How to Fix Windows Error Reporting (WER) Filling Disk or Constant Popups on Windows
WER creating huge report files, filling disk space, or constant "program has stopped working" dialogs? Control Windows Error Reporting.
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Main Troubleshooting Guide
How to Fix High CPU Usage →Complete symptoms, causes, and step-by-step solutions
Symptoms
You might be experiencing this problem if you notice:
- •C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER folder consuming gigabytes of space
- •Constant "program has stopped working" popups
- •WerFault.exe using high CPU or memory
- •Event Viewer flooded with application error events
- •Disk filling up with crash dump files
- •Error reporting dialog appearing for the same app repeatedly
Common Causes
- ⚠App crashing repeatedly generating many error reports
- ⚠WER reports not being cleaned up automatically
- ⚠WER configured to save full memory dumps (very large)
- ⚠Corrupted application triggering constant crash reports
- ⚠WER service stuck in a reporting loop
Solutions
Solution 1: Clean Up WER Reports
- 1Settings → System → Storage → Temporary files
- 2Check "Windows error reports" and "System error files" → Remove
- 3Or manually delete: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER
- 4Also check: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER
- 5These folders can safely be emptied
- 6Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr) also removes these under "System error memory dump files"
Solution 2: Configure Error Reporting
- 1To reduce popups and disk usage:
- 2gpedit.msc → Computer Config → Admin Templates → Windows Components → Windows Error Reporting
- 3Enable "Disable Windows Error Reporting" to stop all reporting
- 4Or: "Configure Report Archive" → set max reports and days
- 5Registry alternative: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting
- 6Set "Disabled" = 1 (DWORD) to disable WER entirely
- 7Note: disabling WER means Microsoft won't receive crash data for fixes
Solution 3: Fix the Underlying Crash
- 1Instead of just suppressing reports: fix the crashing app
- 2Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application → look for "Error" entries
- 3Find the faulting application name and module
- 4Common fixes: update or reinstall the crashing application
- 5If it's a system component: sfc /scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth
- 6Check for driver issues if the faulting module is a .sys file
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