December 31, 2022

6 Ways to Free Up Storage Space in Windows 11

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Here’s how to squeeze some extra storage out of your Windows 11 PC.

As a Windows 11 user, you have plenty of options to free up disk space on your system. Unnecessary apps, temporary Windows Update files, and media can occupy a huge chunk of your hard drive. Limited storage space prevents you from downloading the necessary software and slows down your PC.

If you’ve hit the storage limit on your Windows 11 PC and need to free up disk space, you’ve come to the right place. Read on as we detail six strategies you can use to optimize your storage.

1. Delete Previous Windows 11 Installation Files

If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 11 from Windows 10, you will likely still have the previous Windows installation files lingering on your hard drive. Similarly, Windows also saves update files that can accumulate to a large chunk of valuable disk space. The operating system backs up the existing system state in case of an update failure.

However, if Windows 11 seems to be working well for you, removing previous Windows installation files and unnecessary update files from your PC is safe. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Launch the Settings app through the Start menu.
2. Select System from the sidebar menu, and then Storage. Once the scan finishes, select Temporary files.
3. Windows will show you a breakdown of the different folders that make up the bulk of temporary files. Select Previous Windows installations and the Windows Update cleanup.
4. Finally, click on Remove Files to free up space.

2. Permanently Delete Items in the Recycle Bin

Whenever you delete a file from your Desktop or any other folder, the file is not permanently deleted. It’s stored within the Recycle Bin folder, so you can recover it if required. Over an extended period, the Recycle Bin can become home to many deleted files you no longer need. To free up space properly, you will have to delete the contents of the Recycle Bin permanently:

1. Locate the Recycle Bin on your Desktop or search for it from the Start menu.
2. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon and select Empty Recycle Bin.

3. Delete Temporary Files

Temporary files unnecessarily clutter your system; the best way to deal with them is by deleting them for good. The steps to removing temporary files on Windows 11 are pretty simple:

1. Launch the Settings app and navigate to System > Storage > Temporary files.
2. It’s safe to select all the listed options except the Downloads folder, and you may lose important files if you carelessly empty the Downloads folder.
3. Once you’ve made your selection, click on Remove files.
4. Windows 11 will purge your PC of the temporary files, and you’ll free up valuable disk space in the process.

If you want more information, check out the other ways to delete temporary files on Windows.

4. Remove Unnecessary Apps and Files

Another crucial step to freeing up storage space is removing useless pre-installed bloatware, optional features, unnecessary installed software, and junk files.

We highly suggest removing unnecessary Windows apps (such as Maps) and software you no longer use. To uninstall applications on Windows 11:

1. Launch the Settings app and navigate to Apps > Installed Apps.
2. Filter the list for any apps you don’t regularly use, and uninstall them by clicking the three dots icon.
3. Restart your computer for the changes to take place.

We have more information on the topic on our piece on how to quickly remove bloatware from Windows.

You can also uninstall optional Windows 11 features, and these are usually add-ons that might not affect your daily use. Here’s how you can remove optional features on Windows 11:

1. From the Settings app, navigate to Apps > Optional features.
2. If you see a feature, you don’t use, and you can safely uninstall it. However, we recommend doing a quick Google search to be sure.
3. To uninstall an optional feature, click on the three-dot icon and select Uninstall.

Additionally, we recommend taking your files for a deep spring clean. You should discard files and folders you no longer need for good; however, for files you do not immediately need, you can transfer them onto the cloud or another external hard drive.

Similarly, you should also clear out old installation setup files in your Downloads folder. It would help if you looked into the below folders to clear out junk files:

• Documents
• Pictures
• Desktop
• Downloads

If you have data in another partition of your hard disk (D, F, etc.), we recommend cleaning out unnecessary files from those folders.

Make sure you permanently delete your files from the Recycle Bin to ensure that the disk space is freed (as discussed above).

5. Free Up Disk Space Automatically With Storage Sense

Windows 11 has an innovative built-in feature called Storage Sense which effectively manages your storage and automatically frees up space.

You can automatically set up custom rules on which folders to delete, schedule cleanup scans, and more. To enable Storage Sense on Windows 11:

1. Launch the Settings app and then navigate to System > Storage.
2. In the Storage management section, select Storage sense.
3. Then configure the Storage sense preferences as you see fit. We recommend enabling Cleanup of temporary files and Automatic User content cleanup (set Delete files in my Downloads folder to Never).
4. Finally, select Run Storage Sense now.

6. Remove Unused User Accounts

If you don’t share your PC with someone else, you don’t need to use precious disk space for another Windows user account. The Windows operating system will allocate each user account extra disk space to function, so if you don’t use those additional accounts, you don’t need to keep them around.

Before you delete an account, we recommend transferring important files onto another hard drive in case you may need them again in the future.

To delete a user account:

1. Login from an administrator account and navigate to Settings > Accounts > Other Users.
2. Select the user profile you want to delete and then click on Remove.
3. Once you’re ready to delete the account and its data for good, click on Delete account and data.
4. Restart your system for the changes to take place.

Free Up Space on Windows 11

Windows 11 is excellent, but storage issues can frustrate your experience. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can try to free up disk space. Clearing out temporary files, setting up Storage Sense, and removing unnecessary apps and files can go a long way in freeing up valuable disk space.

Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-free-up-storage-space/

Ref: makeuseof

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