Windows – Deleting Event Logs – Windows Server 2003

event-logwindows-server-2003

Can someone tell me how to delete Event Logs on Windows Server 2003? I have a number of application logs in the Event Viewer – how can these be removed?

I've tried disabling the Event Log service on startup and removing the physical .evt files from

C:\Windows\system32\config

But when I enable the Event Log service and reboot the files are returned.

Best Answer

The Event Viewer Log files (Sysevent.evt, Appevent.evt, Secevent.evt) are always in use by the system, preventing the files from being deleted or renamed. The EventLog service cannot be stopped because it is required by other services, thus the files are always open. ➫➫➫

Above info is for Windows XP (but should be applicable here too).

Go to regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Eventlogand delete your custom log folder.

To delete a specific log, see https://serverfault.com/q/8339/87017.

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