Clean 1903 (Pro 64-bit) install - How much diskspace should it use?

Hi Guys,

I've performed many Win 10 installs over the years and each new version seems to bump up the disk-space requirements slightly. I always install Windows on its own 40GB partition. That's always more than enough for me, since I don't use a huge number of applications.

A typical 1809 (Pro 64-bit) would take up around 16.8GB, give or take a couple of hundred MB.

After an install I usually remove ALL metro apps (the only one I ever use is the calculator), and any native Win 10 apps that can be uninstalled through the control panel.

I would then use CCleaner to uninstall everything else and do a full disk clean. I would then have a clean install (minus the unneeded Windows apps) of around 14GB.

However, with 1903, I seem to be using around 23GB for a fresh, untinkered with, CLEAN install - surely it can't require an additional 7GB?

What are others finding?

Cheers,

Mike.

Yes, it does. 7 GB exactly!
Windows 10 version 1903 to reserve 7GB of disk space for updates OnMSFT.com

The link that NavyLCDR posted also had information on how to eliminate the 7 GB requirement and have the space requirements that you had had with Windows 1809.
Perform a clean install windows 1809 > perform an in place upgrade repair to windows 1903 Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade > free up drive space as per this tutorial:
Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10

Interesting - thanks for the info guys...

I do all of my Win 10 installs to a single partition (no 500MB system recovery partitions or other such nonsense.). I tried a couple of registry tweaks to try and eliminate the 7.98GB (in my case) reserved space, but no luck...

Where/how is this space being reserved?

@thomaseg1 - is that what you're saying - the space is reserved as a virtual drive?

@zbook - that was my "plan B" - Clean 1809 install, then plonk 1903 on the top!

Cheers,

Mike.

Hmm... Couldn't see any PortabelBaseLayer anywhere in Disk management, just my single windows partition...

I'm currently following zbook's suggestion - almost there...

One issue I had with my 1903 install was that the reserved space increased in size to around 13GB, as (for unknown reasons) one of the cumulative updates for 1903 failed to install on two separate attempts (it worked on the third).

Once the update finally installed correctly the reserved space stayed at 13GB and disk cleanup had no effect.

I can't really investigate that issue any further, since I've now blown away that install.

Cheers,

Mike.

thomaseg1 said:

It is on mine. Go to Disk Management And look for PortableBaseLayer in the drives.
If you want to continue then go with NavyLCDR and zbook 's suggestions.
Personally It doesn't take up much room and puts updates in one place so they can be cleared
quicker. So I ignore it.

Okay, I followed the instructions for the 1809 -> 1903 in-place upgrade, but the reserved area is still there (6.98GB), although curiously the used disk-space is down from 23.8GB (clean 1903 install) to 17.8.

So if I could get rid of the reserved space I could have a clean Win 10 install taking up a mere 11GB

Question is - how to zap the pesky reserved space?

Mike.

In place upgrades to 1903 here and no extra 7GB being used and no PortableBaseLayer in disk management, not on my insider PC either.