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

Windows 11 Storage settings show exactly how disk space is being used by apps, files, temporary data, and system components.
WinDirStat provides a visual map of your drive, while DiskUsage offers detailed command-line reports for advanced analysis.
Combining built-in and advanced tools makes it easier to locate large files and reclaim storage space.

On Windows 11, you can quickly find out what’s taking up space on your computer using the Storage settings. Whether you’re running low on storage or simply want to understand how your drive is being used, Windows includes several tools to help you identify large files, installed apps, temporary data, and other items consuming disk space.

The Storage page provides a detailed breakdown of your drive, showing how much space is being used by installed apps, temporary files, documents, pictures, videos, system files, and more. This overview makes it easy to pinpoint what is using the most storage so you can decide what to delete or move to another drive.

If you’re running out of space, Windows 11 also includes Cleanup recommendations, which scan your device and suggest files, unused apps, and other content you can safely remove to reclaim storage.

For a more detailed analysis, Windows 11 also includes DiskUsage, a command-line tool that generates an in-depth report of storage usage for folders and files. If you prefer a graphical interface, third-party utilities such as WinDirStat can create a visual map of your drive, making it easier to identify the largest files and folders at a glance.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps for using various 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
Pureinfotech’s Take

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, follow these steps:

Open Settings on Windows 11.
Click on System.
Click the Storage page on the right side.
Confirm what’s taking up space on Windows 11 under the “Local Disk (C:)” section.
Click the Show more categories option.
See what’s taking up space from other files, such as temporary files, apps, documents, pictures, and more.
(Optional) Click on “Advanced storage settings” 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 statistics viewer that lets you see which files are taking up the most space in greater 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, follow 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, follow 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 on storage space, making the experience very slow, you’ll notice the app freezes and shows the “Not responding” message, but it’ll eventually complete successfully.

After completing the steps, WinDirStat will scan the drive and display a graphical report that lets you identify the files that occupy the most space.

A tree file structure lets you see which folder uses 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 that represents each file as a rectangle (the larger the rectangle, the larger the file). The color of each rectangle indicates the file type, as shown in 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, follow 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.

Pureinfotech’s Take

I usually start with the Storage settings whenever I need to figure out why the computer is running out of space. For most users, the built-in breakdown is more than enough to identify large apps, temporary files, or personal folders that have quietly grown over time. It’s simple, fast, and doesn’t require installing another tool.

When I need more detail, I switch to WinDirStat or DiskUsage. WinDirStat is still one of my favorite utilities because the visual map makes it easy to spot space hogs that would otherwise take forever to find. DiskUsage is also a great option if you prefer built-in tools and don’t mind using Command Prompt.

I’ve noticed Microsoft has continued to improve storage management over the years, making the Settings app much more capable than it used to be. Even so, I like that Windows still includes advanced tools for those times when the basic overview isn’t enough.

What tool do you use to find what’s taking up space on Windows 11? Let me know in the comments.

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