Configure Storage Storage Downloads cleanup threshold

ComputerNative Intune settingNew in 22H2 · 1.0SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold

Supported on windows:SUPPORT_WINDOWS_10_0_RS6

22H2 · 1.0

What it does

When Storage Sense runs, it can delete files in the user’s Downloads folder if they haven’t been opened for more than a certain number of days. If the group policy "Allow Storage Sense" is disabled, then this policy does not have any effect. Enabled: You must provide the minimum number of days a file can remain unopened before Storage Sense deletes it from Downloads folder. Supported values are: 0 - 365. If you set this value to zero, Storage Sense will not delete files in the user’s Downloads folder. The default is 0, or never deleting files in the Downloads folder. Disabled or Not Configured: By default, Storage Sense will not delete files in the user’s Downloads folder. Users can configure this setting in Storage settings.

What it writes

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry key: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense
Value name: ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold

Why it needs changes for Intune

Policy references a Windows supportedOn definition.
ADMX-INTUNE-WINDOWS-SUPPORTEDON-REFERENCE

In Intune

Native Intune setting: Yes — Policy CSP

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Storage/ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThresholdStorage on Microsoft LearnWindows builds listed: 10.0.18362.

From Microsoft's Policy CSP DDF files (DDF v2 Files, February 2026), read 18 Oct 2026.

Options

Option	Type	Registry value	Allowed values
Minimum age (in days) of a files in the Downloads folder before Storage sense will delete it (0 is never deleting files)Default: 0	Number	`ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold`	0 to 365

Configure and deploy

Choose a state and the option values; the output below is generated from the template for exactly that.

Enabled · Computer · template defaults

Registry file (.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense]
"ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold"=dword:00000000

PowerShell

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Configure Storage Storage Downloads cleanup threshold
# Name: SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: StorageSense.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense' -Name 'ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

These deployment candidates come from the ADMX template; they are separate from the native CSP mapping above.

The OMA-URI is an inferred ADMX-backed Policy CSP candidate derived from the source ADMX file name and policy name.
Some Microsoft policies use built-in Policy CSP pages whose area names don't match the ADMX file name, so verify the candidate against Microsoft Learn before deployment.

ADMX profile candidate (OMA-URI)

./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_StorageSense/SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold

ADMX SyncML candidate

<SyncML xmlns="SYNCML:SYNCML1.2">
  <SyncBody>
    <Replace>
      <CmdID>1</CmdID>
      <Item>
        <Meta>
          <Format>chr</Format>
          <Type>text/plain</Type>
        </Meta>
        <Target>
          <LocURI>./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_StorageSense/SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold</LocURI>
        </Target>
        <Data>&lt;enabled/&gt;
&lt;data id="StorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold" value="0"/&gt;</Data>
      </Item>
    </Replace>
    <Final/>
  </SyncBody>
</SyncML>

Intune remediation scripts

Detection

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$reasons = [System.Collections.Generic.List[string]]::new()

function Test-RegistryValueExists {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    return $null -ne (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}

function Test-RegistryValueEquals {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Kind,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Expected
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return $false
    }

    $valueObject = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($null -eq $valueObject) {
        return $false
    }

    $actual = $valueObject.$Name
    switch ($Kind) {
        'String' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'ExpandString' { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
        'DWord' { return [uint32]$actual -eq [uint32]$Expected }
        'QWord' { return [uint64]$actual -eq [uint64]$Expected }
        'MultiString' {
            $actualArray = @($actual)
            $expectedArray = @($Expected)
            if ($actualArray.Count -ne $expectedArray.Count) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Count; $index++) {
                if ([string]$actualArray[$index] -cne [string]$expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        'Binary' {
            $actualArray = [byte[]]$actual
            $expectedArray = [byte[]]$Expected
            if ($actualArray.Length -ne $expectedArray.Length) { return $false }
            for ($index = 0; $index -lt $actualArray.Length; $index++) {
                if ($actualArray[$index] -ne $expectedArray[$index]) { return $false }
            }
            return $true
        }
        default { return [string]$actual -ceq [string]$Expected }
    }
}

# Policy: Configure Storage Storage Downloads cleanup threshold
# Name: SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: StorageSense.admx

$isMatch = Test-RegistryValueEquals -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense' -Name 'ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold' -Kind 'DWord' -Expected 0
if (-not $isMatch) {
    $reasons.Add('Value mismatch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense\ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold') | Out-Null
}

if ($reasons.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Output 'Compliant'
    exit 0
}

$reasons | ForEach-Object { Write-Output $_ }
exit 1

Remediation

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

function Set-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $PropertyType,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][object] $Value
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null
    }

    New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -PropertyType $PropertyType -Value $Value -Force | Out-Null
}

function Remove-RegistryValue {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Name
    )

    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

function Clear-RegistryKeyValues {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $Path
    )

    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $Path)) {
        return
    }

    foreach ($propertyName in (Get-Item -LiteralPath $Path).Property) {
        Remove-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $propertyName -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    }
}

# Policy: Configure Storage Storage Downloads cleanup threshold
# Name: SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold
# Scope: Machine
# State: Enabled
# Source: StorageSense.admx

Set-RegistryValue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense' -Name 'ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Value 0

History 2 retained releases

22H2 · 1.015 Jul 2024
- Added in this release.

Template

Internal name: SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold
Namespace: Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense
Template file: StorageSense.admx
Release: Windows 10 22H2 · 1.0 · file set bc15f6a5271783ee…

Definition, editor controls and support

Definition

<policy class="Machine" displayName="$(string.SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold)" explainText="$(string.SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold_Explain)" key="Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\StorageSense" name="SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold" presentation="$(presentation.SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold_Presentation)" valueName="ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense:StorageSense" />
      <supportedOn ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORT_WINDOWS_10_0_RS6" />
      <elements>
        <decimal id="StorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold" maxValue="365" minValue="0" valueName="ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold" />
      </elements>
    </policy>

Editor controls

<presentation id="SS_ConfigStorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold_Presentation" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
        <decimalTextBox defaultValue="0" refId="StorageSenseDownloadsCleanupThreshold">Minimum age (in days) of a files in the Downloads folder before Storage sense will delete it (0 is never deleting files):</decimalTextBox>
    </presentation>

Supported platforms and category

Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense:category:StorageSense
<category displayName="$(string.StorageSense)" name="StorageSense" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System" />
    </category>
Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense:unresolved:Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORT_WINDOWS_10_0_RS6
<unresolved reference="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:SUPPORT_WINDOWS_10_0_RS6" />
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:System
<category displayName="$(string.System)" explainText="$(string.System_Help)" name="System" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense:category:StorageSense
<category displayName="$(string.StorageSense)" name="StorageSense" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions">
      <parentCategory ref="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System" />
    </category>
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.StorageSense:StorageSense">Storage Sense</string></strings>
Microsoft.Policies.Windows:category:System
<category displayName="$(string.System)" explainText="$(string.System_Help)" name="System" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/GroupPolicy/2006/07/PolicyDefinitions" />
<strings><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System">System</string><string id="Microsoft.Policies.Windows:System_Help">Allows configuration of various system component settings.</string></strings>