How to Find Large Files on Windows 11 [2024 Updated]

When there is not enough space on the disk, you may need to delete some unnecessary files to free up space. You can refer to this post to learn how to find large files on Windows 11 and delete them permanently.

Posted by @Dervish December 17, 2024 Updated By @Dervish June 12, 2024

How to Search for Large Files on Windows 11

How do I find large files taking up space in Windows 11? You can find large files through Windows File Explorer, Command Prompt, or a professional junk file cleaner. You can then delete large files on Windows 11 to free up space.

Methods Efficiency Suitable Users
🥇AOMEI Partition Manager High - Deep scanning to accurately locate large file and delete them with a few clicks. For all 
🥈File Explorer Medium - Manually search for large files and delete them. For experienced
🥉CMD Medium - Type the command line to delete large files. For experts

You can choose the right tool according to the method you favor. If you are a newcomer to computers, then I highly recommend you to use AOMEI Partition Assistant to locate large files. The method simplifies the complicated steps and is suitable for all users on how to find large files on Windows 11.

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 ▶ Way 1. Locate Large Files and Delete with Partition Manager

To locate and delete large files or folders easily and safely, I think your best choice is to try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Its "Delete Large Files" feature can help you deep scan large files in the target drive or folder, you can see the detailed information of these files from the scan results, including file location, file size and last accessed. And some important files will be automatically marked in red, so you need to be careful when dealing with them.

Refer to the following steps to learn detailed information.

Step 1. Run the Delete Large Files from AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Then, double-click to open it. Click "Free up"> "Delete Large Files" at the top interface.

Step 2. Select folders or disks to scan according to your preference.

Here, select the target partition or folder and click "Start Scan".

Step 3. After that, select the large files you want to delete.

All large files will be listed from largest to smallest. Please tick the files and click "Delete".

Step 4. Make sure these files are the files you need to delete.

Finally, all large files you select will be summarized again. After confirming, click "Delete Now" to submit the operations.

Finally, click "Delete" to completely delete the target file from the PC to free up space. Furthermore, this tool provides more useful functions to free up space, such as extending partitions, cloning disks, etc. You can download the demo version to see how to find large files on Windows 11 with this tool.

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▶ Way 2. Search for Large Files from File Explorer

File Explorer is a Windows built-in tool to manage and organize stored files and folders, please follow the instructions to learn how to search for large files in Explorer.

Step 1. Press “Windows + E” at the same time to open File Explorer first.

Step 2. Locate and click the target drive that you want to search for large files.

Step 3. Type "size: Large (128MB-1GB)size: Huge (1GB-4GB), or size: Gigantic (>4GB)" in the search bar in the upper right corner, and press Enter to find the relevant file on your computer.

Step 4. After scanning, select the target file and right-click "Delete".

File Explorer won't, however, offer precise folder sizes or data analysis. Please refer to AOMEI Partition Assistant for further information.

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▶ Way 3. Find Large Files using the CMD

You can also find and delete large files with command line. Command Prompt is another built-in tool that performs tasks by typing different commands. However, this method is more complicated and is not suitable for users without a computer background. Please refer to the following steps:

Step 1. Search for “CMD” in the taskbar, right-click the CMD icon, and select “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. Here, to search the entire C drive, type "cd C:\" and press "Enter".

Step 3. The command is forfiles /S /M * /C "cmd /c if @fsize size(bytes) echo @path > largefiles.txt". But you must replace size (bytes) with the actual size of the file in bytes (B). If you are looking for files larger than 1 GB (1,073,741,824 B), your command should be: forfiles /S /M * /C "cmd /c if @fsize GEQ 1073741824 echo @path > LargeFilesList.txt".

Tips: 1 KB = 1024 B 1 MB = 1,048,576 B 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 B

Step 4. Press Enter to run the command, which will create a folder named "LargeFilesList". You can open this folder to delete files from the target drive to free up space.

Free up space by Moving Installed Apps to Another Drive

In addition to deleting large files, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional also supports moving applications or folders to other disks without losing data. Download it and follow the simple steps to move installed Apps and free up space.

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The detailed steps are following:

Step 1. Install and launch PA Professional, click “Free up” on the top, then select “App Mover”.

Step 2. There are two options: App Mover and Move Folders. Here, we choose App Mover. If you need to move folders from C drive to D drive, you can select the latter one.

Step 3. Then, select the C drive and click "Next".

Step 4. Choose the apps you want to move and select the destination location, then click "Move".

Step 5. In the pop-up window, you need to read the prompts. Click "OK" to begin the process.

Why need to find large files on Windows 11?

If there is not enough space on the C drive, you may miss important Windows updates and your PC performance will suffer. Usually, people uninstall some apps to free up space. But sometimes, doing so just isn't enough. Because you will find that after uninstalling, Windows will still pop up the low disk space warning.

In fact, you can also delete large files to save more space on your computer. These files include temporary files, expired files, invalid files and a series of junk files. They tend to take up a lot of space, but are often overlooked by users because of their hidden locations and large numbers.

Don't worry if you can't find where large files are on Windows, this article provides detailed steps on how to find large files on Windows 11.

Sum up

Now, I believe you already know how to find and delete large files on PC. This article introduces you to some effective ways to free up disk space, you can choose the one that suits you best according to your needs. In addition, data can be recovered when an erroneous deletion occurs.

If you are using AOMEI Partition Assistant in Windows Server, please go to Server Edition. In addition, Unlimited Edition allows unlimited usage within one company.