I have a serious problem with disk space on my laptop (a Medion Erazer), since the size of the Windows folder just keeps growing for no apparent reason.
Currently, it is at 41.9GB, which is three times as large as the Windows Folder on my desktop PC (I use Windows 10 pro on both). Is there a reason for this? And is there anything I can do about it?
I have identified the main space sinks as being the folders System32/DriverStore (17,8 GB), Software Distribution (6,8 GB), and WinSxS (4,4 GB), and of these only the WinSxS folder is anywhere near as big on my desktop PC.
I have already tried uninstalling old drivers from the driver store, which reduced the size of the DriverStore folder by 3GB, but it's still bigger than my entire Windows folder on my desktop PC.
What is causing this extreme bloat? And is there anything I can do about it?
Best Answer
Software Distribution folder
The Software Distribution folder is used by Windows Update for downloading updates before they are installed. From its size, it seems to contain an entire Windows version.
I suggest to check in Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update if you see "You're up to date". Even so, click on "Check for updates" to verify that nothing is pending.
If no updates are pending, you may clear it up, this way:
Start an elevated Command Prompt (cmd) and enter the commands:
Reboot Windows and wait a day or two. If no harmful effects arrive, you may delete the backup folder
SoftwareDistribution.bak
.DriverStore folder
This folder contains device driver packages that are ready to be installed. It also contains old versions of drivers that might be used to roll-back updated drivers.
It is best to let Windows manage this folder. But if it becomes too large, it can be cleaned up.
cleanmgr.exe
The above method will likely be insufficient to remove most of this folder. Removing more data will need to be done one driver after another with extreme caution.
You need first to make a list of all drivers using
pnputil.exe /e > c:\drivers.txt
. To delete all unnecessary drivers use the commandpnputil.exe /d oemNN.inf
, whereoemNN.inf
is found in the list.Be very cautious when doing that, and boot for Windows to restore drivers wrongly deleted. Roll back to the saved System Restore point in case of an unrecoverable error.