AutoRecover retention policy and cleanup timing in Visual Studio 2022

When Visual Studio purges AutoRecover files

Confirmed behavior: Visual Studio 2022 removes AutoRecover snapshots that are older than the retention period set in the IDE options (default 7 days). The purge happens in two places:

1. At IDE startup – VS scans the AutoRecover folder and deletes any file whose timestamp exceeds the configured days.
2. By a low‑priority background service that runs periodically while VS is open; the service performs the same timestamp‑based deletion.

The exact interval of the background scan is not documented, but observations show it runs roughly every few hours; under heavy CPU load the scan may be delayed, allowing aged files to persist longer than the nominal retention.

How to change or trigger cleanup

There is no supported API or command‑line switch. The retention period and save frequency are stored per‑user in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17.0_Config\AutoRecover
  AutoRecoverDays    (DWORD) – days to keep snapshots
  AutoRecoverInterval (DWORD) – minutes between saves


Close all instances of Visual Studio 2022.
Open RegEdit and navigate to the key above.
Modify AutoRecoverDays to the desired value (e.g., 3 for three days).
Optionally adjust AutoRecoverInterval if you want a different snapshot frequency.
Save the changes and restart Visual Studio.

After the restart, the next startup scan (or the next background run) will remove snapshots older than the new period. If you need an immediate purge without waiting for the background service, simply restarting VS triggers the startup scan.
Verification and limitations
Visual Studio does not automatically compare recovered files with the last committed state in source control. Verification must be done manually (e.g., using a diff tool) or via an external script that compares the AutoRecover folder with the latest commit.
Because AutoRecover data is stored locally and is not synchronized with source control, moving a solution to another machine or resetting the user profile will not preserve recovery snapshots, making AutoRecover unsuitable as a primary backup mechanism.
Missing diagnostic detail
If you observe that aged snapshots are not being removed even after the expected time, please confirm whether Visual Studio was running continuously during that interval (the background service may be delayed under load). Knowing whether the IDE was open or closed will determine if you need to rely on the startup scan or investigate the background service timing.