Limit: No documented automatic cleanup of ANSYS temporary files after a failed upgrade

No automatic cleanup of ANSYS temporary files after a failed upgrade

The ANSYS Installation Manager Repair function is designed to restore registry entries and environment variables after a problematic upgrade or uninstall. Despite its scope, the official documentation does not describe any routine that deletes temporary files placed in the %TEMP\ANSYS directory during the upgrade process. Furthermore, no documented hidden task, scheduled job, or post-installation script is known to purge these files automatically once the Repair operation completes.

This creates a practical gap for users who run Repair and later notice leftover temporary data occupying space in their temp folder. The files in question are typically installer caches, partial extraction artifacts, and transient configuration stubs that ANSYS creates while setting up the new release. Because they are not integral to the installed product's runtime state, they are generally safe to remove, provided no ANSYS service or license daemon is actively writing or reading them at the moment of deletion.

To answer the specific questions posed:

• Does the Repair operation or any subsequent ANSYS process delete temporary files from %TEMP\ANSYS after a failed upgrade? No. The Repair function targets system registry and path variables; it does not include a file-removal routine, and no subsequent ANSYS process is documented to initiate such cleanup.
• If not, is it safe for users to delete those files manually without affecting the restored installation or license manager? Yes. Manual deletion of %TEMP\ANSYS contents does not revert the registry changes performed by Repair, nor does it disable or remove licensed components. The files are by nature transient, and their absence does not impair the repaired installation.
• Are there any known side effects or recommended intervals for cleaning this temporary directory? No side effects are documented, and no official interval is prescribed. The only practical consideration is timing: if an ANSYS background process is still running or has recently finished writing leftover data, deleting the folder immediately could leave a process in an inconsistent state. Waiting a brief moment or ensuring the ANSYS launcher is fully exited mitigates this risk. Beyond that, periodic cleanup of the temp folder is a standard system-maintenance practice and carries no ANSYS-specific restrictions.

Missing diagnostic: Knowing the specific ANSYS release (e.g., 2023R1, 2024R1) helps confirm whether version-specific temp-folder paths apply, which can affect which files are safe to remove.