How to Clear All Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows

 How to Clear All Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows

Event Viewer is a tool that displays detailed information as event logs about significant events on your PC.

Event logs are special files that record significant events on your PC, such as when a user signs in to the PC or when a app encounters an error. Whenever these types of events occur, Windows records the event in an event log that you can read by using Event Viewer.

Advanced users might find the details in event logs helpful when troubleshooting problems with Windows and other apps. However, you may also wish to be able to quickly clear all event logs at once as needed.

Contents

• Option One: To Clear All Event Viewer Logs using a BAT file
• Option Two: To Clear All Event Viewer Logs in Command Prompt
• Option Three: To Clear All Event Viewer Logs in PowerShell
• Option Four: To Clear Individual Event Viewer Logs in Event Viewer

EXAMPLE: Event Viewer

OPTION ONE

To Clear All Event Viewer Logs using a BAT file

1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below.

Clear_Event_Viewer_Logs.bat

 Download

Contents of .bat file for reference:

Code:

@echo off

FOR /F "tokens=1,2*" %%V IN ('bcdedit') DO SET adminTest=%%V
IF (%adminTest%)==(Access) goto noAdmin
for /F "tokens=*" %%G in ('wevtutil.exe el') DO (call :do_clear "%%G")
echo.
echo All Event Logs have been cleared!
goto theEnd

:do_clear
echo clearing %1
wevtutil.exe cl %1
goto :eof

:noAdmin
echo Current user permissions to execute this .BAT file are inadequate.
echo This .BAT file must be run with administrative privileges.
echo Exit now, right click on this .BAT file, and select "Run as administrator".  
pause >nul

:theEnd
Exit

2 Save the .bat file to your desktop.

3 Unblock the .bat file.

4 Right click or press and hold on the .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

5 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

6 A command prompt will now open to clear the event logs. The command prompt will automatically close when finished.

OPTION TWO

To Clear All Event Viewer Logs in Command Prompt

1 Open an elevated command prompt.

2 Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter.

for /F "tokens=*" %1 in ('wevtutil.exe el') DO wevtutil.exe cl "%1"

3 The event logs will now be cleared. You can close the command prompt when it's finished.

OPTION THREE

To Clear All Event Viewer Logs in PowerShell

1 Open an elevated Windows PowerShell.

2 Copy and paste the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter.

Get-WinEvent -ListLog * | where {$_.RecordCount} | ForEach-Object -Process { [System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogSession]::GlobalSession.ClearLog($_.LogName) }

OR

Get-EventLog -LogName * | ForEach { Clear-EventLog $_.Log }

OR

wevtutil el | Foreach-Object {wevtutil cl "$_"}

3 The event logs will now be cleared. You can close PowerShell when it's finished.

OPTION FOUR

To Clear Individual Event Viewer Logs in Event Viewer

1 Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type eventvwr.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Event Viewer.

2 Select a log (ex: Application) that you want to clear in the left pane of Event Viewer, and click/tap on Clear Log in the far right Actions pane. (see screenshot below)

 

OR

3 Right click or press and hold on a log (ex: Application) that you want to clear in the left pane of Event Viewer, and click/tap on Clear Log. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on Clear to confirm. (see screenshot below)