Windows 10: Not enough space on hard drive for Windows Update

Hi,
I bought a laptop with a really small hard disk (32GB). A Windows 10 update appeared and it says it requires 8GB of free space. I only have 7GB free because the Windows folder occupies more than 20GB.
Is there a way to clean the Windows folder or anything else I can do to free some space? (I did the basic stuff, like disk clean, ect.)
Is it even worth to do the update anyway? My laptop works fine.

Thank you in advance!

:)

 

yoga 900 sk-13isk2 WINDOWS 10 RECOVERY FAILED

Hello Steve,

A common cause of errors when installing Windows 10 is that there is not enough disk space on your hard drive to accommodate Windows 10. May we know if you have checked if there is enough disk space on your hard drive for Windows 10, preferably 16GB of space?

If you have checked that there is not enough space on your hard drive, kindly uninstall some applications or back up all your personal files to an external hard drive to free up some space on the drive.

We look forward to an update from you.

 

Not enough hard drive space to update Windows 10

Hi Support,

I have an HP Stream 13 with at 32GB SSD. I purchased the computer preloaded with Windows 10. The computer was performing updates fine, but recently the updates have stopped and I receive a message saying that I need at least 8BG of hard drive space to make
any additional updates.

Currently I have version 10240 and my PC is trying to download updates for version 14393.

I have cleaned up every possible file on my computer, deleted all temporary files, unnecessary applications including HP bloatware, and still only have 6.8GB available to use. I'm running the most barebones version of Windows I can think of an have deleted
all personal documents and photos as well. I also ran programs like CCleeaner to help with this cleanup process.

Is Windows ever going to release an update that can lift the 8GB requirement? If I had known I would have been stuck in eternity without any future Windows updates or drivers, I would have never purchased this computer.

Thanks,

P

 

Hi @Gnottino90

Some members of my family have this type of laptop (slimier to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-11-6-Inc...rds=hp+netbook)

I've had the same issue when trying to update and tried a 16GB USB flash drive but this take forever. I found it easier to back up the data to the 16GB flash drive and use another flash drive to reinstall windows (latest build).

Hope this helps

 

Hi, you really need to upgrade your disk. Cumulative updates are getting bigger and bigger, running to 100s of Mb, and upgrades (next major build) are a complete Windows build of about 3Gb, creating Windows.old which is as big as your existing Windows folder.

In addition, other partitions are created to support Windows - two different structures, 1 for BIOS/MBR, 1 for EFI/GPT and these take some space (normally) on your system drive.

Some people do compress Windows and minimise its footprint. 32Gb is trivial these days.

My Windows partition shows 32Gb used space of a 76Gb allocated partition. I do not keep personal data in standard folders (Documents, Videos etc) and my programs are installed in D: not C:

Basic ideas to minimise use of C:
By default desktop programs are installed on C: as you know, as are apps. The first you can install on D: manually per program in most cases. You can specify universal apps and data to be installed in a different partition.

You can relocate user folders to another partition, however doing so from time to time causes users difficulties. Or use your own folders on another partition instead of the standard Documents, Videos etc.

See the Tutorial section for guides on doing this.

Run Disk Cleanup (right click drive properties).

A quick search suggests:
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/re...g-compact-exe/
How to reduce the Windows 10 footprint on your computer | Windows Central
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html
Compress or Uncompress Files and Folders in Windows 10

 

I've also written some stories on this topic for CIO.com and TechTarget:
How to reduce unnecessary drivers in Windows 10
Windows 10 post-upgrade cleanup tips
Why DISM is the Swiss Army knife of Windows 10 maintenance | CIO (see the part about compacting the Component store)
Tips for Reducing Windows' On-disk Footprint - The Network Hub

HTH,
--Ed--

 

You can run the following command to clean up SxS from an elevated command prompt. Please note you can't uninstall Windows Updates after running this.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase​

 

There are netbook-style PC's and tablets whose "disk" is a 32 GB eMMC bank soldered to the motherboard. There is no practical way to upgrade the system storage.

IIRC around the time of 1511, the setup routine was patched to recognize an inserted SD card or USB drive as additional temporary storage during upgrade/reinstall operations. Slow for sure; but then, these machines aren't speed demons anyway.

 

Hi,

Haven't got a single W10 install that's bigger than 16Gb. Smallest one is IP that consumes about 12 Gb of real estate.
32 Gb is tight but feasible IMHO.
None of my system partitions are bigger than 35Gb anyhow.
Disable hibernation, pagefile (temporarily) if necessary, system restore etc.

Proper disk cleaners can recover several Gigs of space really.

Also read fellow member Ed Tittel's blog, it's worth your while.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Thanks for the "street cred" fdegrove: it means a lot, coming from you. I'll have to look you up the next time I come to Belgium. I never need too many excuses to drink that wonderful bier. Maybe we can make a trip to Westvleteren?
Thanks again,
--Ed--

 

Hi,

You're most welcome, Ed.

Just sipping a nice but tricky Triple Karmeliet as I write.....

O, RAPR really wraps it up. LOL

Cheers, *Wink

 

Correct, but to be offered the option of using external USB storage to enable the update to complete you have to boot from the install media. Windows Update or an in-place upgrade (running Setup from within Windows) won't offer this option (AFAIK).

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/win...-to-windows-10

Update: Apparently I'm mistaken, Widows Update is supposed to offer these options too...

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...4-776be87af7df