Windows folder size is huge, taking 32gbs.

Sehse · 26 May 2016

Hello everyone,

So recently, I looked at my local disc(C) and I found out that it is going short on GBs, so I looked in and found that Windows folder is occupying about 32 Gbs of the partition's space alone.. I don't know what to do and this is causing me problems with performance and soon will occupy all the partition.

Things I have tried so far;

Ran Ccleaner.
Deleted all files in Temp folder.
Deleted all files in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download.

Windows version:

Windows 7 Ultimate |Service pack 1| 64bit operating system |

Thanks in advance :)

ignatzatsonic · 26 May 2016

32 GB is not outlandishly high.

Mine is 24.

How big is your hard drive and how much free space right now?

Download and run Tree Size Free. It will tell you where the space is being used.

TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

How much space do you have devoted to System Restore?

How much do you have allotted to your page file (virtual memory)?

Do you use or need hibernation? That takes up space and can be turned off if you don't use it.

Sehse · 26 May 2016

ignatzatsonic said:

32 GB is not outlandishly high.

Mine is 24.

How big is your hard drive and how much free space right now?

Download and run Tree Size Free. It will tell you where the space is being used.

TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

How much space do you have devoted to System Restore?

How much do you have allotted to your page file (virtual memory)?

Do you use or need hibernation? That takes up space and can be turned off if you don't use it.

I devoted about 50 Gbs to local disc, now there is about 2 Gb free in my C disc space. Not sure how much I devoted to system restore, and I have hibernation disabled.. Going to download tree size right now.

Edit:

So, installed tree size and found that there are 9 Gbs for a folder called "Logs" and 13 GB for "winsxs"

Also outside the windows folder there is a hidden file called "$WINDOWS.~BT" Which is 6Gb.

ignatzatsonic · 26 May 2016

Do you have any use for System Restore? Ever use it or think about using it? You can turn it off and gain back whatever space it is using if you have no use for it.

9 GB for logs is ridiculous. I'd run Disk Cleanup including the option for "system files" and see how much space you gain back.

You might also consider installing and running CCleaner from time to time to keep things in check.

My Winsxs is about 11 gb, so you are looking OK there.

That BT file is related to the upgrade to Windows 10, which you may or may not want.

If you don't want Windows 10, you should be able to delete that folder with a shift delete.

It will probably re-appear if you don't refuse KB3035583 from Windows Update in the future.

Sehse · 27 May 2016

ignatzatsonic said:

Do you have any use for System Restore? Ever use it or think about using it? You can turn it off and gain back whatever space it is using if you have no use for it.

9 GB for logs is ridiculous. I'd run Disk Cleanup including the option for "system files" and see how much space you gain back.

You might also consider installing and running CCleaner from time to time to keep things in check.

My Winsxs is about 11 gb, so you are looking OK there.

That BT file is related to the upgrade to Windows 10, which you may or may not want.

If you don't want Windows 10, you should be able to delete that folder with a shift delete.

It will probably re-appear if you don't refuse KB3035583 from Windows Update in the future.

I ran Ccleaner again and disk cleanup for system files and I gained about 10 Gbs, Thanks a lot.