C: being saturated by Windows Update sofware

Question

The latest Windows Update software saturates my C:. Despite having cleaned it only 9 Go remain available on top of 246 Go . I can't even get any document printed.

Can you help finding applications to erase ?

Thanks and regards,

Jacques Doremus

(Personal information was removed by Moderator)

Answer 1

Hello Jacques,

Thank you for posting question on Microsoft Windows Forum!

Based on the issue description. It is highly likely of that your C: drive is being heavily consumed by leftover Windows Update files and possibly large applications. When your drive is that full, Windows struggles to manage "spooling" files (which might explains why you can not print) and "swap" files, which slows everything down to a crawl.

The suggestion here is to use Windows Built-in tools to find the actual space-hoggers. Sometimes it is not apps, but hidden system backups or temp files. Go to Settings > System > Storage. This gives you a breakdown of what is taking up space (Apps, Temporary files, Other). Also, click on "Cleanup recommendations" in that same menu. Windows will identify large or unused files and old Windows installation files (the Windows.old folder), which can often be 20–40 GB.

Please be aware: Deleting Windows.old means you can not roll back to the previous version. Before removing apps. Double-check you do not need them for work and always back up important documents before major cleanups.

Hope the provided information is helpful! If it is. It is appreciated to consider clicking "Accept Answer".

Answer 2

To free up space on your C: drive, you can consider the following methods:

1. Uninstall Unused Applications: Go through your installed programs and remove any that you no longer use. You can do this by going to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and selecting the applications you wish to uninstall.
2. Disk Cleanup: Use the Disk Cleanup tool to remove temporary files and other unnecessary items. You can search for "Disk Cleanup" in the Start menu, select your C: drive, and choose the types of files you want to delete.
3. Clear Windows Update Files: Sometimes, Windows Update files can take up a lot of space. You can manually delete the contents of the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder to clear out old update files. However, be cautious and ensure that you are not deleting files that are currently in use.
4. Optimize the WinSxS Folder: You can run the command Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup in the Command Prompt with administrative privileges to clean up the WinSxS folder, which can grow large over time.
5. Temporary Files: Check and delete files in the C:\Windows\temp folder and C:\Windows\cbstemp folder if they are not needed.
6. Compact the Operating System: You can also run the command Compact.exe /CompactOS:always to reduce the size of the operating system files.
7. Remove Old Windows Versions: If you have upgraded Windows, you may have old versions stored. These can be removed using the Disk Cleanup tool by selecting "Previous Windows installations".

By following these steps, you should be able to free up space on your C: drive and resolve the issues caused by the saturation of space due to Windows Update software.

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References:

• Troubleshoot Windows Update error code 0x80070070
• Prepare to deploy Windows
• Windows 10 upgrade quick fixes