Windows 10: Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10

How to: Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10

How to Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10


If your Windows 10 PC is running low on storage, here are a few ways to free up some drive space.

You can pick and choose from within the options below that best fits your needs.

See also:

• Free up space to install the latest Windows 10 update | Windows Support
• Free up drive space in Windows 10 | Windows Support

Here's How:

1. Use Settings to view storage usage of drives
Storage usage let's you see what's filling your local storage and free up some space on your PC.

*Arrow How to View Storage Usage of Drives in Windows 10

2. Use "WinDirStat", "WizTree", or "TreeSize Free" to determine what is using drive space
WinDirStat is a free disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool that will help you to see exactly what system and user files are using up your drive's space.

*Arrow WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive.

*Arrow Antibody Software - WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive

TreeSize Free will quickly scan directory sizes and find space hogs.

*Arrow TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

3. Uninstall unneeded apps
Uninstalling any desktop apps and Windows apps that you do not use will free up the drive space they take. Apps that come preinstalled on OEM PCs can often be bloatware that you may not need.

*Arrow How to Uninstall Desktop Apps and Windows Apps in Windows 10

4. Move Windows Store apps to another drive
You can move your installed Windows apps from the Store to another drive instead of the default Windows "This PC (C)" drive location.

*Arrow How to Move Apps to another Drive in Windows 10

5. Change where new Windows Store apps are installed and saved by default
You can select where new Windows apps from the Store will install and save data to by default instead of on the default Windows "This PC (C)" drive location.

*Arrow How to Change Location where New Apps will Install and Save to in Windows 10

6. Change where documents, music, pictures, and videos are saved by default
You can change the storage drive location for where your documents, music, pictures, and videos are saved to by default.

*Arrow How to Change Your Storage Save Locations in Windows 10

7. Move "Users" folder to another drive location
A user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to for a user account. It is stored in the user's C:\Users\<user name> profile folder, and contains the account's settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you sign in to Windows.

If your Windows drive is low on free space, you could move the Users folder for all profile folders to another drive to free up space on your Windows drive.

*Arrow How to Move Users Folder to another Location in Windows 10

8. Move your account's personal folders to another drive location
By default, Windows stores your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, Searches, and Videos folders in your account's %UserProfile% folder (ex: "C:\Users\Brink") on the Windows drive. If your Windows drive is low on free space, you could move your Documents, Music, Pictures, and/or Videos folders to a different drive or network location.

• How to Move Your Desktop Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Documents Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Downloads Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Favorites Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Music Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Pictures Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Searches Folder Location in Windows 10
• How to Move Your Videos Folder Location in Windows 10

9. Change the location of your OneDrive folder
OneDrive is a free online storage service that comes bundled with Windows 10. You can use OneDrive with your Microsoft account to save your files there and you'll be able to get to them from any PC, tablet, or phone.

By default, Windows stores your OneDrive folder in your account's %UserProfile% folder (ex: "C:\Users\Brink") on the Windows drive. Moving your OneDrive folder to another drive can free up space on your Windows drive.

*Arrow How to Change the Location of your OneDrive Folder in Windows 10


10. Choose OneDrive folders to sync on your PC
OneDrive is a free online storage service that comes bundled with Windows 10. You can use OneDrive with your Microsoft account to save your files there and you'll be able to get to them from any PC, tablet, or phone.

You can choose folders and files from your online OneDrive that you want to sync to the OneDrive folder on your PC in Windows 10. You can save space by deselecting folders you do not want to sync on your PC.

• How to Choose Folders for OneDrive Selective Sync in Windows 10
  
• How to Auto Save Documents and Pictures to OneDrive or This PC in Windows 10
• Turn On or Off Auto Save Photos and Videos from Devices to OneDrive in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Auto Save Screenshots to OneDrive in Windows 10

11. Delete Temporary Files
You can remove temporary files to free up disk space on your drives. This will include temporary files, Downloads folder, empty Recycle Bin, and previous version of Windows.

*Arrow How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows 10

12. Turn on Storage Sense
You can use Storage Sense to automatically free up space by getting rid of the files you don’t need to save you an extra step when low on disk space. Currently this is only supported for unused temporary files, files in your recycle bin for over 30 days, and files in your Downloads folder for over 30 days.

*Arrow How to Turn On or Off Storage Sense to Automatically Free Up Space in Windows 10

13. Use Disk Cleanup
You can use Disk Cleanup to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can help your PC run faster. It can delete temporary files and system files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of other items that you might no longer need.

*Arrow How to Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10

14. Delete Windows.old and $Windows.~BT folders
When you upgrade to Windows 10, a copy of the previous installation is saved to the Windows.old folder in the root directory of the Windows 10 drive as a backup. This backup will allow you to be able to go back to the previous build of Windows for up to a 10 days after upgrading to Windows 10 if you should want to.

The Windows.old and $Windows.~BT folders take up several gigabytes of drive space. If you don't plan on going back to the previous version of Windows, then deleting these folders can free up the space they take.

*Busted If you delete the Windows.old and $Windows.~BT folders, you will no longer be able to go back to the previous version of Windows.

*Arrow How to Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10

15. Delete Windows10Upgrade folder
The "C:\Windows10Upgrade" folder is created if you had installed the Windows 10 Update Assistant to update to the latest version of Windows 10.

*Arrow How to Delete Windows10Upgrade Folder in Windows 10

16. Move files to another drive
If you have photos, music, or other files that you want to keep but don't use very often, consider saving them to removable media (ex: USB drive) or some another data drive. You'll still be able to use them when the drive is connected, but they won't take up space on your PC.

1. Connect the drive or removable media to your PC.
2. Open File Explorer and find the files you want to move.
3. Select the files, go to the Home tab, and then select Move to > Choose location.
4. Select your drive or removable media from the location list, and then select Move.

17. Compress files and folders
If you have large sized files or a lot of files that you don't open often and don't have another drive to move them to, then you could compress the files and folders to help free up space on the drive.

*Arrow How to Compress or Uncompress Files and Folders in Windows 10

18. Disable hibernate
If you don't use hibernate, then you can disable hibernate to free up space on the Windows drive.

By default, the size of the "C:\hiberfil.sys" file used by hibernate and fast startup is 75% of the total amount of RAM installed on your computer.

*Arrow How to Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10

19. Specify Hiberfile type as Reduced
If you use hibernate, then you can specify the hibernation file type as reduced to free up space on the Windows drive.

By default, the size of the "C:\hiberfil.sys" file used by hibernate and fast startup is 75% of the total amount of RAM installed on your PC. Setting the hibernation file type as reduced will change the size of the "C:\hiberfil.sys" file to only be 20% of the total amount of RAM installed on your PC.

*Arrow How to Specify Hiberfile Type as Full or Reduced in Windows 10

20. Turn off System Protection for drives
System protection is a feature that regularly creates and saves information about your computer's system files and settings. System protection also saves previous versions of files that you've modified. It saves these files in restore points. When system protection is turned on, you can undo undesired system changes by doing a system restore to revert your computer (all drives that have system protection turned on) to a previous point in time.

While it is not recommended to turn off system protection for your Windows drive, you can turn it off for any drive to free up space on the drive.

*Arrow How to Turn On or Off System Protection for Drives in Windows 10

21. Change System Protection maximum storage size for drives
System protection is a feature that regularly creates and saves information about your computer's system files and settings. System protection also saves previous versions of files that you've modified. It saves these files in restore points. When system protection is turned on, you can undo undesired system changes by doing a system restore to revert your computer (all drives that have system protection turned on) to a previous point in time.

You can adjust the maximum disk space per drive used for system protection. As space fills up, older restore points will automatically be deleted to make room for new ones.

*Arrow How to Change System Protection Maximum Storage Size for Drive in Windows 10

22. Delete restore points
You can delete all, all but the most recent, or individual system restore points for a selected drive that has system protection turned on for it to be able to free up space for that drive.

*Arrow How to Delete System Restore Points in Windows 10

23. Change size of page file
Paging is a memory management scheme by which a PC stores and retrieves data from secondary storage for use in main memory. In this scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage in same-size blocks called pages. Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementations in modern operating systems, using secondary storage to let programs exceed the size of available physical memory.

By default, the Windows drive has a page file that is system managed for size.

If you have a large page file on a drive and the drive is low on space, you can move or reduce the size of the page file to help free up space on the drive.

*Arrow How to Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

24. Delete File History versions
You can use File History drive.

*Arrow How to Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10

25. Free Up Space from Locally Available OneDrive Files
If you have OneDrive Files On-Demand turned on and open an online-only file, it downloads to your device and becomes a locally available file. You can open a locally available file anytime, even without Internet access. If you need more space, you can change the file back to online-only to free up space.

*Arrow How to Free Up Space from Locally Available OneDrive Files in Windows 10

26. Clear Your Troubleshooting History
Whenever you run a troubleshooter, a history of its details is kept for you to be able to view if needed.

*Arrow How to Clear Troubleshooting History in Windows 10

27. Delete $SysReset folder
The $SysReset folder is a hidden folder that is created in the root directory of the C drive when you perform either a reset or refresh of Windows 10. The $SysReset folder was 57.4 MB in size for me, but can vary per system.

*Arrow What is $SysReset folder and how to delete $SysReset folder in Windows 10

28. Uninstall Windows Media Player
If you don't use Windows Media Player, then you can uninstall it to free up around 57.4 MB of space.

*Arrow How to Install or Uninstall Windows Media Player in Windows 10

29. Delete $GetCurrent folder
The $GetCurrent folder is a hidden folder that is created in the root directory of the C drive during the upgrade process. The $GetCurrent folder contains log files about the last Windows 10 upgrade process, and may also contain the installation files for that update. The $GetCurrent folder can take up around 3.38 GB or so of space if it does contain leftover Windows Update installation files. Otherwise, it would only be around a small 192 KB in size.

*Arrow What is $GetCurrent folder and how to delete $GetCurrent folder in Windows 10

30. Free Up Disk Space Now with Storage Sense
Starting in Windows 10 build 17063, Microsoft has added a top level link to Storage Settings to “free up space” now, so you can get at it faster if you need it, rather than having to open Storage Sense first.

*Arrow How to Free Up Disk Space Now with Storage Sense in Windows 10

31. Change Offline Files Disk Usage Limits
If you have Offline Files enabled for users on the computer, then their offline files will be stored in the protected C:\Windows\CSC folder by default. By default, Windows limits the space that offline files occupy to 25 percent of the total space on the drive where the Offline Files cache (ex: "C:\Windows\CSC") is located. The limit for automatically cached files (temporary files) is 100 percent of the total disk space limit.

If you like, you can specify the disk space limit (in megabytes) for offline files and also specify how much of that disk space can be used by temporary files (automatically cached files) for all users on the computer.

*Arrow How to Change Offline Files Disk Usage Limits in Windows

32. Clean Up Component Store (WinSxS folder)
The component store (WinSxS folder) contains all the components that make-up Windows to allow you operate your system. These components are kept to rollback any problematic change or to repair a file that becomes corrupted. Windows 10 automatically reduces the size of the WinSxS, however these methods also include internal processes, such as uninstalling and deleting packages with components that have been replaced by other components with newer versions. Previous versions of some components are kept on the system for a period of time, allowing you to rollback if necessary. After a period of time, these components are removed from the installation.

If you like, you can manually clean up the Component Store (WinSxS folder) to reduce its size in Windows 10.

*Arrow How to Clean Up Component Store (WinSxS folder) in Windows 10

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Optimize the Performance of Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

How to remove a bad drive in Windows 10 storage spaces pool

Could someone list the steps involved in replacing a bad drive from a Windows 10 storage spaces pool? I cannot find any info on the Microsoft support site that is specific to Windows 10. Also, could you list the steps to remove a 'good' drive and replace
it with another drive if the process is different?

 

Windows is taking up too much hard drive space.

Hi Trisha,

Windows might have been accumulated large drive space due to installed apps, temporary files, or etc. For us to identify which item mostly accumulates your drive space, we suggest that you check it here:

• Click on Start.
• Type Storage, and then press Enter.
• Under Local Storage, click on This
  PC (C.
• On this window, you will see which item mot accumulate your drive space.

We also recommend that you follow the steps given on this article on how to
free up drive space in Windows 10. Click on every drop down to view the steps.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Windows 10 upgrade rant..

The free space shouldn't prevent you from upgrading to built 1607. I manually upgraded my own laptop which had only 9gigs free space left on the system drive.

I unzipped the Windows 10 Pro anniversary edition ISO on my D drive, and started the upgrade process from there. At one point the installer complained about not having enough free space on the main drive, i just had to point it to the D drive to proceed to the next step. Now the rollback installation is stored there and doesn't clog up the C drive anymore.

In your case you could insert a large sdcard to act as the required rollback drive, i'm pretty sure it would do the trick.

Oh and by the way, if you want to further compress your System files:

• do a search Command Prompt, right-click it, and select Run as administrator.
• Type COMPACT.EXE /CompactOS:always and hit Enter.

You'll will gain anything from 2 to 4 gigs free space after it's done.

 

space in hard dist for update windows 10

Hello ManolisTsitkanos,

To better assist you with your concern, I'd like to know the following:

• Confirm which build is currently installed on your device. To check, follow the steps below:

• Press Windows key + R, then type in winver.
• Click OK.

• What is the make and model of your computer?
• What is the exact error message that you're getting when performing an update?

Meanwhile, I'd suggest following the steps in this article
to help you free up drive space on your Windows 10 device.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards.