How to clear Windows Error Reporting CAB files on Windows 2008R2?
Noticed that the c:\programdata\Microsoft\Windows\wer\ReportQueue folder has grown out of control on one of our older win2008r2 servers. Is occupying almost 90gb of cab files. What is the recommended method to clear the contents of this folder?
The WER (Windows Error Reporting) Service is designed to collect debug details about system and third-party software failures and report them to Microsoft servers. The files are deleted from the queue, when the upload ist complete.
If the upload fails (for whatever reason), you can safely delete the folders contents to free up space. Note that many files here are a sign of constantly crashing software, not of failing WER.
You can also disable WER in Windows to prevent those files from beeing created in the first place.
Windows Server 2012/R2: select "I don’t want to participate, and don’t ask me again" in Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center -> Maintenance -> Settings.
Windows Server 2008 R2: In Server Manager scroll down the list to the "Resources and Support section". Select I don’t want to participate, and don’t ask me again option.
Windows 10 / Server 2016/2019: Run Disable-WindowsErrorReporting in a elevated PowerShell. It returns $True if it is successful. Otherwise, it returns $False.
If you need to deploy this Setting to more Machines, you can disable it thourgh the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting
Set Disabled Setting (DWORD) to 1