What Is WindowsApps.tmp? Is It Safe to Delete?

1 min
Notes

While freeing up space on my nearly full drive with Filelight, I found a large folder named WindowsApps.tmp under Program Files.

It is a temporary folder left behind when changes to Microsoft Store apps are interrupted.

Before removing it, make sure your Microsoft Store apps are working normally and that no app is currently being updated. Then open Command Prompt as an administrator and run:

takeown /f "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps.tmp" /r /d y
icacls "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps.tmp" /grant administrators:F /t
rmdir /s /q "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps.tmp"

These commands take ownership of the folder and permanently delete it. Double-check the path before running them; do not use them on the active WindowsApps folder. If you are unsure whether the folder is only an abandoned temporary directory, back it up or rename it first.

See Microsoft’s discussion: Is it safe to delete the WindowsApps.tmp folder?