If you are getting low disk space warning on Windows 10 or you just want to free up drive space in Windows 10 then you landed on the correct page. Here I will show you how to free up disk space using different approaches.
If you need more disk space on Windows 10 without having to buy external hard drives the best way to do it is to delete unwanted data already present on your PC. The system drive on Windows 10 (C:/) drive should have enough drive space in order for your system to function normally.
Windows 10 take 20GB of space on your system drive when you install it. It takes more drive space when you install Windows 10 updates over time. We should also not forget the softwares that we install on our PC, those softwares also take up space in your C:/ drive. There are many other locations on your PC, that has data piled up years after years that needs to be trashed.
I will list all the possible methods to clear hard drive space on your Windows PC. Most of the methods mentioned in this article can also be used also used on older versions of Windows i.e. Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 as well.
Here I am using Windows 1o as Operating System so don't be confused if you do not find the same path or location on your Windows 7, 8 PC. By the way, if you're still using the old Windows OS versions, I recommend you to upgrade to Windows 10.
Not wasting any more time lets start. Do what is instructed in this article and you will free up Drive space in Windows 10 in no time. All the best!
Remove Unwanted Windows Programs & Apps
We tend to install various software on our PC. I too do the same. But many of my installed Windows software(apps) are sitting idle from a very long time as I do not need them anymore. These are the unwanted Windows apps that we need to look for.
You should do the same. Navigate to Settings app > Apps > Apps & features and closely look for any program or apps that you no longer use. I am sure you will find many of them.
You will also be able to see the amount of disk space any program or app consumes on your Windows 10 PC. Go through all the apps and programs by scrolling and Uninstall unwanted apps & programs.
Here is how you can do it.
Using Windows "Add or Remove Programs" setting:
Warning: Do look closely as you do not want to uninstall any system related Windows programs or apps like any audio drivers or any graphics driver interface.
The above method uninstalls the programs or features from your Windows 10 PC. But there are programs that leaves behind garbage Files, Folders or Registry entries even if you completely uninstall it. To take care of this you can use a third party Windows program called Revo Uninstaller. It's free.
Using Revo Uninstaller:
You need to download and install Revo Uninstaller from here. When the download and installation are finished, run Revo Uninstaller. Here is how I am removing an Unwanted Windows program with the help of this useful tool.
- On the Revo Uninstaller dashboard select the program that you want to uninstall and click on the Uninstall icon above. (See screenshot)
- When you do that the program will create a system restore point in case anything goes wrong. The restore point lets you roll back any changes made on the PC. Once that process is finished, you will see two popups on your screen. One of them is the default program uninstaller. Run the default program uninstaller first.
- After that select the Advanced option and click on Scan.
- Once the Scan is finished Select All found Leftovers Registry Items and Click Next & Than Finish.
You can repeat the same process for any unwanted application that you wish to remove from your Windows PC. Revo Uninstaller will completely remove all files and folders related to that particular software.
After doing it you will notice the storage space in Windows 10 has increased. Hold on, we are not done yet. Let's see what are the other things you can do to free up drive space in Windows 10.
Erase Windows.old folder to free up drive space in Windows 10
If you upgraded to Windows 10 in the past from older versions of Windows, you should definitely check your system drive i.e. C:/ drive. If you do not see any Windows.old folder than congratulations, you can skip this, and move to the next method. But if you have Windows.old folder sitting in the drive you must delete it.
But wait!
Let me tell you more about that folder. So, when you did an upgrade to Windows 10, your system took a backup of your older Windows OS version automatically. The folder contains all the system files and apps of the previous Windows version build.
The size of the folder may vary from 10GB to 20GB depending on the data. That's a lot of storage space, right? After the upgrade the Windows.old folder remains on your system for almost 30 days.
This is because if something went wrong or you suddenly changed your mind to roll back to the older Windows OS version, the backup is useful. With the help of Windows installer, you can roll back your upgrade. After 30 days Windows automatically deletes the folder.
So before you delete Windows.old folder make sure all your data, settings, apps are still there on the upgraded OS i.e. Windows 10 OS.
It's not simple to delete the Windows.old folder. Right clicking on the folder and selecting "Delete" will not help you in this case. You can erase
Windows.old folder using a third party software called CCleaner or using Command Prompt. I will list down both the methods with details.
Here is more about CCleaner and how to download it: Download Free CCleaner For Windows 10
Using CCleaner:
CCleaner is very easy to use Windows software. It comes in two variants Free and Paid. for our purpose, Free one is enough.
Note: Not only you can delete the Windows Old Installation directories With the help of CCleaner, you can also perform some other tasks to free up drive space in Windows 10.
For now, let's look at how to use CCleaner to delete Windows.old directory.
- Download and install CCleaner from the official site.(Check above for the link).
- Launch CCleaner.
- As you can see in the above screenshot, make sure you selected "Cleaner" and "Windows" tab.
- Scroll down all way to bottom. Under "Advanced" you will find "Old Windows Installation". Just "Checkmark" it and uncheck everything else.
- Click on "Analyze" and wait for the program until you see "Analysis Complete".
- After that just click on "Run Cleaner". Wait for the process to finish. That's it, the Windows.old folder and all the other older Windows installation files and folders will be erased giving you more storage space on Windows 1o.
Pro Tip: Use Ccleaner to erase browsing history, other temporary files and cache data from the system. The will let you free up more space on your Windows 10.
Just check the required option, analyze and run cleaner. It's advisable to use this software once in a month to make your Windows system run fast without any lags. I just love this free software.
Using Command Prompt (CMD) Program
CMD is there from the birth of Windows operating system. Though it is mostly liked and used by computer savvy peeps, its not that hard to run some simple set of commands to get the job done.
- To launch CMD on Windows 10 Press and hold the Windows Key + R Key.
- Type in CMD in the run window and press Enter.
- You will see a black window with some text on it.
- Just copy and paste: RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\windows.old command in that window.
- Press Enter and the CMD command will be executed.
If you encountered any error in the CMD window, just make sure you are running Command prompt with administrative privileges.
Check your drive space now. You will notice a whopping change in your storage space. You can do to This PC what will open up File Explorer and from there you can check the drive space.
Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10 Using Storage Sense
Storage Sense is all you need to clear up GBs of storage space on your Windows 10 PC. This feature is only available for Windows 10 users. So if you are using an older version of Windows, this is not for you. But yes you can delete the same things manually from your PC. I will explain that too in a minute.
Many of Windows 10 consumers don't know that there is a handy setting under the System Settings in Windows 10. It lets you free up space by performing a quick scan and letting you choose what to erase. And it can also perform this operation automatically, once you have enabled it.
Let us have a look at the "Storage Sense Setting". Get ready to flush GDs of unwanted data from your computer system and make more space for your PC.
- Click the Window icon located at the taskbar and click the Settings icon.
- Choose System from the Windows Settings window.
- Click on Storage. You will be presented with some very useful options that will never let you go out of storage. Presenting "Storage Sense":
This is where you can turn on "Storage Sense" and let Windows 10 free up space automatically.
If you don't want to use "Windows Sense" and just want to delete unwanted data and get storage space, you can easily do so. If you look at the screenshot above closely there is an option "Free up space now".
This option lets you choose and delete all sorts of data that Windows thinks as erasable without breaking your PC. The data is categorized and a short description is provided under each category for a clear understanding of the Windows 10 user.
Tip: Once you perform all the actions mentioned in this article, do restart your PC. It's not necessary but it's good.
You may select to delete data from these 13 categories:
- Windows upgrade log files
- System created Windows Error Reporting Files
- Windows Defender Antivirus
- Downloaded Files
- Windows Update Cleanup
- Thumbnails
- Temporary Files
- Delete all System Restore points
- Recycle bin
- One Drive Files
- Temporary Internet Files
- Delivery Optimization Files
- DirectX Shader Cache
You should know what you are doing when performing this action.
For example,
Delete System Restore points:
Windows Create System Restore Points whenever a major change is made on to your system. Most of the time the major change is made when you install Windows updates. These restore points are like backups which can be used to rollback to the earlier build of Windows 10.
So if you are not facing any issues on your Windows 10 PC and everything is fine, go ahead and Check Mark "Delete All System Restore Points" and click on the "Remove Files" button on the top. You know I just free up 10GB of space by removing system restore points.
Delete Downloaded Files:
As said, you should be very careful while trying to free up drive space in Windows 10. You may have downloaded huge size software on your PC for your work. Whatever you download goes in the Download folder on your PC. So before you choose to delete Downloaded files, make sure you have moved your important files to another location on your PC drive.
We all agree, not everything in the Download Folder is important. It may be important when you first downloaded it but not anymore. The Download folder in Windows 10 is the first place you should look to free up storage. Setup files, PDF's, Videos, Audios and what not, all these unused items should be deleted.
Storage Sense is a great feature to use for Windows 10 users. For the users who are still on the older version of the Windows operating system like Windows 7 or 8 and do not have the Storage Sense feature, Just look for the 13 categories as I mentioned above. Remove the data manually and you will be able to clear GBs of storage space.
Over to You
This is all you need to do to take care of your Windows 10 storage space. The above methods are enough to free up drive space in Windows 10. Just performing the above methods will claim more than 30-40GB of storage space.
Well, once you have enough storage space, you are ready to download anything you want. Maybe a few songs or movies? Do comment below how much drive space you cleared using my methods? and also let me know what is the first thing that you will download.
Isn't it awesome to claim back the storage space already available on your PC? Are you happy? If Yes, please support me by sharing this article as much as you can. And come back for some more helpful information, I update my blog regularly. Thank you!
The post Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10 Under Ten Minutes! was first published on: WindowsQnA.com
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