[3 Ways] How to Increase C Drive Space in Windows 11?

My C drive is running out of space!

“I upgraded my laptop from Windows 10 to Windows 11 once this new OS was released. In the past 20 days, my computer was doing well. However, after several update patched up, my laptop became extremely slow and even system crashes occurred now and then. Later, I found my C drive, which was the system partition, was almost full. So, I think the insufficient storage is the cause of the problems. Is there any way to increase C drive space in Windows 11?”

The revolutionary Windows 11 has been released at the beginning of October, 2021. It has brought so many changes and new features to improve user experience and millions of people worldwide can’t wait to download and install this new OS. However, like its predecessor Windows 10, users may inevitably encounter some computing issues when using Windows 11.

Among those issues, insufficient C drive storage is the most common and serious one. Here are several possible causes that may lead to C drive space crisis:

1. The OS has been infected with virus or malware that keep generating adverse files to your computer.

2. Windows system-related files clog up the C drive.

3. You downloaded too many programs and apps to the C drive.

4. Too many user data including photos, videos, and music are saved to the desktop which belongs to the C drive.

3 Ways to increase C drive space in Windows 11

Now that you’ve learned all the causes of the C drive full issue at the end of the paragraphs above, we need to figure out some solutions. To ensure enough storage space on the C drive, in the following contents, the 3 best ways to increase C drive space in Windows 11 are provided and hopefully, they can help you out.

Way 1. Use third-party drive resizing utility

If you hope to resize the C drive or resize encrypted partition in Windows 11, you might as well try AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, a secure and easy-to-use disk management software utility, which helps easily enlarge, merge, or shrink partitions in only a few clicks without data loss. Moreover, other features including partition format and partition deletion are also supported.

To increase C drive space in Windows 11, try the best disk management software in the market to make everything easier!

Note: If there’s no unallocated space, you have to create one piece of it manually; if there’s already 1 piece of unallocated space, you can directly jump to Step 3.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. After loading into the home interface, right-click on a partition that has enough free space and select “Resize/Move Partition”.

Step 2. Adjust the size of the green bar by dragging the rings on both sides. Hit the “OK” button once done.

Step 3. Now, you can see unallocated space appears on the home interface. Right-click on the C drive and select “Merge Partitions”.

Step 4. Tick the unallocated space you just created and hit “OK”.

Step 5. Hit “Apply” on the upper left of the home page and commit this pending operation.

Wait a few seconds before the process gets completed.

Way 2. Try Disk Management to extend drive space

Disk Management is a built-in utility of Windows 11/10/8/7. It helps users freely manage their hard disks and partitions, performing operations including volume format, volume extension, and volume shrinking. This time, we’ll learn to use this powerful free utility to extend the C drive.

1. Select, right-click on “This PC” on the desktop and click on “Manage”.

2. Under the “Storage” tab, select “Disk Management”.

3. If there’s unallocated space next to the C drive, then, select the C drive, right-click on it, and select “Extend Volume”. Follow the onscreen guide to accomplish rest steps.

4. If there’s no unallocated space next to the C drive, delete the partition next to the C drive to create a piece of unallocated space, and then, execute the extension.

Now, you can see contiguous unallocated space is required when using Disk Management to extend C drive. What’s more, this program only supports extending and shrinking volumes in NTFS or RAW.

Way 3. Apply DiskPart (CMD)

In computing, DiskPart is a command-line disk partitioning utility included in Windows 2000 and later Microsoft OS, replacing its predecessor, fdisk. Users can use DiskPart to do almost what Disk Management can do including partition extension.

1. Hit “Win + R” simultaneously, type “diskpart” in the run box, and hit “ENTER” to activate DiskPart.

2. Type “list volume” and press “ENTER” to list all partitions on your computer.

3. Type “select volume *” and hit “ENTER” to select the C drive. “*” represents the sequence number of the C drive.

4. Type “extend[size=n]” to extent volume by the size of n.

DiskPart is a powerful program that’s contained in Windows 11. However, those command lines seem a little bit complex for computing novices and meanwhile, to extend the C drive with DiskPart, unallocated space is also required.

What else can you do to fix the C drive full issue?

Factually, other than the C drive extension, you can still resolve the problem of the C drive full by other means.

a. Run anti-virus software

Before going further, please first make sure your PC is not infected with any virus. So, you’d better first fully scan your system with antivirus software or Windows built-in Windows Defender. If your system is infected, adverse files may keep being written to the system.

b. Run Disk Cleanup

Over time, junk files like cookies and cache can accumulate on the C drive. In this way, the speed of the system can be drastically affected. Thus, if you know how to clean C drive in Windows 11, you can also increase C drive space by cleaning unneeded files or relocating large files.

1. In the search box on the lower left of the desktop, type “disk cleanup” and hit “ENTER” to bring up the interface.

2. Select the C drive and hit “OK”.

3. Tick the files you want to delete and hit “OK”.

4. You’ll be asked for confirmation. Confirm it to proceed.

c. Run Storage Sense

Storage Sense acts as an alternative to Disk Cleanup but more powerful. Users can use it to automatically clean their computers at intervals.

1. Go to “Settings” after opening the start menu.

2. On the page of Windows Settings, select “System”.

3. Select “Storage” on the left side and toggle on “Storage Sense”.

Note: Storage Sense only works when your PC runs low on space. If you want to clean your PC right now, you must select “Configure Storage Sens or run it now” and click on “Clean now”.

Conclusion

How to increase C drive space in Windows 11 when there’s insufficient free space left? This post not only provides 3 methods to help get it done but also teaches other 3 ways to resolve the problem of C drive full.

In all, the most effective way to extend the C drive is to use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard for its convenience and high efficiency. If you want to directly allocate free space from one partition to the C drive, you should upgrade this AOMEI product to the professional edition.