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Somedewd's avatar
Somedewd
Copper Contributor
Jul 17, 2026

Excessive DMP Files in System32

     I'm not terribly familiar with OS troubleshooting, but in trying to manage storage on my C-drive, I've noticed I have around 43GB of .dmp files in C/Windows/System32 alone. I'm usually under the impression that .dmp are log files more than anything and that I can 'safely' dispose of or move them off of my C-drive, but I'm wary of touching anything in System32 in particular.

This machine has never had an issue of crashing, and certainly not as far back as these .dmp go. I also thought that the repository for those would be a different folder or file-name format. Can these be safely deleted/moved to a different volume without impacting my OS? This is on Windows 11 Pro, and the computer is kept up to date. 

It is my intention to swap out the drive for a larger one in the near future, but it does leave me with some concern as to this problem only growing.

 

Attached is a WinDirStat screengrab for context.

 

configuration
Update management

2 Replies

  • Ryleenless's avatar
    Ryleenless
    Tin Contributor
    Jul 19, 2026

    They are dump files created by Windows when a system crash or blue screen occurs. They contain memory information that can be useful for troubleshooting issues.

  • Jamony's avatar
    Jamony
    MCT
    Jul 18, 2026

    Those files are diagnostic snapshots, not components Windows needs to boot. Deleting one removes debugging evidence but does not damage the program that created it. Keep the newest one or two, then use Settings > System > Storage > Cleanup recommendations or Temporary files first. If Windows does not list them, move only the .dmp files to another drive before deleting the originals.
    The location is the clue. Windows normally writes system-crash dumps as %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP or under %SystemRoot%\Minidump. Dozens directly in System32 therefore suggest an application, service, driver, or custom Windows Error Reporting LocalDumps configuration.
    Sort them by date and compare names and timestamps with Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer. Also check HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps for DumpFolder and DumpCount values. Update or repair the repeating process; otherwise the space will fill again. Avoid deleting unrelated System32 files.