Clear Application Content from SCCM Client Cache

Starting with SCCM 1906 you can delete or clear the application content from the SCCM client cache. In the Install Application task sequence step, you get the option to delete or clear Application content from cache after installing.

I find this option useful when the devices have got small hard drives or when installing lots of large apps in succession.

So what is client cache folder (ccmcache) – In simple terms the client cache is a temporary download location for software, applications and updates deployed to a client. The client cache is located in %windir%\ccmcache.

By default the cache size is 5120 MB which can increased. To increase the client cache size, you can use VBScript, PowerShell or even deploy a package and modify the cache size.

When you deploy multiple large apps to a client, before installing, the client attempts to download content first. If the size of content is greater than the size of the cache, the deployment will fail due to insufficient cache size. In such cases the CAS.log shows “Not enough space in cache”. I am sure we have dealt with this issue and we manually increased the ccmcache folder size to fix this.

Until now there was no way to clear app content from client cache during task sequence. But with SCCM 1906, you should the find the option in task sequence.

Upon some research I found that this feature was requested by a user. The idea was marked as Completed with a note that 1906 release contains a task sequence step to clear the application content from cache.

How to Clear Application Content from SCCM Client Cache

The procedure to delete or clear application content from SCCM client cache is.

• Launch the SCCM console.
• Navigate to Software Library > Operating Systems > Task Sequences.
• You can either create a new Task Sequence or Edit an existing Task Sequence.
• In the Task Sequence editor, click Add > Software > Install Application.
• Select the applications that you want to deploy to client computer.
• At the bottom, check the box “Clear Application Content from cache after installing“.

Create Task Sequence

To test this feature, let’s create a new task sequence that deploys multiple apps. Furthermore we will enable the clear application content from cache after installing.

Navigate to Software Library > Operating Systems > Task Sequences. Right click Task Sequences and click Create Task Sequence.

Select Create a new custom task sequence. Click Next.

Specify Task sequence name and click Next.

Click Next on the summary page.

Finally on the Completion window, click Close.

Right click the task sequence that you just created and click Edit. Click Add and then click New Group. You can name it as Install Applications. Now click Add > Software > Install Application.

Click the Yellow icon and select the apps that you wish to deploy to client computers.

At the bottom check these options and click OK.

• If an application installation fails, continue installing other applications in the list.
• Clear application content from cache after installing.

Deploy the task sequence as Available to a device collection.

On the client computer, launch Software Center and click Applications. Select the task sequence and click Install.

The app installation begins and you can see an installation progress window. At this point open AppEnforce.log file on the client computer to monitor the application installation. The applications will be installed one after the other.

Here is an interesting thing. The task sequence show the apps are installed. If you open ccmcache folder on the client computer, you won’t see any folders. Since we know that folders are created per app install, in this case we don’t see any.

So the task sequence installed all the applications but also cleared application content from cache after installing. Try this feature in your setup and share your experience in the comments section.