dotnet workload clean

Note: this command is only available starting with .NET 8.

This command cleans up workload packs that might be left over after a .NET SDK or Visual Studio update. It can be useful when encountering issues while managing workloads.

dotnet workload clean will clean up orphaned packs resulting from uninstalling .NET SDKs. The command will not touch workloads installed by Visual Studio, but it will provide you with a list of workloads that you should clean up by hand.

dotnet workloads can be found at: {DOTNET ROOT}/metadata/workloads/installedpacks/v1/{pack-id}/{pack-version}/. An {sdk-band} file under the installation record folder will keep a reference count — so that when there’s no sdk-band file under a workload folder, we know that the workload package is not in use and can be safely deleted from the disk.

dotnet workload clean —all

While in its default configuration the command removes only orphaned workloads, by passing the --all argument, we are instructing it to clean up every pack on the machine — except for those installed by Visual Studio. It will also remove all workload installation records.