How to delete the folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs" and stop Windows from piling up garbage on my SSD?

Question

There are many mentions of this folder on the web, it's clear that it relates to Windows 10 telemetry, and many people want to get rid of this folder (it's 30 GB on my C: drive at the moment, and it accounts for most of the mysterious loss of free space over time). However, all the solutions I could find are outdated as they suggest disabling the DiagTrack service which no longer exists.

I'm running Win 10 Pro x64 2004. How can I at least delete this folder (inaccessible to regular file managers), and preferably - stop it from being regenerated?

P. S. I was able (to my surprise) to simply delete this folder with rmdir /S from Administrator command prompt, but the real question is how to stop it from regenerating.

Answer 1

It seems that in your case Windows Telemetry is running wild. The following is a list of all the methods I know to stop telemetry. Reboot after applying.

Change Privacy Settings

• Open Settings > Privacy > General
• Toggle all options to Off
• Select on the left "Diagnostic and Feedback"
• Select on top the option saying "Required diagnostic data"
• Toggle "Tailored experience" to Off

Disable Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry

Run Command Prompt (CMD) as Administrator and enter the following commands:

sc stop DiagTrack
sc config DiagTrack start= disabled
sc stop dmwappushservice
sc config dmwappushservice start= disabled
echo "" > C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Diagnosis\\ETLLogs\\AutoLogger\\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl
reg add "HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\DataCollection" /v AllowTelemetry /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable From The Local Policy Editor

• Run the Local Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
• Navigate to the following location:
  Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds
• Locate and double-click on the "Allow telemetry" option
• Change its status to Disabled
• Click on OK to save the changes

Use Task Scheduler to disable CompatTelRunner.exe process

• Run Task Scheduler
• Expand the following folders: Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Application Experience
• Right-click "Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" and select "Disable"
• Confirm to complete the process

Answer 2

Open cmd as administrator. Then run : ¹

net stop DiagTrack & sc config DiagTrack start= disabled

Expect a response like :

The Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service was stopped successfully.

or :

The Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service is not started.

and :

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

You might have to re-run this every time Windows Update installs a new build version.

About DiagTrack

However, all the solutions I could find are outdated as they suggest disabling the DiagTrack service which no longer exists.

With all due respect, I think you are wrong. I am currently on version 21H2 (build 19044), and DiagTrack was definitely running after I recently ran Windows Update. (I have since disabled it.)

But I don't blame you for not finding it. Microsoft once renamed it from 'Diagnostics Tracking Service' to 'Connected User Experiences and Telemetry'. Keeping the name unchanged over the years would have made the life for us – their paying customers – much too easy?

Hit Win ⊞+R, paste services.msc and hit Enter. Sort by name and look for Connected User Experiences and Telemetry and double-click that service.

Instead of running the command above, you can achieve the exact same thing as follows.

Where it says Service status: Running, click Stop. Then where it says Startup type: Automatic, change to Disabled. Click OK and then F5.

As you can see, the DiagTrack service is sadly still around. ²

References

• Open cmd as administrator
• Windows Update installs a new build version
• Windows 10 telemetry secrets article on ZDNET.
• You are not alone with this problem.

---

¹ Never, ever run sc delete!

² I wish Microsoft would get rid of it, but I don't think they will.

Answer 3

This folder is filled by Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe), it is started by a scheduled task, the task is located at \Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\ and its name is "Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser", however there are three other tasks there, so you might disable them all.

This is a PowerShell one-liner that does the job, note you need Administrator Privileges to do so.

"Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser","PcaPatchDbTask","ProgramDataUpdater","StartupAppTask" | %{ Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\" -TaskName $_ | Out-Null }

If these commands give you errors, then you need run these commands with TrustedInstaller privileges, you can use either NSudo or PsExec.