The Disk Cleanup tool stops responding while it is compressing old files on a Windows XP-based computer

When you try to compress old files on a Windows XP-based computer, the Disk Cleanup tool may stop responding, and you may receive the following message:

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the “Fix it for me” section. If you would rather fix this problem yourself, go to the “Let me fix it myself” section.

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.




Notes

• This wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
• If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Note

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

This problem occurs when there is an incorrect entry in the registry that is used by the Disk Cleanup utility to locate compressed files. To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches
4. On the File menu, click Export, click Desktop, type VolumeCaches in the File name box, and then click Save.
   
   Note This step creates a backup of the VolumeCaches registry key. If you experience any problems after you complete the steps that are listed in this procedure, you can use this backup to restore the VolumeCaches key to its original state. To restore the key, double-click the VolumeCaches.reg file on your desktop, and then click Yes.
5. Expand the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches
6. Delete the Compress old files registry key.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus) .

For more information about the Disk Cleanup tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: