Apps
Windows Package Manager Logs
Windows Package Manager writes diagnostic logs under App Installer's LocalState\DiagOutputDir when winget searches, installs, upgrades, repairs, or removes packages. These text and ETL-style diagnostic traces capture source refreshes, installer detection, dependency resolution, hash checks, and execution details so failures can be diagnosed after the fact. Kudu removes winget and App Installer diagnostic log files older than seven days, leaving installed apps, package manifests, sources, settings, accounts, and credentials untouched.
Why clean Windows Package Manager Logs?
- Repeated install, upgrade, and source update attempts can leave behind many timestamped diagnostic logs, and the visible symptom is App Installer's LocalState folder growing even though no new apps were installed
- Verbose traces from failed installer detection and dependency resolution are useful briefly, but after a week they mostly become stale history that consumes disk space while providing no benefit during normal winget use
- Systems used for scripted deployments can generate a new log set on every winget run, so old diagnostics accumulate into hundreds of files and users notice unusually large per-user App Installer storage in Windows settings or disk analyzers
- When package installs fail repeatedly, each retry records command lines, source refreshes, and hash verification details again, causing log bloat that shows up as steady space loss in %LocalAppData% rather than a problem with the installed application itself
- Long-lived diagnostic folders make troubleshooting noisier because current failures are buried among outdated traces, and users opening DiagOutputDir often struggle to find the latest relevant log among older runs
- Cleaning old winget logs is low risk because they are post-run diagnostic artifacts, and the observable result is reclaimed disk space without deleting installed packages, package sources, user settings, or sign-in data
What gets cleaned
Cache paths Kudu targets
Windows
%LocalAppData%/Packages/Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe/LocalState/DiagOutputDir |
Frequently asked
Common questions about Windows Package Manager Logs
Related cleaners
Free & open source
Download Kudu and reclaim your disk space.
Available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. No account required, no feature gates, no telemetry without consent. All cleaning targets are open source and community-auditable.