the criteria.

You may also need to delete and rebuild the index which can be done from the advanced section. (It also allows you to change the location of the database, but I presume that isn't off any benefit to you)

sgmoore
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You can delete the contents of the \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Caches\ folder, and you can also delete contents of \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Power Efficiency Diagnostics. These will automatically re-generate. Some of these files you won't be able to delete even by taking ownership of the files, but Unlocker can delete them. When you then reboot, you will see the files get re-created by themselves, given time.

If you don't use Windows Defender you can also delete its definition files in ProgramData. Etc.

But no, you should not delete ProgramData\Microsoft.

trala
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No, it isn’t. This folder contains files used by Windows and other applications.

kinokijuf
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I have two subfolders under ProgramData\Microsoft:

  • HelpLibrary 1GB
  • HelpLibrary2 2GB

which are help files for old versions of Visual Studio. The parts for ver. 12 and 14 are empty, but ver. 10 and 11 left total of 3GB junk after uninstall. I deleted them manually without causing any problems, since I'm using only ver. 15 of Visual Studio.

Paul Jurczak
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    The preferred method to remove HelpLibrary* is via Microsoft Help Viewer. Once loaded, select the Manage Content tab and remove anything locally installed that you do not want anymore. – Dono Feb 07 '19 at 03:28