How to see what's taking up space on drive on Windows 11

On Windows 11, you can see what files are taking up space by opening Settings > System > Storage, which shows a breakdown of apps, temporary files, and system data.
For deeper analysis, you can use WinDirStat for a graphical view or the built-in DiskUsage command-line tool to list the largest files and folders. These tools help you quickly free up space and manage drive usage.

On Windows 11, if you are curious about what is taking up space on your computer, you can get a clear answer from the Storage settings.

The Storage feature is not only useful for freeing up space but also for analyzing the contents of your drive. It provides a breakdown of how your storage is being utilized, allowing you to quickly identify which files, apps, or system components are consuming the most space. Using this insight, you can determine what to remove and reclaim valuable storage space.

If your hard drive starts running low, Windows 11 also offers “Cleanup Recommendations,” a feature that highlights temporary files, unused apps, and other items you can safely delete to recover space fast.

For advanced users, additional options are available. You can run DiskUsage, a Microsoft command-line tool that provides a detailed analysis of storage usage directly from Command Prompt. Alternatively, you can turn to trusted third-party utilities like WinDirStat, which provide a visual map of your drive to help identify the files taking up the most space, allowing you to act accordingly.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to use different tools to understand your space usage on Windows 11.

Check what files are taking up space on Windows 11
Check what files are taking up space using WinDirStat
Check what files are taking up space with DiskUsage

Check what files are taking up space on Windows 11

To see what files are taking up space on the hard drive on Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Settings on Windows 11.
Click on System.
Click the Storage page on the right side.
Under the “Local Disk (C:)” section, see what’s taking up space on Windows 11.
Click the Show more categories option.
See what’s taking up space by other files, such as temporary files, apps, documents, pictures, and more.
(Optional) Click the Advanced storage settings setting under the “Storage management” section.
Click the Storage used on other drives option.
Select the secondary drive.
Confirm the storage usage of the drive.

Once you complete the steps, you will be able to clearly identify which files occupy the most space on your computer.

The Storage settings offer an overview of virtually everything stored on any hard drive connected to Windows 11. For example, system files, apps, games, temporary files, and those files stored in the Documents, OneDrive, Pictures, Music, Videos, and files from other people if you are sharing the computer.

Check what files are taking up space using WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a more advanced hard drive usage statistic viewer that allows you to see what files are taking up the most space in more detail.

Warning: This is third-party software, and even though it’s a nondestructive application and usually works as expected, you have to use it at your own risk. You have been warned.

Install WinDirStat on Windows 11

To install WinDirStat on Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to install the WinDirStat app on Windows 11 and press Enter:
```
winget install WinDirStat.WinDirStat
```

Once you complete the steps, you can use the app to scan the entire drive and get a report of the current hard drive usage.

View files taking up space on Windows 11

To use WinDirStat to determine what files are taking up space on Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Start.
Search for WinDirStat and click the top result to open the app.
Select the Individual Drives option.
Select the drive you want to view to see which files are taking up space.
Click the OK button.

Quick note: If the device is running low in space, making the experience very slow, you’ll notice that the app will freeze, showing the “Not responding” message, but eventually, it’ll complete successfully.

After completing the steps, WinDirStat will scan the drive, displaying a graphical report that allows you to identify the files that occupy the most space.

A tree file structure allows you to see which folder takes up the most space on the top-left side. You can expand and drill down to find the file that uses the most space on the hard drive. And the top-right side displays the file extensions using the most space.

At the bottom of the page, you will find a graphical view representing each file as a rectangle (the bigger the rectangle, the bigger the file). The color of each rectangle represents the file type, as indicated by the extension list.

If the file using a lot of space is one specific file, you can delete it from within WinDirStat.

Check what files are taking up space with DiskUsage

Windows 11 also comes with the DiskUsage tool, which lets you analyze drive usage through the Command Prompt.

To see what files are taking up the most space with DiskUsage on Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to analyze the storage usage of a folder on Windows 11 and press Enter:
```
diskusage PATH/TO/LOCATION /h
```
In the command, replace the PATH/TO/LOCATION with the location you want to analyze. For example, this command analyzes the contents of the Downloads folder:
```
diskusage C:\Users\user\Downloads /h
```
In this example, the command generates a report of the disk space usage for the current location:
```
diskusage /h
```
Quick tip: The option /h is will display the size in a more friendly format, such as in KB, MB, or GB.
Type the following command to find files larger than 4GB and press Enter:
```
diskusage /minFileSize=FILE-SIZE-KB PATH/TO/LOCATION /h
```
For example, this command will look for and list files larger than 15MB in the Downloads folder:
```
diskusage /minFileSize=1966080 C:\Users\user\Downloads /h
```
Type the following command to list the top files by size on the drive in descending order for a given location and press Enter:
```
diskusage PATH/TO/LOCATION /h /u=NUMBER
```
In the command, replace the “PATH/TO/LOCATION” with the location you want to analyze and “NUMBER” with the number of files you want to see. For example, this command lists the top ten files from the system32 folder:
```
diskusage C:\windows\system32 /h /u=10
```
Type the following command to list the top folders by size on the drive in descending order for a given location and press Enter:
```
diskusage PATH/TO/LOCATION /h /t=NUMBER
```
In the command, replace the “PATH/TO/LOCATION” with the location you want to analyze and “NUMBER” with the number of folders you want to see. For example, this command lists the top ten folders from the system32 folder:
```
diskusage C:\windows\system32 /h /t=10
```

Once you complete the steps, you will be able to understand how space is being used by files in a specific location. You can also use the diskusage /? command to list all the options available and their descriptions.