What files can I safely delete to free up as much space as possible? (Windows 10 Update)

Hello!
I am currently a student using the Acer Swift 1. Recently I've been getting this popup almost consistently whenever I start up my laptop:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/xe/pp6kve8m2ny3.png

Which is fine, I know this laptop has (very) limited space. So I've been dealing with this problem for some time now, occasionally doing the odd system cleanup here and there, and finally this afternoon Windows Update Assistant informed me that I had sufficient space both on my Acer (C:) drive and external drive to install the Windows 10 update (3+GB for the C: drive and I think 16?GB for the external drive). I started the update download process and allowed it to run in the background while I continued using my laptop.
However later that evening, a notification popped up alerting me that I in fact did not have sufficient space on my C: drive:

I assumed that after downloading a certain number of Windows 10 files, it was discovered that there was actually insufficient space and hence the download stopped. So that meant that there were still Windows 10 files that are not going to be used if the download were to start over again, is that correct?
If this is right then I'm looking for a way to delete these duplicate files or other unnecessary files from both my C: drive and external drive, which has also had about ~20GB of space suddenly occupied by some mysterious files.
I'm perplexed and stressed at this point because my laptop is essential for my schoolwork and the notification told me that I only had until April 10 to download the update before I was unable to update any more, so any help at all would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

- Ryn

P.S. I'm very new to this forum/community, so if I happen to have listed this post under the wrong category, used the wrong term for something or vice versa, do let me know! Thank you

Accepted answers

Sharanji

ryn

The quickest way to clear space in Windows is to run Microsoft’s built-in Disk Clean-up utility, or an alternative such as CCleaner Free, Microsoft’s Disk Clean-up utility can safely delete hidden system files. Click the button that says “Clean up system files” for the option to delete various files including “Previous Windows Installation(s)”.

Next, go back to the Storage page and click on your C: drive. Windows 10 will scan your 32GB and tell you how much space you have free.

Though the disk cleanup method basically deletes every insignificant junk files and help regain some disk space, you need a manual deletion of this update installation files, which will definitely release several GBs of storage for you.

Step 1. In the search box in Windows 10, type cmd and Command Prompt should appear in the result. Right click on it and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands and press Enter after each:

net stop wuauserv
net stop bits

Now follow the path C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution. Open the SoftwareDistribution folder and delete everything inside, not including the folder itself.

Step 4. Return to the Command Prompt, now type the other two commands and press Enter after each:

net start wuauserv
net start bits

Finally, you can open File Explorer, right click on the C: drive, select properties, and check the box for disk compression. According to Microsoft when done (takes a while) that should reduce the disk space by 1.5GB (-x86) to 2.5GB (-64)

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All comments

Sharanji

ryn

The quickest way to clear space in Windows is to run Microsoft’s built-in Disk Clean-up utility, or an alternative such as CCleaner Free, Microsoft’s Disk Clean-up utility can safely delete hidden system files. Click the button that says “Clean up system files” for the option to delete various files including “Previous Windows Installation(s)”.

Next, go back to the Storage page and click on your C: drive. Windows 10 will scan your 32GB and tell you how much space you have free.

Though the disk cleanup method basically deletes every insignificant junk files and help regain some disk space, you need a manual deletion of this update installation files, which will definitely release several GBs of storage for you.

Step 1. In the search box in Windows 10, type cmd and Command Prompt should appear in the result. Right click on it and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands and press Enter after each:

net stop wuauserv
net stop bits

Now follow the path C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution. Open the SoftwareDistribution folder and delete everything inside, not including the folder itself.

Step 4. Return to the Command Prompt, now type the other two commands and press Enter after each:

net start wuauserv
net start bits

Finally, you can open File Explorer, right click on the C: drive, select properties, and check the box for disk compression. According to Microsoft when done (takes a while) that should reduce the disk space by 1.5GB (-x86) to 2.5GB (-64)

Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!
Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

padgett

How much free space do you have ? I have updated a system with only 6GB free on C (and a 64GB SD Card). A quick way to gain several GB is to turn off hibernation, just follow this article: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2859-enable-disable-hibernate-windows-10-a.html

ryn

Sharanji said:

ryn
The quickest way to clear space in Windows is to run Microsoft’s built-in Disk Clean-up utility, or an alternative such as CCleaner Free, Microsoft’s Disk Clean-up utility can safely delete hidden system files. Click the button that says “Clean up system files” for the option to delete various files including “Previous Windows Installation(s)”.
Next, go back to the Storage page and click on your C: drive. Windows 10 will scan your 32GB and tell you how much space you have free.
Though the disk cleanup method basically deletes every insignificant junk files and help regain some disk space, you need a manual deletion of this update installation files, which will definitely release several GBs of storage for you.
Step 1. In the search box in Windows 10, type cmd and Command Prompt should appear in the result. Right click on it and choose Run as administrator.
Step 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands and press Enter after each:
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
Now follow the path C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution. Open the SoftwareDistribution folder and delete everything inside, not including the folder itself.
Step 4. Return to the Command Prompt, now type the other two commands and press Enter after each:
net start wuauserv
net start bits
Finally, you can open File Explorer, right click on the C: drive, select properties, and check the box for disk compression. According to Microsoft when done (takes a while) that should reduce the disk space by 1.5GB (-x86) to 2.5GB (-64)

Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!
Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

Hi @Sharanji, thank you for the prompt and thorough reply! This worked very well for the drive and i was able to free up about 2.5GB of space, however is there anything I could do about the space that went unaccounted for in my external drive?

Thanks again!
- Ryn

Sharanji

ryn

If there is nothing required on the external hard drive look at it in 'Disk Management'

Once you have a partition which fills the hard disk then format it

preferrably using NTFS format

That way you will get as much free space as you can have

There may be hidden folders on the hard drive which as you can not see them you did not delete them

(showing hidden files & folders is off by default)

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cRyrWrJu

I have a SPIN 1 and cannot download the latest Windows 10 upgrade after cleaning out as much as possible I have been told I can somehow format the microSD 32gb card that is in the laptop and THEN download the Windows 10 newest version. Anyone have the steps to get this accomplished?

Sharanji

laumic said:

I have a SPIN 1 and cannot download the latest Windows 10 upgrade after cleaning out as much as possible I have been told I can somehow format the microSD 32gb card that is in the laptop and THEN download the Windows 10 newest version. Anyone have the steps to get this accomplished?

Have you performed the above steps to free up space to install the windows update?
Also, turn off hibernation as suggested by padgett

Another way is to add a 32GB or 64GB SD or microSD card more storage. You can create an icon for the card and keep it on the desktop for quick access. If you have large collections of photos, music, movies etc then you can store them on SD cards. Further, you can now install programs on SD cards, too.

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