Microsoft has released Windows 11 on October 5, 2021. You can get Windows 11 since then. If you want to install the newest version of Windows, your device should meet the basic system and hardware requirements for Windows 11.
What Windows 11 needs and what Microsoft requires to install Windows 11 are two different things. The Windows 11 storage requirement is 64GB. While Microsoft’s Windows 11 requirements page warns us, «Additional storage space might be required to download updates».
How Much Space Does Windows 11 Take on Your Disk?
How big is Windows 11? Does this mean that the Windows 11 size is 64 GB? The answer is no. This minimum disk space requirement is to better ensure the operation of Windows 11.
Situation 1. You Have Installed Windows 11 Directly (Clean Install)
A clean install only installs Windows 11 on your device and it will remove all files, settings, and apps on your computer. Thus, the disk space on your drive that Windows 11 takes up is the most accurate one. To check Windows 11 size:
Step 1. Click «Start» and go to «Settings».
Step 2. Go to «System > Storage > Show more categories» to see the disk usage. Details are as follows:
| Option | Size |
| System & reserved | 20.2GB |
| Apps & features | 3.67GB |
| Temporary files | 26.5MB |
| Other | 4.44MB |
| OneDrive | 4.00KB |
The total size is about 24.21GB.
To check the system information, you can click «System & reserved» to see the specific situations.
| Options | Size |
| The system files | 11.4GB |
| The reserved storage | 7.25GB |
| The virtual memory | 1.50GB |
You can also click «Apps & features» to see which apps and features are pre-installed on your computer and their sizes.
The different computer has different Windows 11 sizes. Although it is not sure of the exact GB of Windows 11, there is a general statement: a clean installation of Windows 11 will take up about 27 GB of space on a C drive.
Situation 2. You Have Upgraded to Windows 11
Things could be different if you upgrade your computer to Windows 11 from Windows 10 or another Windows version. The Windows 11 size could change. Go to Start > Settings > Storage > Show more categories to see the disk usage:
- System & reserved: 36.0GB
- Apps & features: 22.5GB
- Temporary files: 4.11GB
- Other: 2.63GB
System & reserved
- System files: 32.7GB
- Virtual memory: 258MB
- System restore: 2.94GB
How much space is Windows 11 (upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10)? The total size is bigger than 64GB. The Windows 11 size is not a fixed number. It can be different from computer to computer.
How to Free Up Windows 11 Disk Space
What’s eating up Windows 11 disk space? How to speed up Windows 11 with effective solutions? You are going to learn at least five ways to free up disk space.
5 Ways to Free Up Disk Space in Windows 11?
It’s always important to make sure that your disk doesn’t run out of space. Follow the solutions below to free up disk space in Windows 11.
How to Recover Lost/Deleted Files in Windows 11
In case you lost files due to deleting, formatting, virus attack, system upgrade, or system crash, you can get back these files easily with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. As long as these files are not overwritten by new data, you can restore them with data recovery software.
- Get back data from Windows 11/10/8/7 with simple steps.
- Repair MP4 files, JPG/JPEG, PNG, BMP photos, and Word/Excel documents.
- Restore data from external/internal hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, and more.
Download and install this data recovery software to recover lost data from Windows 11.
Note: To guarantee a high data recovery chance, install EaseUS data recovery software on another disk instead of the original disk where you lost files.
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7 computer. Select the disk partition or storage location where you lost data and click «Search for Lost Data».
Step 2. This recovery software will start scanning the disk to find all lost and deleted files. When the scan process completes, click «Filter» > «Type» to specify lost file types. If you remember the file name, you can also search in the search box, which is the fastest way to find the target file.
Step 3. Preview and restore lost Windows files. You can double-click to preview the scanned files. Then, select the target data and click the «Recover» button to save them to another safe spot in the PC or Cloud drive.
Conclusion
If you’re upgrading directly from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the download size is about 3.5 GB. And, you need to make sure that you have at least 64GB of free space. If you install Windows 11 using an .ISO file, plan on having 25 GB of free space at least. Besides, if your Windows 11 is running slow, you can free up space to speed it up. If you have data loss problems during the process, run EaseUS data recovery software to recover the permanently deleted files in Windows 11.
People who want to upgrade to or perform a clean installation of Windows 11 have a growing concern about how much space its setup takes on your hard drive/SSD. We understand where they are coming from, since most users like to install the operating system on their SSDs (because they are faster), which are usually 128 or 256 GB in size, leaving little space for other things.
This post discusses the actual storage space occupied by the different Windows 11 editions, and how you can reduce it if required.
Table of Contents
Windows 11 Storage Requirement Versus Actual Consumed Space
Microsoft has announced minimum hardware requirements for installing Windows 11 on a physical PC or a Virtual Machine (VM). This requires users to have at least 64 GB of storage space. This means their boot drive (usually C drive) needs to be at least 64 GB.
However, this does not mean that Windows 11 takes up that entire amount, i.e. 64 GB. Microsoft has announced the amount due to two main reasons.
While installing Windows 11, it does not necessarily mean it will only take up the amount of storage space you see at the installation. Rather, a lot of data needs to be moved around and duplicated, especially when you upgrade from an older version of Windows.
Another reason for leaving significant free space is to allow room for other apps, programs, and Windows updates to be installed, so that you can use the operating system, and not just have it installed.
Storage Space Utilization with Different Windows 11 Editions
As you would already know, Windows 11 comes in different editions, each with its own unique features and support. That said, each of these editions takes up different storage space on your hard drive.
Furthermore, the footprint depends on whether you have performed a clean installation of Windows 11 or upgraded from an older version. If you upgraded from an older version, Windows retains the older version for the next 10 days in case you wish to revert to it.
Here is a summary of the space Windows 11 editions take up on your hard drive after a clean install:
| Windows 11 Edition | Space Consumed (GBs) |
| Professional | 20.9 |
| Home | 20.1 |
| Education | 20.5 |
| Enterprise | 20.2 |
Here are the insights on each of these editions.
Windows 11 Professional
The Professional Edition for Windows 11 includes some features and programs which the other editions don’t, therefore it can be considered a significantly heavier edition. That said, while testing out fresh installations for different editions of Windows, we discovered that all editions take up 21GB of space.
Windows 11 Home
The Home edition is the operating system with the least features and capabilities (with the exception of S mode). However, it also took up just over 20GB of space.
Windows 11 Education
The Education Edition took up relatively less space than the Professional Edition, but more than the Home Edition, as its footprint was nearly 20.5GB.
The difference is primarily because it is designed for students in the education industry and does not require all the tools that a working professional does, but requires more than a regular home user.
Windows 11 Enterprise
Windows 11 Enterprise offers more features than the professional edition. However, many of them need to be activated, which also requires Windows to download. Without those, with a basic Windows 11 Enterprise installation, the footprint was up to 20.2GB, negligibly more than the Home edition.
Apart from these editions, Microsoft also releases Windows 11 S Mode. S Mode is optimized for security and performance, where it restricts the installation of applications, both third-party and Microsoft Store, significantly reducing the size for the installation.
If you are concerned about the storage space on your PC for Windows 11, you can reduce the size of the system files so the installation consumes less space. This can be achieved before, after, or during the installation of Windows 11.
How to Reduce Windows 11 Install Size Before Installation
If you would like to remove the bloatware (the apps and programs that you do not plan on using) from the Windows 11 ISO file, you can do so using “streamlining.” Using this technique, you can remove the files and folders within an ISO image associated with a feature, reducing the size of the recreated ISO file and the actual installation for Windows 11.
We have discussed the streamlining process in another post using which you can remove Windows components from ISO images using MSMG Toolkit.
Once the bloatware has been removed, you can proceed to install Windows 11 using the new ISO image which will reduce the installation footprint.
How to Reduce Windows 11 Install Size During Installation
Another way to reduce the installation size for Windows 11 is at the time you install it. Users will see the Out of Box Experience (OOBE) screens while setting up a computer for the first time. This includes various screens where the user can back up OneDrive, configure keyboard layouts, etc.
At this point, if a user chooses not to back up their OneDrive, this will reduce the size of the Windows 11 installation by exactly the size of your OneDrive.
However, not choosing to install/configure other components will still install them, but they will not be activated. Therefore, they do not affect the installation size.
How to Reduce Windows 11 Install Size After Installation
Once you have already installed Windows 11, it is still not too late to free up some space and make room for other apps and programs.
Delete Old Windows Folder
If you have upgraded from an older version of Windows to Windows 11, your system likely retains a Windows.old folder, consuming significant space in the boot volume. You can free up that space by deleting the said folder. However, bear in mind that you will not be able to roll back to the previous OS version once the Windows.old folder is deleted.
Perform the below steps to remove Windows.old folder:
- To delete the folder, you will need to enable viewing of hidden folders in File Explorer. Launch the Explorer, click the ellipses (3 dots) from the top, and then click Options from the expanded menu.
- From the Folder Options window, switch to the View tab. From there, select the radio button “Show hidden files, folders, and drives,” then uncheck the box next to “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).” At this point, you will see a confirmation box, click Yes, then click Apply and Ok.
- Now, navigate to system volume (usually C drive) using File Explorer. From there, you shall see the Windows.old folder. Right-click on it and then click Delete from the context menu to remove this folder.
Alternatively, you can also remove the Windows.old folder using the Settings app. Navigate to the following:
Settings app >> System >> Storage >> Cleanup Recommendations
If you have a Windows.old folder, the app will recommend you to “Previous Windows installation(s).” Check the box beside it, and then click Clean up.
Disable Hibernation Mode
The hibernation mode in Windows puts the computer to sleep while maintaining all of your open data in a file called “hiberfil.sys.” This hidden file is stored in the boot drive, and disabling the hibernation mode automatically removes the file.
The image below shows the size of the hiberfil.sys file on our PC:
Disabling this feature would automatically create almost 16 GB of free disk space on our boot drive.
To disable hibernation, launch the Command Prompt with administrative privileges and then paste the following command:
powercfg -h off
You will now find that some disk space has been freed up in the boot drive.
Shrink/Disable Pagefile
Pagefile is another hidden system file whose purpose is to compensate for any shortages of RAM. Occasionally, the data in your system’s memory takes refuge in the Pagefile, which is on your storage drive (volume C), which subsequently takes up significant space.
Although we do not suggest that you disable Pagefile entirely, since it is an important feature that contributes to the normal functionality of the operating system, it can still be done if necessary.
You can determine the optimal Pagefile size and then use the guide below to set it up or disable it entirely.
- Navigate to the following:
Settings >> System >> About - Now scroll down and click Advanced System Settings in the Related Links section.
- In the System properties window, switch to the Advanced tab and then click Settings under Performance.
- In the Performance Options window, switch to Advanced tab, and then click Change under Virtual memory.
- In the Virtual Memory window, uncheck the box next to “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.” Once done, you should now select Custom size and then enter the minimum and maximum values for the Pagefile size.
Alternatively, you can select the No paging file radio button to disable the feature entirely. Click Set and Ok when done. - Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
Perform Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup is a built-in feature in Windows 11 that wipes out any unnecessary data the system no longer requires, automatically. You can perform the steps below on the system volume:
- Open File Explorer, then right-click on the boot volume. Click Properties from the context menu.
- From the Properties window, click Disk Cleanup.
- From the Disk Cleanup window, check all the boxes under Files to delete, and then click Clean up system files.
- In the next window, check all the file boxes under Files to delete them again, and then click Ok.
- You will now be prompted for a confirmation. Click Delete Files.
- The deletion process will now begin and should only take a moment. When finished, close the Properties window.
You will now have created significant free space, reducing the footprint of Windows 11 itself.
Closing Words
The installation sizes for the different editions of Windows 11 are given in this post through VMs. Operating systems have also been updated with recent Windows 11 updates, so we pass on accurate information to our readers.
However, we do not recommend using the minimum storage space to run Windows 11 on your computer, as you will need more space in the future and your operating system will not work at its optimal performance.
Furthermore, you may see almost twice the footprint of Windows 11 (almost 40 GB) if you have upgraded from an older OS. You can remove the previous version using the method given in this post to delete Windows.old folder.
Alex Photo Stock/Shutterstock
Windows 11 has come a long way since its launch, and with support for Windows 10 ending on October 14, 2025, you may be considering upgrading to Microsoft’s latest operating system. Before making the switch, though, you’ll need to ensure your computer meets the system requirements for Windows 11. One key factor to consider is the amount of storage the OS needs to store its system files. This is especially important if you have a laptop with only 256 GB or 512 GB of internal storage.
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According to Microsoft, your computer needs at least 64 GB of storage space to install Windows 11. However, the exact amount of storage space the operating system will use depends on whether you’re performing a clean installation or upgrading from Windows 10. Below, we’ll explain how much storage you can expect Windows 11 to use in each scenario.
Windows 11’s storage requirements can vary
Pankil Shah/SlashGear
A clean installation of Windows 11 typically uses less storage space because it doesn’t have any leftover files or system clutter from previous installations. On average, a clean install of Windows 11 takes up around 27 GB for system files and about 3 GB for preinstalled apps. However, this is not a fixed number, which is why Microsoft recommends at least 64 GB of available storage. Interestingly, if you upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the OS can take more than 64 GB of storage.
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Keep in mind that this is just the initial amount of storage that Windows 11 occupies. As you continue installing newer updates, the storage footprint will gradually increase. There isn’t an exact number for how much additional space updates will take, as it changes based on several factors such as the version of Windows you’re upgrading from, which system files are reused, which apps are already installed on your PC, and more.
The good thing is that Windows 11 actively manages storage and will try to free up space automatically when installing updates. That said, you can also take steps to free up storage space manually on your PC. Uninstalling unwanted apps, running the built-in Disk Cleanup tool, and moving large files to the cloud storage services are all effective ways to reclaim space.
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If you want to install Windows 11, there should be enough disk space on your computer. Well then, how much space does Windows 11 take on your disk? This MiniTool article gives a general explanation of Windows 11 size. If your disk space is not enough, you can try the methods here to reclaim more space.
Windows 11 Official Release Date
Microsoft has announced the official release date of Windows 11: October 5, 2021. Windows 11 is upcoming. Do you expect it? While looking forward to it, you need to note whether your computer is eligible for Windows 11.
How Much Space Does Windows 11 Take on Your Disk?
If you want to install this new version of Windows, your device should meet the basic system and hardware requirements for Windows 11. Among these requirements, you may have noticed this one – Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device.
How big is Windows 11? Does this mean the Windows 11 size is 64 GB? Of course, not. So far, no Windows operating system has taken up such a large space. This minimum disk space requirement is to better ensure the operation of Windows 11.
How many GB is Windows 11? It is not a fixed number.
How much space does Windows 11 take? Now, let’s see two cases.
Case 1: Clean Install Windows 11
Cleaning install Windows 11 will remove all files, settings, and apps on your computer. It only installs Windows 11 on your device. So, the storage usage of drive C after Windows 11 clean install is the closest to the Windows 11 size.
Recently, I have upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 11 Home via a clean install. Now, let’s have a look at the storage usage of drive C.
Go to Start > Settings > Storage > Show more categories to see the disk usage. Details are as follows:
- System & reserved: 18.0 GB
- Apps & features: 2.78 GB
- Temporary files: 326 MB
- Other: 6.44 MB
- OneDrive: 4.00 KB
The total size is about 21.1 GB.
However, this doesn’t mean that the Windows 11 install size is 21.1 GB. It is just one case. If you clean install Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 Education on your computer, the situation will be different.
Now, let’s dig more:
System & reserved
You can click System & reserved to see the specific occupancy situations.
- The system files: 8.18 GB
- The reserved storage: 7.48 GB
- The virtual memory: 1.93 GB
- The hibernation file: 409 MB
Apps & features
You can click Apps & features to see which apps and features are pre-installed on your computer and their sizes.
Of course, you can also click on other options to see the details.
How many GB is Windows 11 (clean install)?
Although it is not sure of the exact GB of Windows 11, there is a general statement: a fresh installation of Windows 11 will take up about 27 GB of space on drive C. Most of the files are system files and system reserved files. Besides, Windows pre-installed apps take up about 3 GB of space.
Case 2: Upgrade to Windows 11
I upgrade my other computer to Windows 11 via Windows Update. Now, let’s use the same way to check the space usage of the C drive.
Under Storage usage:
- System & reserved: 36.0 GB
- Apps & features: 22.5 GB
- Temporary files: 4.11 GB
- Other: 2.63 GB
- Desktop: 1.02 GB
- Videos: 173 MB
- Maps: 1.83 MB.
- OneDrive: 1.19 MB.
- And more….
The total size is 69.7 GB.
System & reserved
- System files: 32.7 GB
- Virtual memory: 258 MB
- Hibernation file: 2.77 GB
- System restore: 2.94 GB
Apps & features
After clicking Apps & features, you can see all installed apps and features including Windows built-in ones and third-party software installed by yourself.
How many GB is Windows 11 (upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10)?
You see the value of this situation is not indicative. The total size is even bigger than 64 GB. Many factors can impact the amount of free space on C drive for upgrading to Windows 11:
- The Windows versions that were previously installed on your computer.
- The free space available from Windows files to reuse, such as the virtual memory page files and hibernation file.
- The apps that are installed on your machine.
- How installed apps store data.
Sum up
The Windows 11 install size is not fixed. In general, a fresh Windows 11 install can take up about 27 GB of space on your disk. But why Microsoft requires more for Windows 11 upgrade?
The Windows 11 requirement on disk space of 64 GB is to ensure a successful upgrade. After upgrading, temporary files, regular Windows update files, system restore files, and more will eat up more space. So, there should be enough space on the system drive.
How much space does Windows 11 take up on your computer? This article shows you the details.Click to Tweet
Free up More Space on C Drive before Upgrading to Windows 11
During the Windows 11 upgrade, Windows can automatically or guide you to free up enough space. However, you can also manually free up disk space if the C drive receives a low disk space warning.
You can refer to these two articles to release disk space on your Windows computer:
- What Can You Do When the C Drive Running out of Space?
- 10 Ways to Free up Disk Space in Windows 10
Free up Disk Space after Upgrading to Windows 11
After upgrading to Windows 11, you can also do something to release disk space for new data. Well then, how to free up disk space on Windows 11?
In addition to the disk cleanup methods mentioned in the above section, you can also try these operations:
Delete Previous Windows Installation(s)
After you upgrade your computer to Windows 11, the previous Windows system files will be kept for 10 days. Within these 10 days, you can downgrade to your previous Windows version if you want to. However, if you don’t plan to do this and you want to free up disk space by deleting these files, you can:
- Open Win+E to open File Explorer.
- Right-click C drive and select Properties.
- Click Disk Cleanup.
- Click Clean up system files.
- Find Previous Windows Installation(s) and select it.
- Click OK.
Delete Windows Update Cleanup
These files are the old Windows versions you have installed on your device. In general, these files are usually very large, which can reach up to several GB. If you are not planning to uninstall the Windows update, you can delete them using Disk Cleanup like deleting previous Windows Installation(s).
Disable Hibernation
When you see the storage usage in Settings > System > Storage, you can discover that the hibernation file occupies a large amount of space. What is it?
The hibernation file is the file created by your operating system when your device enters the Hibernation Mode. It let your computer sleep while maintaining your user state. If it takes up so much space, you can choose to delete it from your computer.
Uninstall Unnecessary Apps
Over time, you may install more and more programs on your computer. You can check whether these programs are all necessary for you and uninstall the unnecessary ones.
Remove Duplicate Files
You may don’t know that there are numerous duplicate files on your computer. You can use a professional tool to find and remove these duplicate files from your computer.
Extend C: Drive
If your C: partition still doesn’t have enough space after you take measures to free up disk space, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard, a partition manager, to extend its space by taking free space from another partition on the same disk. You can also set Storage Sense to automatically free up space on C: drive.
If your C drive is full after upgrading to Windows 11, you can use the methods mentioned in this article to release more disk space.Click to Tweet
How to Recover Your Lost and Deleted Files on Windows 11?
If some of your important files get lost unexpectedly in the process of cleaning up your computer or for some other reason, is it possible to get them back?
As long as these files are not overwritten by new data, you can use professional data recovery software to get them back. You can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery, a free file recovery tool.
This software is specially designed to restore lost and deleted files from data storage devices like internal hard drives, external hard drives, memory cards, SD cards, pen drives, thumb drives, etc. It can run on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7.
With the trial edition of this software, you can scan the drive you want to recover data from and check if your needed files are in the scan results. If you want to recover files with this software, you can update it to a full edition and directly recover all your needed files without limits.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
1. Download and install this software on your Windows 11 computer.
2. Open the software to enter its main interface.
3. This software shows you all the connected drives it can detect. You need to find out the target drive, hover it over, and click Scan to start scanning it.
4. When the scanning end, you can see the scan results are list by path by default. You can open each path to find your needed files. Or you can switch to Type to show them by type. If you can remember the name of the file you want to rescue, you can use the Find feature to locate it by name.
5. You can also preview files for confirmation. This software allows you to preview 70 types of files. You can double-click the file to preview it, or select the file and click Preview to preview it. But if it is the first time for you to use the Preview function in the Trial edition, you need to download the file previewer before previewing files.
6. You can’t use the trial edition to recover files. If you want to restore your files, you can go to the MiniTool official site to get a full edition and use the license key to register the software. After that, you can select your needed files and click the Save button to choose a proper location to save them. Remember: you should not select the original location as the destination to prevent data from being overwritten.
Wrapping Things up
How much space does Windows 11 take on your hard disk? After reading this article, you should have a general understanding of it. Before upgrading to Windows 11, you can clean up your computer hard disk to release more space. After the upgrade, you can also check if any files need to be removed to regain more space. Good computer cleaning-up habits can keep your computer performing better.
Should you have any other good suggestions or issues that need to be fixed, you can let us know in the comments or contact us via [email protected].
Several Windows users have reported problems upgrading to Windows 11 and it seems to be due to its space requirements.
Windows 11 was introduced in October 2021 and it came with a slew of new features for gamers and other elements like a redesigned Start menu or the ability to create a group of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar.
Before installing this OS, you should be aware of its pace requirements, since they will almost certainly be more than your prior operating system due to the added functionalities.
However, it should be noted that the computer space is not the only requisite for the installation of Windows 11.
The Windows 11 system requirements include a processor of 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC), 4GB RAM, and so on.
In this article, we’ll be discussing Windows 11’s space requirements and a few other reasons why your PC might not be compatible with this OS. Follow along!
What are some of Windows 11’s new features?
Windows 11 comes with a bound of new features which make its storage size larger than that of the subsequent Windows OS. The features on Windows 11 include:
- Newly designed Start menu and taskbar
The most obvious difference between Windows 10 and Windows 11 is the Start menu. On the former, the Start menu is anchored to the left-hand bottom of the screen but this has been changed with the latter.
Moreover, the Start menu has been moved to the center of the screen, just above the taskbar, which has also been redesigned to be at the center of the screen. However, Windows 11 only lets you pin the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.
- Multitasking features for developers and gamers mostly
Multitasking was added to Windows 11 to allow users to run many applications at the same time to increase productivity.
Also, do not hesitate to check out some gaming settings that you need to enable in order to ensure top graphics performance.
- Widgets that can be easily customized
As mentioned earlier, Windows 11 was created to better explore Windows OS on your PC. Most of the changes made are just an upgrade of what was on Windows 10.
On the Windows 11 taskbar, there is an option for Widget which shows a large panel of updates on weather, news, sport, and a lot more. Each of the widgets can be easily customized or even removed depending on the user’s discretion.
However, since the feature takes up a lot of space on the screen, you may choose to disable widgets in Windows 11.
What are Windows 11’s space requirements?
Knowing the Windows 11 disk space requirements beforehand is quite necessary to have a problem-free installation of the operating system.
Among other requirements, the OS needs an ample amount of space from your PC for it to be launched.
Windows 11’s minimum space requirements listed by Microsoft is 64GB. However, the installation actually takes something around 27GB depending on the edition you are installing.
Microsoft recommends 64GB mainly because installing an operating system requires a lot of space to move around, so it’s better to keep up with this requirement to get a better experience.
But the Windows 11 installation requirements page also says: Additional storage space might be required to download updates and enable specific features.
To see the Windows 10 vs Windows 11 space requirements check out the article linked. Note that it also includes a comparison between the system requirements as well.
How much space does Windows 11 take on SSD?
An average new Windows 11 installation will take up approximately 27 GB of disk space on your hard drive.
How come Microsoft, on the other hand, requires more for Windows 11 upgrade? The 64 GB of disk space needed for Windows 11 is necessary in order to assure a successful update.
How much space does Windows 11 take in C drive?
Although it is not known how many gigabytes of space Windows 11 will consume on drive C, a general generalization may be made: a fresh installation of Windows 11 will take up around 27 GB of space on drive C.
The vast majority of the files are system files or system reserved files in some way. Furthermore, the pre-installed applications on Windows take up approximately 3 GB of disk space.
How much RAM does Windows 11 take?
Microsoft is most likely correct in stating that 4 GB of RAM is required in the minimum specifications for Windows 11. Because, yes, it is the bare minimum requirement to be able to operate it.
Initial performance is excellent, but when you have 4 GB on your PC, you really can’t expect much more from it than that. You can only truly conduct light work on it before it becomes unable to even do the most basic system activities without crashing.
In order to have a truly enjoyable experience, 16 GB is definitely the optimal setting. While it enables you to open Chrome and a number of other programs at the same time.
You’ll likely find it difficult to achieve significant levels of utilization, at least at first. Check out the five best RAM cleaners and optimizers for Windows 11 before you buy an additional one.
How much space does Windows 11 Pro take?
Windows 11 Pro will also take around 30 GB of space. But it is recommended to have a minimum of 64 GB in order to be sure there is enough for additional updates and features added.
- 5 best Windows 11 business laptops [Portability & Storage]
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How much space does Windows 11 Home take up?
The size of the Windows 11 Home installation is not fixed. An average new Windows 11 Home installation will take up approximately 27 GB of disk space on your hard drive.
But, as before, 64 GB of disk space is necessary for Windows 11 Home, in order to ensure a successful update.
Why is my PC not compatible with Windows 11?
If you are trying to install Windows 11 on your computer but you keep on getting error messages saying This PC can’t run Windows 11, you might consider checking these things out:
- Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0
- UEFI, Secure Boot capable
Making sure these specifications are enabled can help or fix your Windows 11 not working.
There are several other reasons why the latest Windows OS is not compatible with your machine which include your PC not meeting up with Microsoft requirements for Windows 11.
As a result, it’s a good idea to check the official Microsoft website for Windows 11 prerequisites before attempting to install it on your computer. As long as the requirements are met, the procedure should be a breeze.
Can 4GB of RAM be enough for Windows 11?
The most technical answer to this question is yes. According to Microsoft’s requirements, 4GB RAM is the minimum needed to run Windows 11.
So, if you are using 2GB RAM, you can consider upgrading it to 4GB to be able to install this operating system on your PC.
Discover Windows 11’s PC Health Check app
PC Health Check can be used to know if your computer has all it takes to install Windows 11. To confirm if your device is compatible with the OS or figure out what’s causing the incompatibility of the computer with it, download the PC Health Check app and run it on your device.
If your computer isn’t compatible with the OS, you’ll get a pop-up message that says: This PC doesn’t currently meet Windows 11 system requirements.
Also, you will get a detailed report on the reasons why your PC can’t install Windows 11 and hopefully how to fix it. With this, you can be sure of why your PC isn’t running the operating system.
You’ll almost certainly run into issues if you try to install Windows 11 on an outdated computer because modern PCs are the ones that come equipped with the necessary characteristics to install Windows 11.
However, if the problem is fixable, you can easily go around it using the guidelines provided above. Let us know how the procedure went for you in the comments area below. Thanks for reading!