Running Windows 10 on 32 GB hard drive

[JSam01]

Hi folks. I have a 2017 Intel Nuc (NUC6CAYH) on a 32GB HD. After many years of Windows 10 updates, it seems I'm now stuck without room to update Windows or reset the computer. Has anyone run into similar problems? If so, how did you fix it?

System files and temporary files that I can't for the life of me figure out how to delete are hogging up all the space. Literally the only things taking up room on the HD are Windows 10 and a handful of small music apps, no non-system files.

Is there a way to easily add storage space to the Nuc to allow this? I'm assuming that space in the silver chasis, but I worry plopping an SSD drive in there will cause even more problems getting the computer to recognize it.

Thanks!

[n_scott_pearson]

Run the Disk Cleanup command, check the box to include system files in cleanup, check the box for all file categories identified (regardless of whether files are found or not) and then let it run its cleanup.

You can use another HDD temporarily, but SD and USB storage can be problematic with some upgrade operations. What Windows 10 version are you presently running? 1903? 1909?

...S

[JSam01]

Thanks. I'm running 1809. I tried running disk cleanup (including as an administrator), but there's no box to remove system files in cleanup.

[n_scott_pearson]

When you start Disk Cleanup, it will offer a drive selection dialog. Let it default to C:. Once the analysis is complete and the main window appears. click on the More Options tab. In the lower box titled System Restore and Shadow Copies, click on the Clean up button. An Are you sure? dialog will pop up. Click on Delete. Once this completes (no visual indicator), click on the Disk Cleanup tab. In the Files to delete box, place a checkmark in every category identified (regardless of whether files are found in that category or not). In your case, if you've never run this before, there should be at least 8GB of files marked for deletion. Click on the OK button to start the operation. At some point, you may be asked for permission to delete the files needed to restore some previous version(s) of Windows. Say Yes.

...S