Freeing up hard drive space in Windows 10
- Palak Chauhan
To check the total disk space left on your Windows 10 device, select File Explorer from the taskbar, and then select This PC on the left. The available space on your drive will appear under Devices and drives. The Windows 11 installation requires 20-30 GB of free space.
Free up space on your device
Select Start > Settings > System > Storage to see how space is currently being used.
Select Cleanup recommendations, choose files you don't need from Temporary files, then select Clean up. Typically, cleaning up the Recycle Bin and Downloads is a good place to start.
To free up more space, if needed, clean up files you don't need from Large or unused files, and Unused apps.
If you still need more space try the steps below to ‘Clear the Teams cache’ and ‘Remove local OneDrive files’.
Clear the Teams Cache
Classic Teams:
If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon on the taskbar, and then select Quit.
Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows logo key +R.
In the Run dialog box, enter the following path, and then select OK: %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams
Delete all files and folders in the directory.
Restart Teams.
New Teams:
If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon on the taskbar, and then select Quit.
Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows logo key +R.
In the Run dialog box, enter the following path, and then select OK: %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams
Delete all files and folders in the directory.
Restart Teams.
Remove local OneDrive files (without deleting them from OneDrive itself)
Launch the OneDrive app.
Click on the cog wheel.
Head to Settings > Sync and back up.
Expand the Advanced settings menu.
From the Files On-Demand section, click the Free up disk space option.
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Contact the IST Service Desk online or 519-888-4567 ext. 44357.
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