A full drive on Windows 11 is more than an annoyance. Once free space drops to a few gigabytes, updates fail, apps refuse to install and the machine slows down as Windows runs out of room for paging and temporary files. The good news is that Windows 11 has better built-in cleanup tools than any previous version, and most people can recover real space in ten minutes without buying anything. This guide starts with the quickest wins and works down to the deeper fixes.
Nine cleanups that free the most space, quickest first
- Run Cleanup recommendations in Settings and remove what it suggests, especially old Windows update files.
- Turn on Storage Sense so temporary files and the Recycle Bin are cleaned automatically.
- Delete Temporary files, including "Previous Windows installation(s)" if you upgraded recently.
- Run the classic Disk Cleanup tool with "Clean up system files."
- Uninstall the apps and games you never open.
- Make large OneDrive folders online-only with Files On-Demand.
- Empty Downloads and the Recycle Bin.
- Disable hibernation if you never use it (reclaims a file the size of your RAM).
- On a Copilot+ PC, shrink or reset Recall's snapshot storage.
The rest of this article walks through each one, then explains how much space Windows updates really need.
First, find out what's eating your drive
Before deleting anything, look at the breakdown. Open Start > Settings > System > Storage. Windows shows your main drive as a bar split into categories such as Apps & features, Temporary files, Documents and System & reserved; click Show more categories for the full list.
Two categories usually explain a full drive. If Apps & features dominates, a couple of games or creative suites are the problem and step 5 is where you will win. If Temporary files is large, steps 1 to 4 will do the work. Anything unusually large under Other is typically a video project or virtual machine image; File Explorer's search with the "Size: Gigantic" filter will find it.
1. Run Cleanup recommendations in Settings
This is the tool Microsoft points to first: it is safe and it prioritizes the biggest wins. Go to Settings > System > Storage > Cleanup recommendations. Windows groups candidates into four sections: Temporary files, Large or unused files, Files synced to the cloud, and Unused apps. Each section shows how much space you would get back.
Tick the items you want to remove and select Clean up. Read the "Large or unused files" list before accepting it, because it will happily suggest deleting a video you still want; the "Temporary files" section is almost always safe.
2. Turn on Storage Sense and set a schedule
Storage Sense is the automatic version of the step above. Go to Settings > System > Storage > Storage Sense and switch it on. According to Microsoft's guide, it can:
- Delete temporary app and system files automatically.
- Delete files in the Recycle Bin after they have been there for a set number of days.
- Delete files in your Downloads folder that you have not opened for a set number of days (off by default; think before enabling it).
- Turn locally available OneDrive files back into online-only files after a period of inactivity.
Below those options you choose how often it runs: on a fixed schedule or only when free disk space gets low, which is the default. If your storage bar is already red, use the button on the same page to run Storage Sense immediately. Storage Sense only manages your system drive, so a second data drive needs manual attention.
3. Delete temporary files and old Windows Update leftovers
The Temporary files page (Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files) is where the biggest single deletions live. Look for:
- Windows Update Cleanup: superseded update packages, often several gigabytes on a machine that has been running Windows 11 for a while.
- Previous Windows installation(s): the Windows.old folder left behind after a feature update or an upgrade from Windows 10. Microsoft only lists it for ten days after the upgrade, after which Windows removes it on its own. Deleting it early frees a lot of space but means you cannot roll back, so only do it once the upgrade is clearly stable; our Windows 10 to 11 upgrade guide covers what that rollback window protects you from.
- Delivery Optimization Files: cached update pieces shared with other PCs on your network. Safe to remove.
Tick what you want and select Remove files.
4. Use the classic Disk Cleanup tool for system files
The old Disk Cleanup utility is still in Windows 11 and occasionally finds things the Settings app does not. Type Disk Cleanup in the search box, select it, choose your Windows drive and click OK, as Microsoft's update-space page describes. Then click Clean up system files and choose the drive again; that second pass adds Windows Update Cleanup, device driver packages and system error memory dump files. Tick them and click OK.
A large "System error memory dump files" entry is a leftover crash dump and can go. If Windows Update Cleanup is huge, expect the deletion to finish on the next restart.
5. Uninstall apps you never open
Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and sort by size. Games, video editors and trial software from the PC maker tend to sit at the top. Select the three-dot menu next to anything you do not use and choose Uninstall.
If a large game is one you play only occasionally, uninstalling and reinstalling later is usually quicker than living with a full drive.
6. Move files to the cloud with OneDrive Files On-Demand
If your Documents, Pictures and Desktop folders are backed up to OneDrive, you do not need a local copy of every file. Files On-Demand keeps a placeholder in File Explorer and downloads a file only when you open it. Microsoft notes that it has been enabled by default since OneDrive build 23.066; if it is not, open OneDrive's settings, go to Sync and backup, expand Advanced settings and turn it on.
The status icons in File Explorer tell you what is taking up space:
Scroll sideways to see the full table →
| Icon | Meaning | Uses local space? |
|---|---|---|
| Blue cloud outline | Online-only; downloads when opened | No |
| Green check mark | Downloaded and available offline | Yes, until you free it up |
| Solid green circle with check | Always keep on this device | Yes, permanently |
To reclaim space, right-click a folder such as an old photo library and choose Free up space. The files stay in OneDrive and reappear in Explorer as placeholders. For anything you must have offline, right-click and choose Always keep on this device. Storage Sense (step 2) can automate this by making files online-only after they sit unused for a while. The obvious caveat: online-only files need an internet connection to open.
7. Empty Downloads and the Recycle Bin properly
Two folders hide a surprising amount of data. Downloads collects installers, ZIP archives and PDFs you needed once; sort it by size in File Explorer and delete what you have already installed or read. Deleted files are not gone until you empty the Recycle Bin: right-click its desktop icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin, or let Storage Sense handle it. To skip the Recycle Bin entirely, hold Shift while pressing Delete, but be certain first, because there is no undo.
8. Disable hibernation if you never use it
Hibernation writes the contents of memory to a hidden file, hiberfil.sys, so the PC can power off completely and resume later. Microsoft says the file's size is approximately equal to the amount of RAM in the computer, so on a 16 GB laptop it can occupy well over 10 GB.
If you only ever use Sleep and Shut down, you can remove it:
- Search for cmd, right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
- Type
powercfg.exe /hibernate offand press Enter. - Close the window. The file is deleted immediately.
The trade-offs, per Microsoft, are that hybrid sleep stops working and the Hibernate option disappears from the power menu; Fast Startup, which uses the same file, is disabled too. Reverse it any time with powercfg.exe /hibernate on. If you would rather keep hibernation but shrink the file, powercfg.exe /hibernate /size 50 sets it to half your RAM.
9. On Copilot+ PCs: check Recall's snapshot storage
If you own a Copilot+ PC and turned on Recall (still labeled a preview as of April 2025), it is quietly reserving a large slice of your drive for screen snapshots. Microsoft's Recall documentation states the defaults: 25 GB on a 256 GB drive, 75 GB on a 512 GB drive and 150 GB on a 1 TB or larger drive. Recall also needs at least 50 GB free to be enabled and pauses saving snapshots once free space falls below 25 GB.
To adjust it, open Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots. Under the storage options you can lower the maximum snapshot storage and set a retention period (30, 60, 90 or 180 days) so older snapshots are removed. Under Advanced settings, Delete snapshots clears what is stored, and Reset Recall wipes everything and starts over. If you never search Recall, turning off snapshot saving altogether is the simplest fix.
Two deeper options if you are still short
Compact OS. Windows can compress its own system files in place. Running compact /compactOS:always from an administrator Command Prompt typically saves a couple of gigabytes; Pureinfotech warns it can slightly affect performance during heavy file operations, so it suits small-drive laptops best. Undo it with compact /compactOS:never.
NTFS compression on data folders. Right-click a folder of documents or old projects, choose Properties > Advanced and tick Compress contents to save disk space. It does nothing for photos and video, which are already compressed, but it can shrink text-heavy folders considerably; Windows Central lists it alongside Files On-Demand as a way to save space without deleting anything.
How much space Windows updates actually need
The reason to keep a buffer is Windows Update. Microsoft's guidance is that feature updates typically need 6 GB to 11 GB or more of free space, and monthly quality updates 2 GB to 3 GB or more, with the exact figure depending on the optional features, languages and drivers installed. Annual feature updates such as 24H2 sit at the top of that range and also leave a Windows.old folder behind for ten days, so the practical target is at least 15 to 20 GB free before a big update lands.
As a rough sanity check, Pureinfotech reports that most people reclaim 10 to 30 GB in minutes with the built-in tools above, and suggests keeping roughly 30 percent of the drive free. If you have done everything on this list and are still under 10 percent free, the drive is too small for what you do with it, and a larger SSD or an external drive for media and games is the durable fix.
Sources and further reading
- Free up drive space in Windows (Microsoft Support)support.microsoft.com
- Manage drive space with Storage Sense (Microsoft Support)support.microsoft.com
- Free up space for Windows updates (Microsoft Support)support.microsoft.com
- Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Windows (Microsoft Support)support.microsoft.com
- How to disable and re-enable hibernation (Microsoft Learn)learn.microsoft.com
- Manage Recall for Windows clients (Microsoft Learn)learn.microsoft.com
- Windows 11 storage full? How to free up disk space fast (Pureinfotech)pureinfotech.com
- Running out of space on Windows 11? These tricks actually free up gigabytes (Windows Central)windowscentral.com