How Much Space Does Windows 11 Take up on Your Disk?

Have you ever wondered how much space does Windows 11 take on your disk? Prior to installing a new operating system on your PC or laptop, it does make sense to have an idea about the disk space the OS is gonna take up. In fact, the question is very relevant especially for those who use only SSD as their storage media. For a new Laptop or PC, nowadays everyone prefers an SSD to HDD because of their obvious speed concerns. But as it turns out, SSD won’t give much room for storage as HDD does.

So, if you are really bothered about the space requirements, then you need to know how big is Windows 11. Unless you have a lot of space in your storage media, you may end up facing storage issues if you run an OS that doesn’t leave enough space to work. To avoid such issues, it needs to make sure that you have a sufficient amount of space on your disk.

How Much Space Does Windows 11 Take

When you are going to install windows 11 setup on your desktop or laptop it takes about 27 GB of space.

When we dig deep into this, when Windows 11 was released for the first time, it took even less amount of space than Windows 10. ie., 16GB for 32 bit and 20 GB for 64 bit (for both SSD and HDD). This doesn’t mean that they have removed some existing features.

Although you need only around 27 GB at the time of installation of Windows 11, over the time when you install updates regularly ut will eat up more space on your disk and become bulky. Whatever the update you receive, try leaving some extra space in the partition where you install the OS.

You may also like: Install Windows 11 without TPM

Back in the day, when Windows 10 was released it took up only 20 GB of space on my Laptop (64 bit) at the time of installation. But today it takes almost 32 GB. And this applies to the 32-bit version also.

How Much Storage Do I Need on My Windows 11 Laptop

As explained above, you need at least 27 GB for the x64 version at the time of a fresh installation. You need to give a space allowance for the updates coming in the future. So it turns out to be 35GB at least. But still, you need some extra gigabytes of memory space in order to run Windows 11 properly on your laptop.

In light of our experience of using several versions of Windows in both 32 and 64-bit systems, we highly recommend you keep at least 64 GB of space for 32 bit and 128GB for 64 bit systems in the installation drive. Remember as you start using the OS, it will take up some extra memory for storing your personal files like documents, photos, etc.

Also, another thing is that you should never fully load it with data. Keep at least 10-15% of the partition free. This helps you run the OS without any hassles. The most common this that you are gonna face is a system hang in case of a space shortage. So, always leave some free space in the drive where you install the OS.

How to Free up Disk Space

If you want to upgrade to Windows 11 with low disk space, there are some quick workarounds to get it done without any problems. In this section, we’ll show you how to free up disk space after installing Windows 11.

1. Delete Windows.old

If you were using an old version of Windows in your system, there is a high chance of having a “Windows.old” folder created after the installation of Windows 11. This folder is actually a backup of your old Windows settings that may come in handy in case the new OS gets corrupted for some reason.

Also, this folder takes up a considerable amount of space on your drive. If everything goes right with your current installation of Windows 11, you no longer may require the “Windows.old” folder and you can delete it to free up some disk space.

If you want to delete it, the folder will be residing in the partition where you installed Windows 11. Go there and delete it. But remember one thing, only delete this folder if you really need to free up some space. Otherwise, it’s not recommended to delete.

2. Turn off the Hibernation

One of the coolest features of Windows is having a hibernation state that allows you to quickly revert to an active state from the hibernation. However, this feature demands some space on your drive. Thinking how?

This feature makes use of a  file named “hiberfil.sys” in which the primary settings of your system are stored. This is the file that helps your system to quickly turn back to the active mode. As this file have some information, it takes up some space. Another thing is that it also depends on the amount of RAM on your system. If you use more RAM, the size of the file will be higher.

So, turning off the hibernation is a quick workaround to save some space on your disk.

3. Remove the Bloatware

Bloatware is always a headache whether it is a PC or smartphone. Once you install a Windows OS, you will be welcomed with a multitude of bloatware applications that we may not use in our lifetime! Examples of some common bloatware are Music, Sport, Weather, Money, etc.

So, if you want to free up space, consider deleting these pre-installed applications. Although it will take some time to do this, do it and will be worth it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some FAQs and the answers regarding the storage requirements of Windows 11 on a PC or laptop.

1. How many GB does Windows 11 take up?

A fresh installation of Windows 11 will takes up about 27 GB of space. Most of these constitute the systems file and some reserved files along with 1 GB for pre-installed applications that come with Windows 11.

2. How much space does Windows 11 take on an SSD?

When you are going to install windows 11 setup on your SSD it takes 27 GB Space.

3. How much space does Windows 11 take 64 bit?

For a 64 bit system, you will need around 27GB of storage space to install Windows 11.

4. Is 128GB enough for Windows 11?

Yes, 128GB space is more than enough for 64 bit Windows 11 versions. At the time of initial install, the 64-bit system needs only 27GB. So a 128GB SSD or HDD space will be perfect for installing Windows 11.

5. Can I install Windows 11 on old laptop?

Yes, you can. But make sure that your laptop can meet the minimum Windows 11 system requirements before proceeding with the installation. You can refer to our guide to know how to bypass TPM requirement to install Windows 11.

6. Which Windows 11 version is best for old laptop?

Actually, any version of Windows 11 can work on your laptop as long as it has at least 4GB RAM and other minimum requirements.

7. What are the minimum requirements for Windows 11?

To know the minimum requirements for Windows 11, click on the link to read our dedicated article for that.

8. How much space does Windows 10 take up on Mac?

Your Mac will require at least 4GB of RAM (4GB recommended) and at least 30GB of hard disk space to properly run a Windows 11 OS using the Boot Camp. Apart from that, you will need at least an 8GB flash drive to create a Windows 11 bootable USB or other bootable media.

But before that make sure your Mac can actually run a Windows OS. You can verify it by going through the system requirements.

Final Words

As Windows 11 does not demands high storage requirements, you can install the OS on your old low-end machines too. But if you are really short of memory, you need to try our tips to free up the space to ensure the smooth running of your system.

Anyways, hope that we answered your question – how much space does Windows 11 take up on your disk. If you still have any queries or doubts feel free to ask us via comments. We’ll be more than happy to help you out.