Skip to content

Delete Shadow Copies

Purpose

There are times when you may need to delete shadow copies (Volume Shadow Copies) from a drive, commonly to free up disk space. While this is usually straightforward, you may encounter scenarios where shadow copies cannot be deleted through normal means. The following methods provide ways to forcibly remove all shadow copies from a specific volume.

Warning

The examples below will permanently delete all shadow copies on the specified drive. The examples use drive D: > Adjust the drive letter as needed.

Method 1: Delete Shadow Copies Using vssadmin

The vssadmin utility is the standard tool for managing shadow copies. It is typically safe and handles deletions gracefully.

However, some antivirus or endpoint protection software may block its execution due to its similarity to behavior used by ransomware. If vssadmin fails, use the diskshadow method described below.

vssadmin delete shadows /for=D: /all /quiet
  • /for=D: specifies the target volume.
  • /all removes all shadow copies on that volume.
  • /quiet suppresses confirmation prompts.

Method 2: Delete Shadow Copies Using diskshadow

diskshadow is a more direct and lower-level tool than vssadmin. It should be used as a fallback option if vssadmin fails or is blocked.

diskshadow
set context persistent nowriters
delete shadows volume D:
exit

Explanation: * set context persistent nowriters ensures the command does not involve writer components (e.g., for backups), reducing the chance of interference. * delete shadows volume D: removes all persistent shadow copies for volume D:.