Storage Sense Registry Keys in Windows

Storage Sense is a built-in Windows maintenance feature designed to automatically free up disk space by removing unnecessary files and managing cloud content. This article details the specific Windows Registry keys used to manage the activation state, execution frequency, and cleanup thresholds of Storage Sense without using the standard Settings interface.

Primary Registry Path

Storage Sense settings are stored per user under the following key in the Windows Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\StorageSense\Parameters\StoragePolicy

For enterprise or system-wide deployments via Group Policy, the configuration is managed under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense

Key Values for Activation and Thresholds

Inside the StoragePolicy key, the behavior of Storage Sense is controlled by several DWORD (32-bit) values:

1. Activation (01)

Controls whether Storage Sense is turned on or off globally.

• Value Name: 01
• Type: REG_DWORD
• Data:
  • 0 = Disabled (Off)
  • 1 = Enabled (On)

2. Run Cadence and Threshold (04)

Determines when Storage Sense triggers automatically based on schedule or disk capacity thresholds.

• Value Name: 04
• Type: REG_DWORD
• Data:
  • 0 = During low free disk space (Default threshold)
  • 1 = Every day
  • 2 = Every week
  • 3 = Every month

Additional Threshold Settings

To further refine how Storage Sense handles specific file locations, you can configure the following DWORD values under the same registry path:

• Temporary Files Cleanup (08): Enables or disables the deletion of temporary files not in use.
  • 1 = Enable cleanup
  • 0 = Disable cleanup
• Recycle Bin Threshold (02): Sets the age (in days) a file must remain in the Recycle Bin before being deleted.
  • 0 = Never
  • 1 = 1 day
  • 14 = 14 days
  • 30 = 30 days
  • 60 = 60 days
• Downloads Folder Threshold (32): Sets the age (in days) an unmodified file must remain in the Downloads folder before deletion.
  • 0 = Never
  • 1 = 1 day
  • 14 = 14 days
  • 30 = 30 days
  • 60 = 60 days
• Cloud Content Dehydration (StoragePolicy_DehydrateCloudContentPolicy): Specifies the number of days of inactivity required before OneDrive files revert to online-only status.