How to fix “Windows needs more space” error when updating Windows 10 Windows 10 updates provide the latest features and increase the security of your operating system. Therefore, you may want to update your computer more often. However, before the update starts, Windows will check if your driver space is sufficient for the new update. If you see the message “Windows needs more space”, your hard drive does not have enough space. Here are 4 ways to fix the above error. If you don’t have enough disk space, you’ll see a message that Windows needs more space. And in this article, I will guide you to solve this problem. How much space do you need to update Windows 10? According to Microsoft, you need at least 32GB of free disk space to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10, whether you’re running a 32 or 64-bit Windows operating system. If you have less disk space, you may get the error “Windows needs more space”. On some devices, such as a Windows 10 tablet with only 16GB or 32GB of storage, you can save more drive space by installing Windows 10 Compact OS. If you don’t want to use Windows 10 Compact OS, here are 4 ways to free up drive space and continue upgrading your Windows to the latest version. 1. Disk cleanup When there is not enough drive space for your Windows 10 update, you can free up more space by cleaning the drive where Windows 10 is installed, usually the C drive. Windows 10’s Disk Cleanup tool can help. Disk Cleanup quickly scans the drive for unnecessary junk files for the PC system. Using the Disk Cleanup tool is the best way to free up more disk space without affecting your important files. To use this tool, you need to do the following: Open the Start Menu and search for Disk Cleanup, select the first result: Disk Cleanup: When the Drive Selection window appears, select the C: drive and click OK. You will see the Disk Cleanup (C:) window appear for the drive, then click Clean up system files. Select all the files you want to delete and click OK. You can manually delete some files you no longer need to make more space for your C: drive. You can start by deleting a folder named Windows.old that contains all the data from past Windows update versions. This is the folder that is automatically created every time you upgrade Windows 10. Only delete this folder if you are completely satisfied with your current version of Windows 10 and do not intend to revert to the previous version. 2. Increase C: drive capacity with Disk Management If you cannot clear enough drive space on your PC, you should expand your drive. This should give you enough space for the Windows 10 update. Of course, this only works if you have unallocated space on your drive, but you should still try. Search for keyword partition in the Start Menu and select the first result. When the Disk Management window appears, check for unallocated space on your C: drive. If you have unallocated space, right-click the C: drive and select Extend Volume to add unallocated space to the C: drive. 3. Free up space using external memory If you do not have enough disk space on your PC, you can use an external storage device to complete the Windows 10 update process. Depending on your device, you will need an external storage device with around 10GB or more of free space. depends on how much additional storage you need. Next, go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for Updates. Windows displays the error message “Windows needs more space”. On the Windows update page, select Fix problems. This will launch a Windows update tool that allows you to update your computer using an external storage device. From here, follow these steps: Connect the external storage device with enough free space to your computer. On the windows update page, you will see the External Storage Device option in the drop-down menu. Select your external storage device from the menu, then click Next to continue. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete installing the update. After the installation is complete, you can remove your external storage device and restart your computer. 4. Find and remove large programs using third-party software You can also uninstall software to free up space on your hard drive. Windows 10 also has its own uninstaller, but it cannot completely remove it. Therefore, 3rd party uninstaller tools like IObit Uninstaller would be a much better choice. You can use the free version of IObit Uninstaller to uninstall large programs you no longer use: download and install the free version of IObit Uninstaller or use the PRO license key shared by TechMody. Open IObit Uninstaller and select the major software you want to uninstall. Click the Uninstall button after selecting it. “Are you sure you want to remove the selected programs?” A window will open. You will have 2 options: create a restore point and automatically delete the remaining files. Click Uninstall to remove the selected software. Deleting large programs with a tool like IObit Uninstaller will ensure that no more folders, files and Registry remain. However, if you find large files and you don’t want to delete them, you can move them to an external storage device or to the cloud to free up drive space. Update your Windows 10 whenever you want Updating Windows 10 is something you should do regularly. This helps protect your computer from system failures and malware attacks. And create more errors for you to fix, Windows 10 features already. You can use the above methods to fix the “Windows needs more space” error, but I think the best way is to buy more hard drives to install Windows 10.