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!
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
worf105
Hi, 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:
LaptopMag Site - Page Not Found
How to reduce the Windows 10 footprint on your computer | Windows Central
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html
Compress or Uncompress Files and Folders in Windows 10
Last edited by dalchina; 22 Jun 2019 at 02:42.
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,
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.Maybe we can make a trip to Westvleteren?
Just sipping a nice but tricky Triple Karmeliet as I write.....
O, RAPR really wraps it up. LOL
Cheers,
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-10Windows 10 needs several gigabytes of free space during install, and then several gigabytes of space to store the Windows.old folder, which can be used for a few weeks after the upgrade to revert back to Windows 8.1. So now Windows 10 Setup will examine your free storage space and note that your PC requires removable storage if there isn’t enough.
Update: Apparently I'm mistaken, Widows Update is supposed to offer these options too...
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...4-776be87af7dfOnce you are notified your download is ready, or begin installing Windows 10 from media, setup will first perform a compatibility check to see if you have enough disk space. If you don’t, you’ll see the message, “Windows needs more space”, informing you how much space you need to have available and providing several options for installing Windows.
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