How to delete System queued Windows Error Reporting files

Windows features a feedback mechanism where it generates error reports from Software and Hardware problems. These reports are stored temporarily in the system and sent back to Microsoft so it can find a solution to those problems and fix it in future updates. As time passes, these reports may take up a lot of space on the system. End users are free to delete them using the brand-new Free Up Space feature. However, sometimes you won’t be able to do that. In this post, we are sharing how to delete very large System queued Windows Error Reporting files that may run in Gigabytes.

When WER sends out an error file and looks for a solution, the WER server at Microsoft instantly sends out a solution if there is one available.  In case the solution is under investigation or is unknown, the end user gets notified about it and may ask for additional information.

Delete System queued Windows Error Reporting files

While the Free Up Space tool in Settings is able to clear these error reporting files, sometimes it is not able to delete very large system queued Windows error reporting files. The option to delete System queued Windows Error Reporting Files also exists in the Disk Cleanup Utility.

Delete Windows Error Reporting Files using Settings

Go to Settings > System > Storage > Free Up Space, and click to launch it.

Give it some time to populate all the files and folders. Once done, select only System created Windows Error Reporting files.

Click on Remove files button, and it should remove all of them.

Note: While you can use the Disk Clean Up tool, it’s being removed from the next version of Windows.

Delete Windows Error Reporting Files manually

• Open the File Explorer, and enable Hidden Files view from the menu.
• Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\
• Here you will find a bunch of folders including LocalReportArchive, ReportArchive, ReportQueue, and Temp.
• You will have to open each of these folders and delete all archive files.
• These files will have a name similar to 00c58c1f-b836-4703-9bcf-c699ca24d285.

If you cannot delete the files, you may have to take ownership of these folders, and then perform the action.

Disable Windows Error Reporting

If it becomes a regular annoyance for you because the files are generating every day and in size of gigabytes, it is best to disable the Windows Error Reporting Service for some time.  Sometimes WER service cannot upload these files to Microsoft WER Server, and they stay behind, occupying lot of space.