Fix for CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal Growing Huge in Windows 11

I had a problem where this file kept growing extremely fast and reached around 80 GB:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager\CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal

At first, stopping the Capability Access Manager Service would stop the file from growing, but it also caused Wi-Fi/network problems, so that was not the right fix.

We used Microsoft Process Monitor and confirmed the file was being written by:

svchost.exe → camsvc

camsvc is the Capability Access Manager Service, which handles Windows app permissions like location, camera, microphone, screen capture, etc.

The real trigger was not the service itself. Something was repeatedly requesting Location access, which caused camsvc to keep writing to the database WAL file.

What fixed it

Go to:

Settings → Privacy & security → Location

Turn off:

Location services

Also turn off:

Let desktop apps access your location

After doing that, the CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file stopped growing rapidly.

Small changes still happen when doing things like taking screenshots because Windows logs screen-capture permission activity. That appears normal. The problem was the runaway growth.