How to Enable or Disable Reserved Storage in Windows 11?

Reserved storage is a feature of the Windows 11 operating system that stores a part of the internal hard disk as a reserve to use by Windows temporary files, caches, and other files. This reserves storage facilitates your machine to run with proper performance and successful updates of your device. Windows 11 automatically clears the reserve storage when the primary disk runs out of free space and needs more storage for Windows updates or other processes.

The default size of reserved storage is around 7 GB. However, it may vary based on several things, such as disk space, processes, number of apps installed, etc. In most cases, you will not want to delete the reserved storage space as it’s crucial for Windows.

Due to some reason, if you decide to remove the reserved storage space, this gearupwindows article will help you. However, it’s not recommended as it is needed by Windows 11 to run it smoothly. When troubleshooting Windows or for some reason, if you delete this reserved storage, we recommend you recreate it again.

How to Disable Reserved Storage Space in Windows 11?

Before disabling the reserved storage space in Windows 11, you should know how much space your system uses. To see that, do the following:-

Step 1. Open the Settings app by pressing Windows + I keys from the keyboard.

Step 2. When Windows Settings opens, select the System category from the left sidebar.

Step 3. In the right sidebar, click the Storage tab.

Step 4. Then click the option Advanced storage settings.

Step 5. Next, select the option Storage used on other drives.

Step 6. Select “C” drive from the list of available volumes.

Step 7. Then, select System & reserved to see your computer Reserved storage.

Step 8. When you’re done, you can view the Reserved storage. On my computer, Windows reserved storage is 7.72GB.

Step 9. Now that you are familiar with reserve storage on Windows 11, open an elevated command prompt to proceed further with disabling the reserved storage.

Step 10. When Command Prompt with administrator rights opens, copy and paste the following line and then hit Enter from the keyboard to execute it:-

DISM /Online /Set-ReservedStorageState /State:Disabled

Now reserved storage will disappear from the Windows Settings.

Step 11. To re-create the reserved storage on your Windows 11 computer, use the following command:-

DISM /Online /Set-ReservedStorageState /State:Enabled

After executing the above command, Windows 11 will reoccupy storage and keep for reserve for Windows updates, temporary files, etc.

Good luck.