Applies to: Pro, Enterprise and Audit
Drive appears almost full
This is expected while CertErase fills addressable free space with temporary data. Do not start unrelated disk-intensive work. Allow cleanup to complete. On the system drive, restart Windows if free-space reporting does not recover after successful cleanup.
Temporary folder remains
CertErase uses a dedicated temporary wipe location. If the application reports a cleanup failure:
- Preserve the output log;
- Confirm that no CertErase operation is still running;
- Identify the exact temporary path from the log or volume;
- Check whether files remain open;
- Confirm permissions and endpoint-security events;
- Remove artifacts only under an approved recovery procedure;
- Confirm recovered free space.
Do not delete an unfamiliar large hidden/system folder solely because it resembles a wipe artifact. Verify its origin first.
Operation stops before reaching the reserve
Possible causes include quotas, file-system limits, insufficient permissions, FAT32 constraints, a competing process consuming space, device errors, or security software blocking temporary writes.
System instability or application errors
Stop non-essential workloads, preserve evidence, and check storage health. A free-space wipe deliberately creates sustained write activity and low-space conditions. Rerun only after the environment is stable and the maintenance window is reapproved.
Flash storage adequacy
Repeated free-space passes increase device writes without guaranteeing physical-page sanitization. Reassess whether a device-level sanitize command, cryptographic erase, or destruction is the correct technique.