Clear Shader Cache (Windows 10/11)

What this is and how it works

A tiny PowerShell tool that empties GPU DirectX / OpenGL / Vulkan shader caches for all users. It registers a one-off AtStartup task that runs as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM before you log in, so the cache files aren't locked and can be deleted without having to boot into Safe Mode. After the clean-up the task disables itself — it only runs again when you re-enable it with -ToggleTask.

It cleans these folders' contents (the folders themselves are kept) under every C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\ and C:\Users\*\AppData\LocalLow\:

Folder	Root
NVIDIA\*Cache*	AppData\Local
AMD\*Cache*	AppData\Local
Intel\*Cache*	AppData\LocalLow
AMD\*Cache*	AppData\LocalLow
D3DSCache	AppData\Local

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11

Note

PowerShell 7 (pwsh) is used by default when it's installed; otherwise the built-in Windows PowerShell is used.

Install

1. Download the Source code (zip) from the latest release and extract it (keep install.bat and Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 in the same folder).
2. Double-click install.bat and accept the UAC prompt.

It copies the script to C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1, creates the boot task (disabled), and adds two desktop shortcuts. Enable the task with the Clear Shader Cache (Toggle) shortcut (or -ToggleTask) when you want it to run at the next boot.

Usage

After install you get two desktop shortcuts:

Shortcut	What it does	Admin
Clear Shader Cache (Toggle)	Toggles the boot task: enable it, or disable it if already enabled.	✔
Clear Shader Cache (Status)	Shows whether the task is enabled/disabled, next/last run, the script path, and the last log.	✔

Or run the script directly:

# Create the task in a disabled state
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -CreateTask

# Enable if disabled, disable if enabled
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -ToggleTask

# Fully remove (unregister) the task
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -DeleteTask

# Show status
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -PrintStatus

# (Re)create the desktop shortcuts for the current user
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -CreateDesktopShortcuts

# Empty the caches now, then disable the task (this is what the task runs at boot)
powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -RunTaskAction

# If you have PowerShell 7, you can use 'pwsh' instead of 'powershell' above

Logs

Each clean-up writes a fresh log to:

C:\ProgramData\ShaderCacheCleanup\last-run.log

It records the emptied folders, how many items were removed, and the full paths of any files that were skipped (in use / protected). -PrintStatus prints the log path when one exists.

Uninstall

powershell -File C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1 -DeleteTask   # remove the scheduled task

Then delete C:\Clear-ShaderCache.ps1, the C:\ProgramData\ShaderCacheCleanup folder, and the two desktop shortcuts.

Safety notes

• Only contents of the listed cache folders are removed; the folders stay. GPU drivers rebuild these caches automatically.
• Items that are somehow still locked are skipped (and logged) instead of aborting.
• Public/Default profiles are matched by the C:\Users\* glob but are normally empty.