If you’re running out of space on your system drive, an easy solution to free up space is to clean up (delete) temporary files created by Windows services or programs installed on your computer. The process of cleaning these files is a safety practice and you will not lose important files from your system that are required for normal operation.
Windows uses (minimum) two temporary folders to store all temporary files created by using the computer: System temporary folder: “C:\Windows\Temp” (stores all system temporary files) and a user temp folder that stores each user’s temporary files. The user’s temporary folder is created in each user profile, and the full path depends on the operating system installed on the computer:
For Windows 8.7, Vista OS user temp folder path: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp
&
For Windows XP user temp folder path: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
Relocating the Temp folder will help you find and delete all temporary files (from within the Temp folder) easily and free up more space on your system disk. This procedure works better if you have a second hard drive in your system.
In this article, I will show you how to move temporary store folders to another disk location.
Step 1: Create a new folder for the temp files:
1. Open Windows Explorer and create a new folder where you prefer to store temporary files.
(for example, “C:\TEMP” or “D:\TEMP” if you have a secondary hard drive).
Step 2: Open it Environment variable settings.
For this:
1. Right click on Computer icon and select Characteristics.
2. Come in Advanced system settings in the left panel.
3. ask”Yes“on”UAC warning” message.
4. Inside Complicated Click SettingsEnvironmental variables“
5. Inside You’ll see two Environment Variables sections:
a. User variables for the current user (eg Administrator)
b. System variables
From here you will be able to change the default location for temporary files.
Step 3. Change the values of environment variables.
A. To change the current user’s temporary file storage location:
1. come in”User variables” from the section “TEMP” variable and press “Editing“.
2. “atVariable value” box turn off the default TEMP location (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp) and then enter the new TEMP folder address (eg C:\TEMP). Click on “OK” when finished.
3. Repeat the same procedure for “”.TMP” variable.
When you’re done, “User Variables” section should be:
5. Click the “OK” button twice and If you do not want to change the system temporary store location, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
B. To change where the system stores temporary files:
1. come in”System variables” section and scroll down until you find “.TEMP” & “TMP” variables.
2. Select “TEMP” variable and press “Editing“.
3. “atVariable value” box turn off the default TEMP location (%SystemRoot%\TEMP) and then type new SYSTEM TEMP folder location. (eg C:\TEMP). Click on “OK” when finished.
4. Repeat the same procedure for “”.TMP” variable.
When you’re done, “User Variables” section should be:
5. Click the “OK” button twice and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
From now on, you can easily find and safely delete all the contents of the new TEMP folder and free up disk space.
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