Hi Ryan,
Please check the size of the component store. To do so, run the following command from Command Prompt (admin)
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore
Copy the output and post it in your reply.
Storage space has been eaten up by?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 34%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ERM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Ryan Marshall
40
Reputation points
I have 2 computer here at work that I got a warning that they were out of storage space. Not sure why only these two. Employees cannot install software.
Both PC are Windows pro 11.
I have run Disk Cleanup and Clean up System files, with little results.
I have also run DISM, with similar results.
All I have found is that both PCs have very large System files one is 354GB and the other is 820GB
Any suggestions?
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage
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ENDrain 0 Reputation points2026-03-28T20:50:06.46+00:00 Total Commander is an old bud gold file manager that allows to see sizes of folders. Google how to toggle displaying of hidden files and folders, then go to the root of your drive and press Alt+Shift+Enter to make it calculate folder sizes. Then go to the biggest folder and repeat, until you get to the bottom. That is the method I use for locating waste.
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Ramesh
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T14:23:23.43+00:00 The component store is not bloated.
WinDirStat can help you identify huge files/folders easily. Please download WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics: https://windirstat.net/
Download the tool and run it as administrator. Wait until it populates the entries and constructs the treemap.
The treemap represents each file as a colored rectangle, the area of which is proportional to the file's size. When you select the colored rectangle, the corresponding file is highlighted automatically.
For example, I select a rectangle in the treemap. It highlights the corresponding file in the folder view.
Example:
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Ryan Marshall 40 Reputation points
2026-03-24T14:47:47.4033333+00:00 thank you. I tried that but something is not adding up, the system says...
but the program WinDirStat says :
Where is the 800GB?
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T14:52:29.03+00:00 I think all these show up as
0.0%because WinDirStat doesn't have access to the folders.Please run this command:
vssadmin list shadowstorageHow much space is consumed by shadows?
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Ryan Marshall 40 Reputation points
2026-03-24T16:32:21.68+00:00 I ran the command at it said "No items found that satisfy the query".
I went a head and ran system restore and shadow copies > cleanup...No space freed up.
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T16:36:56.46+00:00 If it's not too much work, please download Advanced Run from Nirsoft and run WinDirStat as
TrustedInstaller. Scan the C drive again in WinDirStat. -
Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T16:38:20.9766667+00:00 Note: To show unknown space in WinDirStat, open the Options menu and check Show Unknown (or press F7). This displays space WinDirStat cannot map to a specific file, often caused by permission restrictions on system folders.
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T16:52:26.16+00:00 If WinDirStat still shows the "Unknown" entry when run as TrustedInstaller, consider installing TreeSize (free). Some users mentioned that TreeSize drills down into "unknown" items more effectively than WinDirStat.
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Ryan Marshall 40 Reputation points
2026-03-24T18:23:40.7266667+00:00 So, I had to use TreeSize to get any info on the "Unknown". It ended up to being a lot of .dmp files hidden in Windows\ Service Profiles\ Local Services\ App data \ Local \ Temp\ .
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T18:27:05.74+00:00 Great. How much does that folder account for?
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Ryan Marshall 40 Reputation points
2026-03-24T18:36:15.11+00:00 It was 835GB on one computer and 430GB on the other.
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-24T18:37:37.94+00:00 Ok. I'm glad it's sorted.
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3 additional answers
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Castorix31 91,876 Reputation points2026-03-29T09:39:55.1733333+00:00 You can try TreeSize Free to see what are the biggest files.
And did you check how Virtual Memory is managed ?
(https://technovazone.in/windows-11-virtual-memory-page-file-settings-for-8gb-ram/ for example)
On my Windows 10 PC (french) :
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Finbo 20 Reputation points2026-03-27T04:06:07.7633333+00:00 I have also tried all but step 7, 'reset windows', and have had very little success. I am running Win11, v25H2, OS 26200.8039 on a Dell laptop with 256GB SSD. Within the past 10 days, c. 3/13/26, I updated with KB5081277 and KB5082178 and saw my usable free storage go from ~65GB down to ~16GB immediately after running those updates, and as of about 10 minutes ago my free storage is now down to ~4.5GB. I have installed/downloaded NOTHING since doing those two updates and yet my free storage keeps going down down down every time I shut down for the night and then turn it back on in the morning. The latest is the attached screen shot. It shows my 'System and Reserved' storage is now at 153GB. Before running those two updates that figure was around 85GB and after running those two updates, that number went up to 132GB. Immediately after running those two updates I checked System-Storage and I got this wacky screen that said out of 1.77TB of space I had no free space and there were some I think Korean characters attached to the 1.77 number - I rebooted again and that display went back to my numbers - I thought I had gotten hacked so I quickly did a complete virus scan and it came out clean.
It seems like every time I shut down and then turn it back on, the System and Reserved number goes up ~5GB and I lose that free space. There's something going on here and it ain't right!!!
Here's that wacky one that first showed up:
I originally posted the second picture and asked "what the heck is going on" and one person suggested downloading some 'Tree' program that would identify what is using or reserving all the storage, but I can't even download and run other needed software updates because of 'insufficient disk space'... I could use some help...!
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-27T05:55:52.7566667+00:00 @Finbo:
Clean up the component store using DISM or Disk Cleanup..
Clean Up the WinSxS Folder | Microsoft Learn
After freeing up sufficient disk space, install TreeSize.
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-27T06:50:47.08+00:00 I used Disk Cleanup/Clear System Files and that only freed up about 55MB. I also used dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup, and a couple other dism commands, then sfc /scannow and there was one result that came back as "...found some corrupted files and fixed them..." but after I did all those and then restarted my pc, there was very little change in the System and Reserved, and consequently the free space.
I was able to regain about 2GB of space by compressing my email pst files, but that's about all there is available out there. According to the first screenshot I enclosed, my apps are using about 49GB, my documents about 9GB, and 'other' about 6GB and all those numbers have stayed pretty constant - it's just that "System and Reserved" category that has all kinds of warnings about "don't touch or your pc will explode in your face" that has gone hog-wild. As I stated in my original comment, that category was originally in the neighborhood of 85GB before I downloaded and installed those two KB updates. Why should that figure almost double in size just because those 2 updates were installed? Seems to me a smoking gun... Just the fact that I got that totally spurious second screenshot above directly after those updates should indicate some inherent instability somewhere in those two updates.
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-27T06:56:56.47+00:00 Please check the size of the component store.
Determine the Actual Size of the WinSxS Folder | Microsoft Learn
What does it report?
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-27T23:05:46.5033333+00:00 Can't give you a screenshot of what I got when I ran dism.exe /.../analyzecomponentstore because now I have zero bytes free in my storage and so can't take a screenshot... Yesterday evening when I responded to you I had 4+GB available and now, today, 15 hours later there is none available. What I did earlier today was read email, check on some draft Word files on-line, not downloaded, played a couple card games, and read the local news on-line. So how did I lose that 4GB????
Anyway, here's a transcription of what the dism command gave me:
C:\Windows\System32> dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponent Store
Deployment Image Servicing and Management too
Version: 10.0.26100.5074
Image Version: 10.0.26200.8039
{===================100.0%======================}
Component Store (WinSxS) information:
Windows Explorer Reported Size of Component Store : 12.36 GB
Actual Size of Component Store : 11.90 GB
Shared with Windows : 7.64 GB Backups and Disabled Features : 4.25 GB Cache and Temporary Data : 0 bytesDate of Last Cleanup : 2026-03-23 14:16:24
Number of Reclaimable Packages : 2
Component Store Cleanup Recommended : Yes
The operation completed successfully.
C:\Windows\System32
So, now what do I do? I take it that the Component Store is not the problem since it is listed as only using either 11.9GB or 12.36GB... When I check System/Storage, my 'System and Reserved' is now at 150GB when last night it was at ~146GB, and I'm sure that it's eating up 150GB only because there is nothing left.
I will run disk cleanup again and hopefully gain a bit of space but if that doesn't do a whole lot, I might not even be able to download email, so if I don't reply in a timely fashion you'll know the reason.
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-28T00:12:46.0733333+00:00 Can't give you a screenshot of what I got when I ran dism.exe /.../analyzecomponentstore because now I have zero bytes free in my storage and so can't take a screenshot... Yesterday evening when I responded to you I had 4+GB available and now, today, 15 hours later there is none available. What I did today was read email, check on some draft Word files on-line, not downloaded, played a couple card games, and read the local news on-line. So how did I lose that 4GB????
Anyway, here's a transcription of what the dism command gave me:
C:\Windows\System32> dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponent Store
Deployment Image Servicing and Management too
Version: 10.0.
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-28T00:13:11.85+00:00 Ok, let's try this again - it wouldn't let me respond due to an 'authentication error on webpage'...
About 30 minutes after my previous message (above), I went to 'command', then typed in
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image and then used the parameters /scanhealth, /restorehealth, and /startcomponentcleanup followed by sfc /scannow. It said there were no file problems and everything was ok. I restarted my laptop and then went to System/Storage and got this VERY ODD result. Unfortunately, it won't let me paste in the screenshot I took
(It's only 58KB but still won't let me paste it)
What it says is "Storage Usage 3.64EB used 1.37 EB free"
and then across the top of the window is a string of about 31 either Korean or Chinese characters....!
What the heck is an 'EB' in terms of computing storage? And why the foreign characters???
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-28T05:22:27.7533333+00:00 The output is incomplete:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management too Version: 10.0. -
Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-28T06:12:42.51+00:00 Do you mean this:
Component Store (WinSxS) information:
Windows Explorer Reported Size of Component Store : 12.36 GB
Actual Size of Component Store : 11.90 GB
Shared with Windows : 7.64 GB Backups and Disabled Features : 4.25 GB Cache and Temporary Data : 0 bytesDate of Last Cleanup : 2026-03-23 14:16:24
Number of Reclaimable Packages : 2
Component Store Cleanup Recommended : Yes
Or something else? I am having difficulties with my laptop, it sometimes won't let me take a screenshot, but then later that screenshot shows up on my desktop, but I get the message "unknown file format" or other "can't open file"...
I use Norton Antivirus and ran one of the scans that are available, some kind of deep scan of the startup programs and such. When I click 'run', it restarts the pc but before Windows starts, it runs the scan. It took about 10 minutes and did find 4-5 "OLE" files that were corrupted but when I look up what those type of files are, it shouldn't impact my storage. It also found a 3-4 .zip files in a 'netfile' directory that were corrupted but again, that shouldn't impact anything (I think!)...
And I'll try to add that screenshot with the foreign characters, just to prove to you that I am not losing my mind...
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-28T07:24:30.45+00:00 What the heck is an 'EB' in terms of computing storage? And why the foreign characters???
I don't know what
EBmeans. Does changing the display language to English help?Also, turn off hibernation to reclaim GBs of disk space. to do so, run the following command from Command Prompt (admin).
powercfg /hibernate offOpen This PC and see how much free space is available for the C drive.
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-28T20:32:18.6566667+00:00 It seems as though every time I run a dism.exe command the next time I open Settings/System/Storage it comes up with a very odd header. About 15 minutes ago when I checked after running dism.exe...startcomponentcleanup /resetbase the Storage header now said "15.9 EB Free" but all the component listing below that were 'normal'.
I did download and run WinDirStat and it came up interesting.
According to that, there's ~100GB of storage apportioned to "Unknown". Windows is using about 59GB, my personal files are using about 18GB, Program files uses 12GB and then there's a smattering of other categories using 1GB to 8GB. That roughly corresponds to what System/Storage shows but that 'System and Reserved' listing is showing 152GB which is dumbfounding since 3-4 weeks ago that figure was ~85GB.
So the big question of the day is how to find and either categorize or destroy that "Unknown" in the above screenshot? I turned off hibernation using the command you sent even though I never had it turned on in Settings. Another thing that gets me about this is that when I go into System/Storage, down the page it says Storage Sense is turned on, and Cleanup Recommendations says 'storage optimized, no action required'. That seems to say that there is something not working correctly with Settings or Device Manager, i.e., there's some miscommunication between Settings and actuality, like something is overriding some settings.
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-28T22:07:18.81+00:00 I finally realized there were other comments in this train, and read one that said to run WinDirStat as administrator, figured how to do that, then ran it again. and came up with this:
As you can see (maybe you can't) there is 79GB+ of storage taken by CapabilityAccessManager with CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal using 79GB, whatever DB-WAL file type is. Scrolling down the list, there is another 44GB+ used by 'Installer' with about 40 .MSP files under that that range from 500MB to 750MB. Going further down the list, under System32, there's Driver Store/FileRepository which is using 9GB+, then Users and Program Files which have about 19GB each, then "Hardlinks" which has another 9GB. Everything else listed is relatively small and doesn't add up to that much.
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Ramesh 176.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-03-29T03:15:24.3166667+00:00 The last comment in the Reddit thread might help.
My harddrive is growing slowly with 500gb of capabilityaccesmanager.db.wal : r/techsupport
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Finbo 20 Reputation points
2026-03-29T06:59:03.4666667+00:00 It took only 45 minutes, lots of frustration, 2 or 3 browser crashes, one unplanned "system error - rebooting computer", but I think/hope I finally got to delete capabilityaccessmanager folder.
The system had gotten so memory starved that when I tried opening that link to the reddit solution, my browser gave me only the first entry on that webpage, then when I hit refresh it closed the window and gave me an error message, and then did it again a second time so I had to go back to disk cleanup and run that just to get a couple extra MB free, enough to finally open that reddit page and read 'the last comment' as you offered (suggestion for next time you run into a situation like this is don't just paste a link to a comment that says "it's ok to delete the whole folder", just type out the words - it's a lot easier on your fingers and also makes sure that the reader you're sending it to gets the message without all the drama).
I reopened WinDirStat as administrator but it seized up, so I had to go run disk cleanup, and also deleted a couple more personal files just to get another couple MB free so the program could run. That happened again but this time the screen went black and I got the 'system error - rebooting' message. And let me tell you, when you don't have much at all free storage space, it can take a while to reboot - I timed this last one at ~6 minutes when normally it's more like 45-60 seconds...
So, back at WinDirStat: I right-clicked on CapabilityAccessManager folder and hit 'delete', and it just sat there. Did it again, nothing. Right-click and choose open in explorer, then right click and hit delete. This time it comes up with a box saying "you don't have permission even with administrator privileges, click 'advanced' for more options". Anyway, went round and round with that silly permission box clicking this or that or the other until finally I was able to delete the darn thing - do not ask what I clicked on or selected because I absolutely cannot be sure what I did, but it finally disappeared from the WinDirStat window - I think I had to close and reopen WinDirStat in order for it to work.
Anyway, ran Settings/System/Storage and it now shows 73GB free when prior to this it showed 159MB free...
All I have to add to all this is I wonder what idiot/fool/&*@$&!!! put this darn CapabilityAccessManager piece of <> software out there - we all are told to worry about viruses and other malware (for good reason) invading our computers and then there's this thing which is a deliberate addition to our operating systems... makes you wonder, doesn't it?
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AI answer
2026-03-23T21:16:11.2+00:00 Large “System & reserved” usage in Windows 11 is typically caused by a combination of:
- Windows Update files and previous Windows installations
- Temporary files (including Windows Update temp files)
- System restore points / shadow copies
- OneDrive or user data stored on C: but not visible in normal folders
Since Disk Cleanup and DISM had little effect, use the built‑in storage tools in this order on each PC:
- Check what is actually using space
- Select Start > Settings > System > Storage.
- Wait for the scan to complete and review each category (Apps, Temporary files, System & reserved, OneDrive, etc.).
- Note which category is unusually large.
- Use Storage Sense / Cleanup recommendations
- In Settings > System > Storage, turn on Storage Sense.
- Use Cleanup recommendations (if available) to remove:
- Temporary files
- Large or unused files
- Files already synced to OneDrive
- Unused apps
- Free up drive space with Disk Cleanup (system files)
Disk Cleanup can remove old Windows installations and update files that may be counted under System.
- In the taskbar search box, type disk cleanup, then open it.
- Select the system drive (usually C:), then OK.
- Select Clean up system files, choose the same drive, then OK.
- After it recalculates, select:
- Windows Update Cleanup
- Temporary files
- Previous Windows installation(s) (if listed – note this permanently removes the ability to roll back to the previous version)
- Select OK > Delete files.
- Check for Temp folder issues (Windows 11)
If the Temp folder is filling rapidly (often due to Microsoft Store .appx files), it can indirectly drive up System usage.
- Reset Microsoft Store:
- Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters > Windows Store Apps > Run.
- Clear Store cache:
- Press Windows key + R, type
wsreset.exe, select OK.
- Press Windows key + R, type
- Reset Windows Update:
- Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters > Windows Update > Run.
- Restart the PC and recheck Storage usage.
- Reset Microsoft Store:
- Move user data off the system drive
If user profiles or OneDrive content are on C: and large, move data rather than relying only on cleanup:
- Connect a secondary drive or ensure a data drive is available.
- Move large personal folders (Documents, Pictures, Videos, etc.) to another drive.
- Configure new files to save elsewhere:
- Start > Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Where new content is saved.
- Change locations for documents, music, pictures, and videos to another drive.
- Turn on OneDrive Files On‑Demand (if OneDrive is used)
To reduce local footprint of cloud files:
- Enable OneDrive Files On‑Demand so only placeholders are stored locally and full files stay in the cloud.
- Last resort: reset or reinstall Windows If System & reserved remains hundreds of GB after cleanup and data offload, and Storage details do not show where the space is going, a reset or reinstall may be required to reclaim space. For persistent low‑disk‑space issues, see the reinstall guidance referenced in the documentation.
For each machine, repeat the steps and compare which category is consuming the bulk of space. Focus cleanup on that category (Temporary files, Previous Windows installations, OneDrive‑synced content, or user data).
References:
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