Reclaim disk space after installing Windows 10 November update

By now the Windows 10 November update must have rolled out to all and you must have already updated your system with this November update. If you haven’t yet updated with this update, do it as provides significant addtions.

 

Reclaim ~15-25 GB disk space after Nov update install:

Here is a smal tip if you have installed the November update. As said, this Novemebr update to Windows 10 is quite significant and it not only adds new features but also leaves lots of update files taking up quite a lot of your disk space. This is because this update installs as if it is a fresh version of Windows 10. So its upto you that you want to reclaim disk space or use it as it is. If you are removing those files, remember that you will NOT be able to rollback to previous version. So befor reclaiming the disk space, ensure everthing is working fine and you do not want to go back to previous version.

So better to use the system for few days after installing November update then reclaim the disk space. So to clear all those WIndows old files, we will be using the usual Disk Clean up utility. If you havn’t used this utility, here’s how it’s done.

• From the Cortana/Search, just type Disk cleanup and in the search result, it will list the Desktop app Disk CLeanup. Right click on it and run as administrator and select the C drive, the drive on which Windows is installed. And it will list all the files that can be deleted. Among it will be ‘Previous Windows installation(s) files, Temporary Windows Installations files. These 2 will be major ones contributing to file size. For me, they were ~15 GB. But many users had even 20-25 GB cleared .

  So select these 2 and others and press OK.

• This will warn you before deleting. So, ensure that you do not want to go back to previous Windows installation that is to previous version of Windows before the November update.

  click on “yes’ and you’ll have this huge chunk of disk space available back to you.

EDIT: Also as some users said that they are not getting November update, this could be because:

If it’s been less than 31 days since you upgraded to Windows 10, you won’t get the November update right away; this will allow you to go back to your previous version of Windows if you choose. After the 31 days have passed, your PC will automatically download the November update.