Microsoft to Reserve 7GB of Disk Space for Windows 10 Updates

Ahead of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, if the system doesn’t have enough space to install the update, Windows warns you and an error message saying “Windows needs more space” appears.

That happens because Windows doesn’t check if the device has enough space before initializing. And the solution of Microsoft is to manually delete unnecessary temporary files to make enough space for the update. However, this problem is more serious with little storage space. But now, to keep Windows 10 up-to-date and reliable, Microsoft wants about 7GB of the PC’s storage space.

Microsoft to Reserve 7GB of Storage for Updates

Microsoft will release Windows version 1903 with a new feature Reserved Storage that will keep around 7GB of disk space. To a large extent, this can help you to install system updates without firtly having to free up space on your devices.

Windows 10 V1903 will be Microsoft’s spring “semiannual channel” release, which is a new OS that may be coming in April 2019. Currently, the Reserved Storage feature is available for testing and it begins to roll out to Windows Insiders running Build 18298 or newer.

Availbility of Reserved Storage

According to Microsoft’s announcement, this new feature will be introduced automatically on machines that ship with version 1903 preinstalled or devices where V1903 was clean installed. And it is unnecessary to set anything up since this process will automatically run in the back graound.

Besides, the devices that are upgraded to version 1903 through the typical Windows 10 Update automatic upgrade process, known as in-place upgrades, will not get the new feature to enjoy 7GB of reserved stoage for Windows 10 updates.

In other words, you will only get the Reserved Storage feature if your system gains clean installed to Windows 10 version 1903 or purchase a new PC with Windows 10 1903 already installed.

And you can check the size of the reserved space on your system. Just navigate to search for Storage settings, click Show more categories, and hit System & reserved to see the size.

Control 7GB of Reserved Space

If the Reserved Storage feature is installed, it won’t be able to remove. But, you have some capabilities to reduce the amount of space reserved. This feature is helpful for the updates to existing applications and OS updates, which is done by storing tempoary installation files.

According to the annoucnement, on devices with reserved space, Windows Update will delete temporary& unneeded OS files first and use the full reserved area for PC to download and install an update, without freeing up any of your disk space, even when you have minimal free space.

If the update needs more space than is reserved, it will automatically use other avaialble free space. If that is insufficent, Windows will ask you to extend the disk space with an external storage device like a USB stick or show you how to free up disk space.

Although the feature can’t be removed, Micrsooft classes it as an optional feature. And you can view it by going to Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features.

To reduce the reserved space, you can delete any of unwanted optional applications. Additionally, you can delete the installed languages that are not needed on a Windows 10 PC to reduce the space needed by the Reserved Storage feature.

Final Words

As mentioned above, Windows 10 Version 1903 will have 7GB of reserved storage for Windows 10 updates, and now this new feature is in the test. If you want to enable it on your PC, you need to run Windows 10 Insider Build 18298 or newer.

Actually, the feature is hidden for now, but you can enable it by using Registry Editor and it will light up after upgrading your PC to the next available build. The 7GB of reserved space is useful for most of you. However, if your PC has just 64GB of storage or less, some problems may occur.

According to Microsoft, it may adjust the size of reserved storage in the future based on diagnostic data or feedback.