How to clean C drive in Windows 11

Is the C drive showing up as red on the File Explorer due to very low space? If the C drive contains less than 30-50 GB of free space, your computer will slow down. The booting time will increase, you will face considerable lag even while doing light tasks. Just follow these easy instructions to clean up the C driver on your Windows 11 machine.

Useful Read:  How to Fix C Drive is full and showing red issue

Fix 1 – Use the Disk Cleanup tool

The Disk Cleanup Tool is provided with Windows to clean up the junk files efficiently from the drives.

1. Press Windows+R keys together.

2. After that, write this command and hit Enter.

cleanmgr /low disk

 

Disk Cleanup Run Min

 

The Disk Cleanup window will be opened.

3. When the  Disk Cleanup: Drive Selection window appears, click on the “Drives:“.

4. Now, click on the drop-down and choose the “(C:)” drive.



4. After that, click on “OK“.

 

C Ok Min

 

Wait a while for your computer to analyze the number of trash files.

5. Now, in the “Files to delete:” section, tick all the boxes one-by-one.

6. After that, click on “OK” to start the cleanup process.

 

Delete All Min

 

7. You will notice a prompt asking for your permission to delete the items.

8. Just click on the “Delete files” to remove those.

 

Delete Files Min

9. Now, again open the disk cleanup tool.

10. this time click on clean up system files.

Clean Up System Files 1 Min

 

11. select C Drive again.

12. select files like old windows installations and non useful safe to delete system files this time.

13. Click on OK to delete the files.

 

Delete Files Min

 

Disk Cleanup will clear out all the junk files from the C: drive.

Fix 2 – Clean the Temp, prefetch folders

The Temp folder contains temporary data for the applications, browsers that may cover up a lot of space.

1. At first, press the Windows key along with the ‘R‘ key.

2. When the Run terminal pops up, write “%temp%“. Just click on “OK” and the Temp folder will appear.

 

Temp Dc Min

 

3. Click on “Continue” if a warning message appears.

 

Continuie Min

 

4. Once the Temp folder appears, press ‘Ctrl+A‘ together. All the folders and files inside the Temp folder will be selected.

5. After that, press the ‘Delete‘ key to empty the Temp folder.

 

Temp Actual Clear Min

 

6. Now, again press the Windows key+R keys together.

7. Further, write “temp” and hit Enter.

 

Temp Ok Min

 

8. Remove everything inside the folder.

 

Temp Clear Min

 

9. Once you are done, press the Windows key+R keys again.

10. Then, type “prefetch” and hit Enter.

 

Prefetch Dc Min

 

11.  Select all the contents inside the folder and press the ‘Delete‘ key to delete all the contents.

 

Prefetch Clear Min

 

Once you have done all these, check if this improves the free space in the Local Disk C drive.

 

Fix 3 – Cleanup the Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin contains removed files from your File Explorer. Empty the Recycle Bin to save space.

1. Click on the search icon and search for “Recycle Bin“.

2. Then, tap on the “Recycle Bin” from the search results to access it.

 

Recycle Bin Min

 

3. Once Recycle Bin opens up, click on “Empty Recycle Bin” to empty it.



 

Empty Recycle Bin Min

 

This will remove all the files, apps, data from the Recycle Bin. Now, check the free space on your system.

 

Fix 4 – Uninstall apps from C drive

If you have installed big third-party apps on your Local Disk C drive, you may feel the low storage issue.

1. Open the Settings window.

2. Then, tap on the “Apps” settings from the left-hand pane.



3. After that, click on “Apps & features” from the left-hand side.

 

Apps And Feature Min

 

4. Then, on the right-hand side, you will find the list of apps.

5. Next, click on the “Sort by” and choose “By Size” from the drop-down.

 

Sort By Size Min

 

This will sort the apps according to their sizes in descending order.

6. At the top of the list, you will find the apps containing the larger portion of your Local Disk (C:).

7. Just, click on the  three-bar icon on the app you want to uninstall and then, click on “Uninstall” to remove it from your device.

 

Uninstall Min

 

Now, follow the easy instructions on your screen to remove the app from your computer.

[

NOTE

Try not to install any third-party app on the Local Disk (C:). Install those on other partitions to save up lots of space in the C drive.

]

There won’t be any inadequacy of free space in C: drive anymore.