C: drive getting tight before 26H2? Here's how to track down the space hogs
Windows 11 26H2 is currently in the final stages before its public rollout, and Microsoft is delivering it as an enablement package for supported recent Windows 11 versions. Even though this isn't a full OS reinstall, Windows still needs enough free space to complete updates. Microsoft says feature updates typically need 6–11 GB or more of available storage, depending on the device and update.
If your C: drive is already getting tight, now is probably a good time to see what's actually taking up the space.
Open Settings > System > Storage and check what's actually taking up your C: drive.
Temporary files are an obvious place to start, but also check:
- Large apps and games
- Downloads
- Videos and other personal files
- Old Windows/update files
If you've cleaned everything you can and C: is still full, check your partition layout. You might have plenty of unused space on the same disk, just not where Windows needs it.
We broke down the cleanup steps and the partition-side options here:
https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/not-enough-space-to-upgrade-to-26h2.html
If you want to check everything in one place, EaseUS Partition Master has a Clean feature that combines several cleanup tools.
Here's how it works:
Open EaseUS Partition Master and select Clean.
Use Space Analysis to see what's taking up the most space.
Scan for unnecessary junk files and remove what you don't need.
Check for large or unwanted applications and uninstall them.
If you have supported large apps or files on C:, use Data Migration to move them to another drive, such as D:.
Check your available C: drive space again after cleanup.
The useful part is that you can start by finding the space hogs first, instead of guessing which files are safe to delete.
Posted Sep 29, 2026, 9:16 AM UTC