How to clean up V drive on Window 11

Windows often reports “Installed apps” much higher than the visible app list because that category can include hidden app data, Microsoft Store apps, old installers, shared runtimes, game launchers, and app folders that do not show clearly in Settings.

Here’s how to find what is eating your C drive.

1. Check hidden app data

A lot of “app storage” is actually here:

C:\Users<your name>\AppData\Local

C:\Users<your name>\AppData\Roaming

To see it:

Open File Explorer.

Go to your user folder.

Click View > Show > Hidden items.

Open AppData.

Look for large folders.

Common space users include:

AppData\Local\Temp

AppData\Local\Packages

AppData\Local\Google

AppData\Local\Microsoft

AppData\Roaming\Adobe

AppData\Roaming\Microsoft

2. Run Windows cleanup tools

Go to:

Settings > System > Storage

Then open:

Temporary files

You can usually safely remove:

Temporary files

Recycle Bin

Windows Update Cleanup

Delivery Optimization Files

Thumbnails

DirectX Shader Cache

Be careful with:

Downloads

Only select Downloads if you really want to delete those files.

Also run:

Disk Cleanup

Then choose:

Clean up system files

3. Check for old Windows update files

Windows updates can take many GB.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

This can reduce the size of the Windows component store.

4. Check hibernation file

Windows may reserve several GB for hibernation.

To disable hibernation, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

powercfg -h off

This removes:

C:\hiberfil.sys

Do this only if you do not use Hibernate or Fast Startup.

5. Check system restore points

System Restore can use a lot of space.

Go to:

Control Panel > System > System Protection

Select C drive, click Configure, and check Disk Space Usage.

You can reduce the maximum usage or delete old restore points.

6. Use PowerShell to find largest folders

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run this:

Get-ChildItem C:\ -Force -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |

ForEach-Object {

$size = (Get-ChildItem $_.FullName -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |

    Measure-Object Length -Sum).Sum

[PSCustomObject]@{

    Folder = $_.FullName

    SizeGB = "{0:N2}" -f ($size / 1GB)

}

} | Sort-Object {[double]$_.SizeGB} -Descending | Select-Object -First 20

This may take a while, but it will show the largest top-level folders.

File Explorer is not very good at showing where the space on your drive is being used, because it does not show the size of folders and there are many hidden files and folders on the C drive.

Download the free TreeSize app from the Microsoft Store.

Very Important - to run TreeSize, you must right click its icon and choose Run as Administrator.

Please provide a screenshot of your C drive in that TreeSize utility, so I can see your hard drive and work out where that space is being used and if there is an underlying problem.

Please ensure the full TreeSize window is in the screenshot, there is information on the top and bottom bars I needs to see.