Repository navigation
Automatically reclaim unused Windows container layers after sandbox sessions #657
Description
After repeatedly launching and closing sandbox sessions, C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Containers\Layers keeps growing and consumes [X GB]. I expected temporary layers belonging to terminated sessions to be reclaimed automatically.
Expected: remove unreferenced temporary layers when a session ends, while keeping shared base layers that are still in use. If cleanup is intentionally deferred, please provide a supported cleanup mechanism and document when it runs.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Oct 12, 2026
Thank you for creating an Issue. Please note that GitHub is not an official channel for Microsoft support requests. To create an official support request, please open a ticket here. Microsoft and the GitHub Community strive to provide a best effort in answering questions and supporting Issues on GitHub.
smiezah-msft commentedon Oct 13, 2026
Thanks for reporting this. Could you provide the exact step-by-step repro you are using, starting from how the sandbox/container session is created through how it is terminated? We'd like to reproduce the same lifecycle you're seeing.
Could you also provide the host environment details, including:
From the current description, our understanding is that repeatedly creating and terminating sandbox sessions results in the Layers directory continuing to grow, and the concern is that layers associated with terminated sessions are not being reclaimed. Please let us know if that understanding is incorrect.
If possible, it would also be helpful to know whether the growth occurs after each session and whether restarting the container runtime or host changes the contents/size of the Layers directory.