| message | I have 94% free space in my pc and i try to install an
| upgrade to a program i have . the program tells me i dont
| have enough free space on my drive. I cleared cookies,
| temp files, defraged still get the same message... What
| to do?
As follows are some ways to free disk space on the local system:
-- Use the built-in Disk Cleanup Utility to create more free space.
For more information search the Help and Support Center for the
phrase: Removing unneeded files. And if Disk Cleanup hangs see the
applicable Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB823302 - The Disk Cleanup Tool Stops Responding
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;823302
KB812248 - Disk Cleanup Tool Stops Responding While
Compressing Old Files
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;812248
NOTE: Compression adds overhead to the system because a compressed
NTFS file is decompressed, copied, and then recompressed as a new file
even when the file is copied in the same computer. Because of this
potential loss of performance, you may not want to compress some
files. For more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge
Base article:
KB307987 - HOW TO: Use File Compression in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;307987
-- Set the Windows File Protection dllcache quota to 0 (sfc
/cachesize=0). Then purge the cache (sfc /purgecache). NOTE: If
WFP needs to replace a file, you will have to insert the installation
CD-ROM. For more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge
Base Article:
KB310747 - Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System
File Checker (Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;310747
-- Delete Service Pack Uninstall Folders ($NtServicePackUninstall$).
NOTE: Only delete the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folders if you have
determined that there is no longer a need to return the system to the
pre-Service Pack state. For more information see the following
Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles:
KB329260 - How to Remove Windows XP Service Pack 1 Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;329260
-- Relocate the ServicePackFiles folder to an alternate drive or
network share, and then update the source location registry key. For
more information about the source location registry key see the
following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
KB327393 - You Do Not Have to Reinstall Windows XP Service Packs After
System State Changes
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;327393
NOTE: If the files contained in the %Systemroot%\ServicePackFiles
directory are deleted, you will need to re-create them by reinstalling
the Service Pack.
-- Delete the driver.cab file located in the %SystemRoot%\Driver
Cache\I386 folder. NOTE: If a driver is required Windows XP will
prompt you for the installation CD-ROM or you may receive an error
message. Furthermore, since the "Add New Hardware Wizard" does not
recognize drivers in the driver.cab you will need to either restore
the driver.cab (see KB810882 for the general idea). Else you could
use the System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe) to Expand the
necessary driver(s), then point the Wizard to them. Also, if you are
not logged on as a user with administrative privileges the driver
installation is not successful. For more information see the
following Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles. (Note that KB255771 is
not written specifically for WinXP. However I have tested the
procedure on WinXP Professional and the behavior is the same):
KB255771 - How to Minimize the Installed Footprint of Windows 2000
Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=255771
KB810882 - Error Message: Cannot Install Hardware. An Error Occurred
During the Installation of the Device
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;810882
KB310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;310560
-- Remove unneeded optional Windows Components such as such as MSN
Explorer and Games, and remove unused 3rd party programs. For more
information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles:
KB305548 - HOW TO: Add Components and Programs to a Computer in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;305548
KB307895 - HOW TO: Change or Remove a Program in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;307895
-- Disable Hibernation by following this procedure: Open Power Options
in Control Panel (Category View: Performance and Maintenance), click
the Hibernate tab, and then click to deselect the Enable hibernate
support check box.
And if you have another partition on the same hard drive, or another
hard drive, you have these options:
-- For a NTFS-formatted disk volume only, use mounted drives. For
more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB307889 - HOW TO: Create and Use NTFS Mounted Drives in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;307889
-- Relocate the pagefile, preferably to a second hard drive since
placing it on a different partition on the same hard drive will
decrease computer performance. And relocate the Print Spooler. For
more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB314105 - How to Move the Windows Default Paging File and Print
Spooler to a Different Hard Disk
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;314105
Note 1: If the target partition is NTFS make certain that the System
and Administrators accounts have the correct NTFS permissions. For
more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB315270 - Error Message: Your System Has No Paging File, or the
Paging File Is Too Small
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;315270
Note 2: Completely removing the pagefile from the boot partition does
not allow Windows to Write Debugging Information (create a crash dump
file named memory.dmp) should a kernel mode STOP error. For more
information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article. And
to configure your computer so that it does not create a crash dump
file search the Help and Support Center for the phrase: "To specify
what Windows does if the system stops unexpectedly". Note that the
aforementioned help topic does not tell you that there is a (none)
option, but you can specify it by clicking the drop-down box under
"Write Debugging Information".
KB314482 - How to Configure Paging Files for Optimization and Recovery
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;314482
-- If you are running Windows XP Indexing Service, change the location
of the catalog.wci directory to another partition. NOTE: This will
involve deleting the present catalog(s) and rebuilding from scratch.
As such, you may want to document the current configuration before you
delete the catalog(s). For more information see the following
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB308202 - HOW TO Create and Configure a Catalog for Indexing
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=308202
-- If you use Windows XP CD Recording move the temporary files
location to another partition. For more information see the following
Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
KB308572 - How to Move the Temporary Files Location for Windows XP CD
Recording
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;308572
-- If you use Internet Explorer, change the default location for the
Temporary Internet File Storage Folder to another partition. For more
information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB301057 - Temporary Internet Files Use More Disk Space Than Specified
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=301057
-- If you have a large number of profiles on your computer, move the
locally cached copy of the profiles to another partition. To do that
follow these steps. Note: Phrases in double-quotes can be searched
in the Help and Support Center if detailed steps are necessary.
- Log on as a user other than the one that you want to move, and a
user with Administrative privileges.
- Create a profile folder on another partition.
- If the partition is formatted NTFS "change folder permissions" so
that the user profile folder that you want to move has full control
permission.
- "Copy the user profile"
- Run regedit and edit the ProfileImagePath value in the registry to
reflect the new path to the user profile. See the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base Article, section titled: To Edit the User Profile
Registry Key, for the basic idea.
KB324734 - HOW TO: Restore a User Profile in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=324734
- Log on as the user and verify that the new profile path is correct
by clicking Start, clicking Run, typing the following command and
clicking OK: cmd /k set homepath
- Delete the unused copy of the user profile
- Contact Microsoft Support to obtain a fix for the %HOMEDRIVE%
environment variable bug. If you do not ask for help with any other
problem than the one described in the following Microsoft Knowledge
Base Article the fix will be free. For more information see the
following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
KB818134 - The %HOMEDRIVE% Environment Variable Does Not Point to the
Partition That Hosts the User Profiles
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;818134
-- If you use the My Documents folder to store large amounts of data,
change the default location to another partition. For more information
see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
KB310147 - How to Change the Default Location of the
My Documents Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;310147
-- If you are using Outlook Express and have a large message store,
change the location of the Storage Folder to another partition. For
more information search for the following Help topic: Outlook Express
Help: "To change the location of your message store". For more
information about earlier versions on Outlook Express see the
following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
KB175037 - OLEXP: How to Change the Default Location of
Mail and News Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=175037
Thanks to the following people whose suggestions posted in the
microsoft.public.* newsgroups have been incorporated into this
message:
Torgeir Bakken - Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI
Jerold Schulman - Windows: General MVP
Dave Patrick - Microsoft MVP [Windows]
