How to Free Up Disk Space on Windows 11: 9 Safe Ways

1Clear temporary files from the Storage screen

This comes first because it gathers, in a single list of tick boxes, nearly everything that can go without risk: update cache, delivery optimisation files, thumbnails, error reports and the Recycle Bin. Windows only offers on that screen what it considers disposable, so there is no risk of deleting something the system needs by mistake.

1. Open Settings > System > Storage.
2. Click Temporary files and wait for the scan to finish.
3. Tick the categories you want removed. Windows Update cleanup and Delivery Optimisation are usually the largest.
4. Leave the downloads option unticked if you keep things in that folder, because those are your files and not system junk.
5. Click Remove files and wait. The cleanup can take several minutes, and the computer runs slowly while it works.

2Remove the previous Windows installation

After a major update, Windows keeps the whole old version in case you want to roll back. It is the single biggest win on this list, frequently between 15 and 30 GB. The price is clear: once removed, you lose the option to revert to the previous version of the system. If the update was recent and the computer is behaving oddly, wait a few days before deleting it.

1. Open Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files.
2. Look for the previous Windows installations entry in the list. If it is not there, the rollback window has passed and Windows removed the folder on its own.
3. Tick that option and click Remove files.
4. Confirm the warning that you will no longer be able to go back to the previous version.
5. Do not try to delete the Windows.old folder from File Explorer. It has protected permissions and manual deletion tends to stall halfway, leaving the space occupied anyway.

3Turn on Storage Sense

Without it, you will be repeating this cleanup in three months. Storage Sense runs the temporary file cleanup on its own, at a set interval or whenever the drive gets tight. It is conservative by default and does not touch documents, photos or programs.

1. Open Settings > System > Storage and switch Storage Sense on.
2. Click its name to open the options and choose how often it should run. Running when free space is low suits most people.
3. Set how many days before Recycle Bin files are deleted automatically. Thirty days is a good balance.
4. Think twice before enabling automatic cleanup of the Downloads folder: those are your files, and Storage Sense cannot tell an old installer from a document you downloaded yesterday and have not filed yet.
5. Click the run now button to do the first cleanup straight away.

4Empty the Recycle Bin and review the Downloads folder

These are the two places where space disappears unnoticed. The Recycle Bin holds everything you deleted over the past months, including that 4 GB video. The Downloads folder collects installers that already did their job and will never be opened again. Unlike the earlier steps, these files are yours, so it is worth looking before deleting.

1. Open the Recycle Bin from the desktop, quickly check there is nothing you want back, and choose to empty it.
2. Open File Explorer, go into Downloads and sort by size, largest first.
3. Delete installers for programs you already installed, archives you already extracted, and media that also exists somewhere else.
4. Then sort by date and delete anything that has been sitting there for over a year without being opened.
5. Empty the Recycle Bin again at the end, because what you just deleted went into it.

5Uninstall large programs and games you do not use

A single modern game takes more room than all the system's temporary files put together. Sorting the app list by size shows where the space actually went, and it usually delivers the biggest gain after the previous Windows installation.

1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
2. Change the sorting to size, largest first.
3. Uninstall heavy games and programs you have not opened in months. Games can be reinstalled from the store where you bought them, at no new cost.
4. Do not uninstall items named driver, runtime, redistributable or support package from a hardware maker, even if they look useless: other programs depend on them.
5. If a program will not go through the list, look for its own uninstaller inside its folder before trying anything else.

6Let OneDrive keep files in the cloud only

The files on-demand feature keeps all your files visible in Explorer but uses disk space only for the ones you opened recently. The rest stay as placeholders and download the moment you need them. For anyone who has used OneDrive for years, this often hands back tens of gigabytes. Remember that cloud-only files need an internet connection to open, so mark as always available whatever you use while travelling or offline.

1. Click the OneDrive cloud icon next to the clock and open the settings from the gear icon.
2. Confirm that the files on-demand, or save space, option is enabled.
3. In File Explorer, right-click the large OneDrive folders and choose to free up space.
4. For folders you need without an internet connection, choose the option to always keep on this device.
5. If you do not use OneDrive on purpose, check that it is not syncing Desktop, Documents and Pictures without your knowledge, which doubles the space used.

7Turn off hibernation if you do not use it

Windows reserves a disk file the size of much of your RAM to hold the session during hibernation. On a computer with 16 GB of RAM that can be over 6 GB sitting idle. Switching it off returns that space immediately. The trade-off: besides losing hibernation, you also lose fast startup, which uses the same file, so the computer will take a little longer to boot. On desktops that is barely noticeable; on a laptop you habitually hibernate with work open, think it through first.

1. Right-click the Start menu and open Terminal or Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Type the command below and press Enter. Nothing appears on screen when it works.
3. Close the window and check the free space: the difference is immediate, with no restart needed.
4. To undo it at any time, run the same command replacing off with on.

powercfg /h off

8Limit the space reserved for System Restore

System protection keeps restore points that let you undo a problematic update or installation, and by default it can reserve a sizeable slice of the drive. Lowering the limit keeps the safety net and returns space. Do not disable protection entirely except as a last resort: it is what saves the computer when a driver or an update goes wrong.

1. Open the Start menu, type create a restore point and open the result.
2. Select the system drive, marked as System, and click Configure.
3. Use the max usage slider to leave it around 5% of the drive.
4. If you need space right now, use the delete button to clear the old points, knowing that you lose the ability to go back to them.
5. Confirm that protection is still on after the adjustment and create a fresh point manually.

9Send new files to the second drive

If the computer has a small SSD for the system and a larger drive for data, this step stops the problem coming back. Windows lets you choose which drive new apps, documents, music, photos and videos are written to, without you having to move anything by hand afterwards.

1. Open Settings > System > Storage and go into the advanced storage settings.
2. Look for the option about where new content is saved.
3. Choose the second drive for new documents, music, pictures and videos.
4. Manually move the large folders already on the system drive, such as videos and old projects, cutting and pasting them to the other drive.
5. If you only have one drive, skip this step and consider an external hard drive or a decent USB stick for files you rarely open.