How to stop Office 2016 ClickToRun Service Monitor from creating a new log file in %TEMP% every time Task Scheduler starts it

Question

_{Thursday, March 29, 2018 6:43 PM}

I've been trying to prevent the accumulation of %Temp%\MachineName-YYYYMMDD-HHMM.Log files.  I've narrowed it down to the "Office ClickToRun Service Monitor" scheduled task.  Logging is NOT enabled in Outlook.  I've even disabled Office updates trying to stop them.  

I can tell the files are being created by C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe because when I stop the task (from Task Scheduler), the lock is released and I can delete the log file.

Ideally, I'd like to disable ClickToRun completely--I don't need it, and it just wastes resources.  But short of that, how can I stop the log files from being created?  If it matters, I'm running Windows 10 Professional.

All replies (8)

_{Thursday, March 29, 2018 10:12 PM}

Hi,

Please stop [Microsoft Office ClickToRun Service] in Services.
  [Windows] logo key + [R] > type "services.msc" (without quote)

  > right-click on [Microsoft Office ClickToRun Service] > [Properties]
  > Startup type = [Manual] or [Disabled] > press [Stop]
     

Regards,

Ashidacchi -- http://hokusosha.com/

_{Friday, March 30, 2018 8:02 AM}

Hi,

Based on my research, the logs can only be stopped via disabling the Office ClickToRun Service. However, the Microsoft Office ClickToRun Service (ClickToRunSvc) helps managing resource coordination, background streaming, and system integration of Microsoft Office products. Moreover, this service is required to run during the use of any Microsoft Office program, so you cannot just stop it permanently. If you use Office frequently, it's not recommended to disable the service.

Regards,
Steve Fan

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_{Monday, September 10, 2018 12:05 PM}

That won't work. If you DISABLE, you will get an error starting Word (or other Office program) that "something went wrong". If you put to MANUAL, it will just be started when Office programs are run, and the logs will continue to be created, and loading Word (etc) will take a little bit longer.

_{Monday, September 10, 2018 12:05 PM}

And stopping the service doesn't solve the issue. See my note above.

_{Thursday, January 31, 2019 5:40 PM}

ISSUE STILL PERSISTS IN 2019.

_{Thursday, March 7, 2019 9:51 PM}

Has anyone figured out what keeps starting (enabling) the ClickToRunSvc? If I stop the service and set it to disabled it will re-enable itself after a reboot. Why is this...?

I need it to stay disabled during a Windows 10 imaging task sequence so that Office will not update during this time. I will then re-enable it when I am finished imaging.

Thanks!

_{Tuesday, August 6, 2019 1:57 PM | 1 vote}

How can this log file creation be stopped? Why is the process that creates that junk not cleaning up?

_{Saturday, March 14, 2020 5:51 PM}

I have the same problem.

No answer?