Free up drive space in Windows

Free up drive space in Windows


These options are listed in order we'd recommend checking them. Freeing up space from 

Turn on OneDrive Files On-Demand

You can save space by turning on OneDrive Files On-Demand, which stores a smaller placeholder file on your hard drive instead of the full-size file that's stored in your OneDrive account in the cloud. You'll be able to get to your OneDrive files from your PC without having to use up hard-drive space downloading full-size versions of them all.
  1. Open OneDrive settings (select the OneDrive cloud icon in your notification area , and then select the OneDrive Help and Settings icon  then Settings.)
  2. Go to the Sync and back up tab, expand the Advanced settings, and toggle on Files On-Demand
  3. Additionally, you can set all files to be online-only by clicking Free up disk space 

Reclaim space with Storage Sense

Turn on Storage Sense

  1. Go to Start  > Settings  > System  > Storage  .
  2. Set Storage Sense to On.
Choose your Storage Sense settings
Note: Any settings you choose will apply only for you. Other users on your device can manage their own settings.

  1. Go to Start  > Settings  > System  > Storage 
  2. Select Storage Sense. 
To tell Storage Sense how often to run and what to clean up, follow these instructions. 

  1. Under Run Storage Sense, select how frequently you want Storage Sense to run when you’re online and signed in. We'd recommend:
    1. Enable Automatic User content cleanup
    2. Run Storage Sense: Every week
  2. Under Delete files in my recycle bin if they have been there for over: and Delete files in my Downloads folder if they haven't been opened for more than:, choose when files from your Recycle Bin or Downloads folder are deleted. 
    1. We'd recommend 30 days for both of these options
  3. Under Locally available cloud content you can choose the conditions for when inactive files are made online only, choose your preferred amount of time.
    1. Note: You'll only see cloud content settings when you’re signed in to your cloud account. Also, this setting will not permanently delete any files. Files can be made locally available again if there is free disk space and network connectivity. Any file marked as Always keep on this device is exempted and will not be managed by Storage Sense. 
    2. We'd recommend 30 days.

Note: To delete unnecessary files manually instead, scroll down and under Free up space now, select Clean now.

Disk Cleanup in Windows 10/11

To delete temporary files:

  1. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup from the list of results.
  2. Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK.
  3. Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
  4. Select OK.

If you need to free up more space, you can also delete system files (requires administrative privileges):

In Disk Cleanup, select Clean up system files.

  1. Select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
  2. Select OK.

Uninstall apps you don't use anymore

  1. Open the Start  menu and select Settings  > Apps  > Apps & features.
  2. Search for a specific app or sort them by size to see which ones are taking up the most space.
  3. When you find an app you want to delete, select it from the list, and then select Uninstall.

Reset the Windows Store

  1. Open a run prompt by pressing the Windows Key  + R
  2. Type exactly, without quotes "wsreset.exe" and select OK
  3. A blank command prompt window will open, then after about ten seconds the window will close and the Store will open automatically.

Move files to another drive

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

System Restore set to 100% of usable disk space

This is an issue with an unknown cause as of 1/24/2023, but I've run into this several times already. Disk usage for System Restore will be set to 100%, although System Restore is disabled.


To check for this issue:

  1. Launch a Run prompt (WIN + R)
  2. Type or copy/paste: SystemPropertiesProtection
  3. Select the OS Volume (usually C:)
  4. Click Configure
  5. If Max Usage is set to 100%
    1. Click Delete to delete all restore points
    2. Set max usage to 15% and click Apply

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