First, the error; second, the question.

Submitted by Hul on Tue, 12/30/2025 - 18:33
Forums: 
Support

I tried to upgrade to the latest version 5.0.x, but I encountered a recurring installation error during the process. I have attached a screenshot of the error for your reference.
Whenever I run BleachBit, the size and positions of my desktop icons are completely reset or changed. I never experienced this issue while using CCleaner, so I find it quite frustrating. Which specific option in BleachBit should I uncheck to prevent this from happening again?

Error opening file for writing

C\Users\xxx\AppDate\L:ocal\BleachBit\-ctypes.pyd

Click Abort to stop the installation..........

( I tride to install 5.0.2.3065)

BleachBit version: 
4.6.2
Your operating system: 
windows 11 home

andrew

Wed, 12/31/2025 - 16:36

I do not see a screenshot. This forum does not directly support images. Instead, some choices for posting screenshots are:

  • type the error
  • post it to a third party site (e.g., imgbb, postimages) and post the link here
  • post the screenshot to the GitHub issue tracker

In case your screenshot is the the same as the text error opening file for writing, here are a few questions:

  • Is BleachBit closed before you start the installation? If you want to be extra sure, reboot Windows.
  • Does your account have administrator privileges on your local machine? If it is your personal computer and you did not change it, then it probably does have admin privileges. If you are not sure, that's fine.
  • Have you tried installing for all users instead of for the current user? Some users are indifferent, but if you prefer the current user option, we can continue troubleshooting that.

To rephrase the questions into some options you can try now:

  1. Close BleachBit before upgrading it. Reboot Windows to double check
  2. Uninstall the old BleachBit 4.6.2 before upgrading
  3. Run the installer with administrative privileges: right click on the Windows installer and choose "run as administrator"
  4. Consider installing for all users

Regarding resetting size and position of desktop icons, uncheck the Shellbags option under Windows Explorer. In case you forget, notice that when you enable it, it shows this warning: "This will reset the position of desktop icons"

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Andrew, lead developer