Easily Use Windows to Find Large Files And Delete Them

If a PC's storage space is running out of space, the user is presumably wondering which files are eating up the most space. Indeed, your computer stores countless files to ensure your system and programs can run smoothly every day. Some of them may reach GB size to encroach on your disk capacity. Thus, it might be the simplest way to find large files and then permanently remove or migrate them to another storage location to free up space in Windows.

To help users to find large files, Windows OS also provides some tools to execute this task. And you can turn to third-party tools on the market for better and more convenient service.

How to find large files in Windows 10/11?

Option 1. Use Windows built-in tools to find large files in Windows

In Windows OS, users have 2 tools can use Command Prompt and File Explorer. So in the first section, we’ll show how to use them to find and delete large files.

▶ 1. File Explorer

File Explorer can search for all files on your PC, you just need to use some search options.

Step 1. Open the Start Menu, search for Show hidden, and click on Show hidden files and folders.

Step 2. When the dialog box opens, click on the View tab at the top. You’ll see various options that you can modify.

Step 3. Find the option that says Show hidden files, folders, and drives and put a checkmark on it. Then click on the OK button to save your changes.

Now, you can view all files on your computer.

Step 4. Open “This PC” on your PC to launch File Explorer. When the utility launches, click on the search box given in the top-right corner.

Step 5. Then a new menu item will be added to the top of the window. Click on the newly added item that says Search to view further options.

Step 6. Select the Size option and then select an appropriate option from the list. It’ll let you find large files available on your PC.

If the file you're looking for isn't in the menu, type size:>xGB. You can change x to any size in the search box and hit Enter. It will only look for files larger than the size you specified. When the search results page appears, please right-click anywhere in the window and select Size > Descending. This ensures that the largest file is displayed at the top of the results.

Then you can delete unwanted files.

▶ 2. Command Prompt

CMD can search and delete junk files via command lines but it requires users to use commands to execute the exact tasks, so the job includes two parts, searching and deleting.

◤ Part 1. Searching for files

Step 1. Press the "Windows + R" keys to open the Run box. Then, type "cmd" into the Run box and hit Enter key to open Command Prompt window.

Step 2. Type: FORFILES /S /M * /C "cmd /c if @fsize GTR 1048576 echo @path > largefiles.txt

If you want to search for the largest files in a specific drive, for example, C drive, type: cd C:\ press Enter, and type the above command: C:\>forfiles /S /M * /C "cmd /c if @fsize GEQ 1048576 echo @path> largefiles.txt

The results will show as a txt file which will list all the large files.

◤ Part 2. Deleting files

Step 1. Type Command Prompt on the search bar, right-click the result and select the Run as administrator option.

Step 2. Navigate to the file or folder that you want to delete (with all its files and subfolders) and copy the path from the top.

Step 3. Input cd path to locate the file you want to delete in Command Prompt, e.g. cd C:\Users\New folder.

Step 3. Type del /f/q/s *.* > nul command to delete all the files in that folder and press "Enter".

Step 4. Type cd.. to go back to one level in the folder path and press "Enter".

Step 5. Type rmdir /q/s folder name command to delete the folder and subfolders, then press Enter.

You can choose the folder name by checking the txt file in the part 1.

Option 2. Use a third-party tool to clear files

File Explorer and CMD can help you find large files but the former takes too much time and the latter has many complex orders. Both might be no that convenient for users. So, here we recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to help you easily find and remove large files.

This program works with all versions of Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista. It has a visual interface that guarantees that you view your disks simply and precisely. The tool avoids scanning vital system big files to safeguard your Windows.

It will highlight some files that should not be deleted in red to keep you from deleting them since you don't know what they are. In the event of an incorrect deletion, it will prompt you to tick the files and approve the action again before committing.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, then click "Free up" and "Delete Large Files".

Step 2. In the pop-up window, select the partitions that you want to find large files, and click "Start Scan" to scan for large files.

Step 3. When the scan is complete, all large files found are listed. Tick the files you want to delete, and then click the "Delete" button. You can also delete files marked in red if you’re sure they won’t hurt any programs or your system.

Step 4. This step will list all the files you have ticked to delete, click "Delete Now" after confirming that it is correct, then these files will be deleted successfully.

Then the large files can disappear from your PC. If you want to release more space to your system drive, you can try “Allocate Free Space” or “App Mover” features according to the condition of your device.

To sum up

In this guide, we show you 2 methods to use Windows to find large files. If you don’t know how to find large files on Windows 10/11, this guide will help you a lot. Then, we show you how to use a practical tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant to find all large files and clear disk easily. Its operation is simple for all users, and it’s safe for system files.

Besides the functions we’ve mentioned in this guide, this tool also provides other useful services like disk clone, recover data, conversion of MBR/GPT (data safe), wipe/erase the disk, etc. In addition, this tool has the Server Edition for Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003 users to efficiently manage their Server devices.