How much space does Windows 10 take up? What system to install

In this article, we will answer the question of How many free space on the hard drive is necessary for clean Windows 10 , and also call minimum volume RAM (random access memory), necessary in order to make friends between the computer and the “top ten”.

You can talk about both of these topics for a very long time. Many people do this, proving to each other the correctness of their point of view on this issue in comments on various sites and forums. As with any other topic that concerns computers, there are many “experts” around who say and write opposite things with serious faces. An ordinary user can easily become confused by such an abundance of contradictory information.

But how to find the only correct answer? It seems to us that it should be sought from the developers of the operating system themselves. Windows systems 10. They, like no one else, know how much space is on the hard drive and how much RAM their product needs.

For some reason, many users believe that times Windows 10 most modern on this moment operating system from this family, it seems to need some particularly large amounts of RAM, hard drive and other “cool” technical characteristics. However, this is not quite true. Or rather, it’s not like that at all. “Ten,” according to a very common opinion, is much less demanding on resources than Windows 7 or 8. That is why Windows 10 is often recommended as an alternative to “seven” and “eight” for weak laptops and old computers. True, it is not always possible to install it there - unfortunately, this latest OS is not compatible with all outdated processors, motherboards, video cards.

How much does a Windows 10 image weigh?

Myself image operating system Windows 10 takes up about 4 gigabytes, a little more or a little less - depending on the bit depth (32 or 64 bits). Create installation media You can either on a flash drive or on a disk. More information on how to do this is described in the article “How to reinstall Windows 10". Since the iso image is an archive, then, of course, during the installation process it is unpacked and increases quite significantly in size. We'll talk about how much below.

Minimum computer requirements to install Windows 10

So, how much RAM and space on the hard drive (hard drive) is still required for the “ten”. The official website of Microsoft provides very specific technical requirements to computers on which you plan to install Windows 10. Please note that these are the minimum required characteristics.

Windows 10 32 bit

To install 32-bit systems, the minimum amount of RAM must be 1 gigabyte, and the free space on the hard drive must be at least 16 GB.

Windows 10 64 bit

More modern architecture x64 is also more power hungry. For 64-bit OSes, RAM must be at least 2 GB. The requirements for the hard drive in this case are slightly higher: at least 20 GB of space is required.

Additionally, we mention that the processor must be at least 1 GHz or SoC, the video adapter must be DirectX versions no lower than 9 with WDDM 1.0 driver, and a display of 800*600 pixels.

Optimal RAM and hard drive characteristics

Of course, minimum specifications That’s why they represent a lower threshold, so that you still try your best to exceed them. Below this limit the system simply will not install and work. But, of course, we must strive higher. On our subjective view, for normal Windows performance 10 is worth multiplying minimum requirements at least two. That is:

On a computer with 32-bit 10, it is better to have at least 2GB of RAM and 32GB of free hard drive space.
For 64- bit system We recommend using at least 4 GB of RAM and 40 GB of hard drive space.

These characteristics will be quite sufficient for people using Windows 10 for office tasks, surfing social networks, searching the Internet, visiting websites and watching videos. Of course, this will most likely not be enough for games.

	Random access memory (RAM)		Hard drive (hard drive)
	32 bits	64 bits	32 bits	64 bits
Minimum	1 GB	2 GB	16 GB	20 GB
Optimal	from 2 GB	from 4 GB	from 32 GB	from 40 GB

It would also be ideal using SSD(solid state drive) instead of HDD (regular hard drive). Certainly, SSD is more expensive HDD, and their resource is lower, but these latest media information, as a rule, give a very noticeable increase in productivity. If it is not possible to purchase solid state drive large volume, then a reasonable solution would be to buy such a 32-64 GB disk and install an operating system and relatively small programs on it. Personal files in this case, you can store it on a regular hard drive.

Maximum possible amount of RAM in Windows 10

So, we have looked at the minimum requirements for the amount of RAM and hard drive for Windows installations 10, and also talked about the recommended amount of RAM and hard drive. Having touched on these topics, we consider it necessary to separately discuss the issue maximum supported amount of RAM. For a 32-bit system, the maximum amount of RAM is only 4 GB, and for a 64-bit system it is 128 GB in the Home version and 512 GB in Professional. It is worth considering that if the processor is 32-bit, then it supports no more than 4 gigabytes of RAM. That is, for a computer with 32-bit architecture, buying more RAM simply does not make sense.

Recently, Microsoft has a new goal that will help owners of laptops and tablets with small drives save space on their gadget. The developers of the new OS have already answered the question of how much space Windows 10 system files take up, and this information should please many device owners.

As you know, on a tablet with 32 gigabytes of memory, the previous version of Windows takes up more than half free memory, however, in Windows 10 the situation is completely different. This time, Microsoft took care of its users, and now there will be much more free memory left to store their data and other information after installing the updated version of the operating system. About how much space will be occupied after installing Windows 10 and what minimum system requirements are needed for this, just we'll talk in this article.

Firstly, saving space in the test Windows versions 10 is achieved by compression system files. Using the built-in Cleanup Utility tool, you can effectively clean your disk of unnecessary information without losing the necessary files.

As the system developers themselves state, on gadgets with 32 gigabytes, this innovation will help save approximately 1.5 gigabytes of free space and space, which will definitely not be superfluous, because information about the space occupied by ten is not very comforting for many gadget owners.

In devices with 64 gigabytes of memory this option will help free up about 2.6 gigabytes. There is only one drawback that the update developers for some reason are silent about: data compression can negatively affect the operation of the system as a whole, however, how this will affect Windows 10 is not yet known.

The tenth system will gradually be installed on the vast majority of new devices, so it will independently assess the amount of built-in and additional memory on the gadget, the power and speed of its processor. Based on this data, the operating system will assess the situation and, if possible, use files that have been compressed. Additionally, compression will be activated, but only if system capabilities gadgets will allow you to do this.

Changing the method of operation of system recovery images is another innovation that turned out to be available in the tenth version of the operating system. It is noted that all devices whose operation is based on Windows based 10, will be delivered without special disk with a system recovery image that can take up about six and a half gigabytes of memory on the built-in drive.

System recovery can now be achieved by assembling the operating system from files that are already on the disk. The main advantage of this method is that even resetting or restoring the system will not require downloading special updates, since everything necessary files will already be in the updated tenth version.

Thanks to this, the owner of the gadget will be able to save on it (from 6 to 12 gigabytes) and keep them for their needs. About how much space will be occupied by system Windows files 10 on the computer’s hard drive, it’s easy to guess. Test large quantities installation files the new OS will require about 30-40 gigabytes on the PC.

Everyone knows Microsoft company carried out calculations and stated that the total space on the gadget that the OS occupies could be reduced by almost 45 percent. Of course, a lot depends on the capabilities of the device itself, but according to preliminary data in a 64-bit gadget or personal computer With powerful processor savings can be about 15 gigabytes. This is undoubtedly a big plus in favor of Windows 10.

Minimum requirements to install Windows 10

Most recently, Microsoft posted online the necessary minimum system requirements that a device must have to download and install the new tenth OS. It is worth noting that there is no big difference from the requirements for version 8. As you know, the requirements for Eight are completely identical to the requirements for Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Based on this, we can conclude that to install the updated Windows 10, you need a single-core processor, clock frequency which is from one GHz.

In addition, installation requires only 1 gigabyte of RAM. As you can see, the requirements are quite standard. Of course, during Windows release Vista seemed excessive, and not every PC owner could afford to install the new version. Now such figures are acceptable for all owners modern gadgets. The eighth version of Windows can be installed even on a mobile device, therefore, the top ten is no exception.

Windows 10 Features

Windows 10 Home can update automatically. When a new update package appears, Windows will automatically notify the user and subsequently download necessary files, so you can feel calm and not think that you need to constantly monitor updates for your gadget to work properly.

Owners of Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise will be able to postpone the download and subsequent installation of updates for a while, which is also very convenient. But it is worth noting that in Windows 10 Pro time Debugging update downloads is limited.

Another advantage of the new version is that owners of gadgets with a small amount of memory will also be able to install the “top ten” without any problems. To complete the update, the user may need additional memory, so for such cases, the developers have compiled instructions that will appear on the updated OS installation screen.

By following the instructions, you can free up space on your gadget and install updated version operating systems. But it is possible that the system may require additional source free memory, such as a USB drive, which will help you complete the update.

Thanks to the storage system settings, the user can easily delete temporary files and even the previous version of the operating system. This will be especially useful for owners of devices with hard drives, the volume of which does not exceed 32 gigabytes. Naturally, after installing the “tens”, the user’s gadget may need cleaning and additional memory, so this will not be difficult to do.

In addition, the user can return to previous version Windows, but to do this you need to save in advance all the files of the version that was installed on your computer, phone or tablet before updating the system. For example, transfer them to a flash card, since after a month all files of the previous version will be automatically deleted. Consequently, the memory on the device will also be freed.

It is worth noting that to receive and download important updates The system requires access to the Internet. This is not new, however, in this case It is important to take one point into account. Windows Ten is big file, the volume of which can be approximately three gigabytes. Therefore, some Internet service providers may require a fee, so in such a situation, you should confirm this point with the provider.

System updates may also depend on many other factors. For example, this could be support for drivers and built-in software. Compatibility of some applications also plays a big role, as does support for various special functions.

Even if the device fully meets all system requirements, it is very important to also take into account all of the above factors. In addition, during an OS update, some applications, settings and files will be automatically transferred, although it is likely that some of them will remain in their original place.

And finally, a little about antiviruses and their compatibility with the new Windows 10. If an antivirus previously installed on the device turns out to be incompatible with the tenth version of the operating system, the system will automatically remove it, but all the parameters of the protection program will remain saved.

It is possible that after downloading the new version, the antivirus developer will notify Microsoft about the release of its updated product, which will be compatible with Windows 10. In such a case, the owner of the device will immediately be aware of this Windows and will be able to install latest version myself.

Before you upgrade to Windows 10, you need to make sure that your hard drive has enough memory to accommodate it. After the update is completed, you may find that the system takes up more than expected space, but there are certain reasons for this.

How much space will Windows 10 take up?

The amount of space occupied by the system depends on which bit depth is selected - 32-bit or 64-bit. Installation ISO images weigh 2.4 GB for 32-bit and 5.5 GB for 64-bit systems. Let us remind you that the bit depth determines whether the system can solve problems in two threads or not, so focus on the number of processor cores, and not on the weight of the source file.

The installed system, according to official Microsoft data, will occupy 16 GB if it is 32-bit, and 20 GB if it is 64-bit. Of course, the figures are approximate and relevant only for pure home version. Professional and corporate edition Windows is not much different in size, but exactly 16 or 20 GB after installation will not work in any case.

Why does the system take up more space?

You may encounter the fact that the system takes up more than the promised volume due to the transition to new Windows through an update rather than a clean install. Performing a clean installation involves deleting all files on the hard or SSD drives and booting the system to absolutely empty section. If you switched to Windows 10 using this method, then the only thing that may cause the system to weigh more than expected is downloaded updates.

After Windows is installed, it begins automatic check and downloading available updates. Updates are downloaded to the computer's memory and stored there for some time, and only then erased. In addition, the system by default creates some backups in case you want to uninstall the latest versions by performing a rollback. These backups also take up disk space.

The second way to switch to Windows 10 is to upgrade from a previous version of the operating system. The peculiarity of this method is that almost all the user’s files and programs are not deleted, but are transferred to the new system. Consequently HDD loaded not only with the bare system, but also with personal files and applications. That is, it was not Windows 10 itself that took up more space than it should have, but elements that moved from previous Windows.

There are two ways to upgrade to Windows 10: upgrade and clean install

But another reason for the appearance of excess weight is a backup copy of the previous Windows, created in case the user for some reason does not like Windows 10 and wants to return to the previously used version. By default, the created file is stored on the system partition of the disk and is automatically deleted after 30 days, which starts from the moment Windows 10 is installed. The backup copy can weigh several gigabytes, which greatly changes the size occupied by the system. But you can delete it yourself, see the section “Deleting a backup copy of a previous OS.”

The Windows.old folder is stored on the system drive

Find out where memory goes

Windows 10 has special remedy, which describes in detail how the memory of a hard drive or SSD is used. It’s worth using to find out exactly why the system weighs more than expected:

Expand system settings. Open system parameters
Go to the "System" block.
Open the “System” section
Select the “Storage” sub-item. You will see several bars corresponding different sections, into which the disk is divided. Using them you can find out how much space is free at the moment. To move on to more detailed description section, click on one of them.
We find out how busy the partitions are in the “Storage” sub-item
The bar will be colored in different colors, each of which will correspond to a specific file type. The longer the bar, the more space this particular type of file takes up. Free place painted grey. Below the bar is a detailed comparison of colors and their associated file types.
Available detailed list what disk memory is used for

After studying the above section, you can find out which elements are causing the disk memory to decrease. Once you know this, you will have to decide what to do with the files: delete them or leave them. But under no circumstances delete any system files, this will lead to system failure and, possibly, its complete unusability. The only exception is update and backup files.

Cleaning Windows after installation

If you find that Windows 10 takes up too much space after installing, there are three options: files from the previous system were transferred to the new one, updates were automatically downloaded, or a backup copy of the previous Windows was created. In the first case, you will have to decide for yourself which files and programs should be deleted, since this is your personal data. Before deleting it is recommended to copy potentially important files to a third-party storage device so as not to lose them forever.

Cleaning your computer from updates

Before you start cleaning updates, it's worth knowing that removing them may result in you not being able to roll back the system to a previous version, even if updates downloaded after cleaning break the system. It is also possible that the updates you are removing have not yet been installed, so they will be downloaded again as soon as the system has access to the Internet. Therefore, you should first restart your computer, since updates are installed during the process of turning off and on.

Updates are being installed during shutdown

So, downloaded updates are stored in the WinSxS folder, which has the same name in previous operating systems. Under no circumstances try to delete it yourself or clear the contents using the “Delete” function in Explorer. The folder stores not only updates, but also other files that are useful for the functioning of the system. Removing them will cause Windows to stop working. Cleaning is strictly recommended only in the following way:

Expand Command Prompt as Administrator. Opening command line on behalf of administrator
Write and run the command Dism.exe/online/cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore. The procedure for scanning the folder will begin, at the end of which you will receive a report on its load and a system decision telling you whether it is worth cleaning it or not. See the penultimate line printed.
Run the command Dism.exe /online/cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore
If the answer is yes, that is, Windows recommends cleaning the folder, run the command Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup. The successful completion of the procedure will be indicated by the message “Operation completed successfully” displayed on the command line.
Deleting content WinSxS folders by running the command Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup

Please note that performing cleaning when the system does not recommend doing so can lead to the opposite effect: the folder will increase in size.

Digging into Windows settings 10, you can find a list of updates located in the Control Panel. There you can select the update and remove it. But you shouldn’t do this, since this list is already installed versions. Removing them will cause the system to roll back to a version that does not use this update. Having already deleted installed update, you will stop having current version Windows 10

There is a function to remove updates, but you shouldn’t use it

Video: clearing Windows from updates

Deleting a previous OS backup

The backup created after upgrading to Windows 10 will be automatically erased 30 days after the transition to the new system. If you don't want to wait and are sure that you won't want to go back to the previously used version, you can delete the copy yourself:

Press the Win+R combination on your keyboard to open the Run window. Write the cleanmgr command in it and click “OK” to launch the cleanup wizard.
Execute the command cleanmrg
Select system partition disk (partition C by default), since this is where the copy is stored. Selecting the system disk partition
Expand the list of system files by proceeding to clean them. Select three items and start deleting
An alternative method is to run the command RD /S /Q "%SystemDrive%\Windows.old" in a Command Prompt running as an administrator. But it is better to use the method described above, since it allows you to delete other unnecessary files related to the previous and new system.
Execute the command RD /S /Q “%SystemDrive%\Windows.old”

Compact OS function

Windows 10 has a feature designed to reduce the size of system files by compressing them - Compact OS. It allows you to reduce the system size by approximately 2 GB when using the 64-bit version and by 1.6 GB when using the 32-bit version.

The feature is more suitable for tablets running Windows 10, as they usually have very little memory. But it can also be used on computers, taking into account that performance will decrease, since all files will be archived, as a result of which the computer will have to unpack them each time it is accessed. Compression is recommended to be used only on powerful builds with a powerful video card and processor. Of course, it is rare to find high-performance components connected to a small hard or SSD disk, on which even the system does not fit.

But if this is your case, or you are willing to sacrifice speed for space, then do the following actions: Launch a command prompt as an administrator and run the command compact /compactos:always. The compression procedure will begin, it can last more than half an hour, the compression speed will depend on the performance of the processor and the recording capacity of the disk.

Execute the command compact /compactos:always

If you want to disable compression in the future, run compact /compactos:never. Performance will return, but the system volume will also be restored to its previous size.

The system may take up more than it should for three reasons: files have been transferred from a previous Windows system, backups have been created, or updates have been downloaded. Personal files must be sorted and deleted yourself, and updates and copies are erased via system line or Windows tools 10. In some cases it is worth using the Compact OS function.

Users are often interested in the question of how much disk space Windows 10 takes up after installation. The answer to this question cannot be given unambiguously, since the Windows operating system is constantly updated. Each next update already weighs slightly more than the previous one.

Before considering how much space the Windows 10 operating system takes up after installation and comparing it with previous versions, we suggest considering the official minimum system requirements that Microsoft published on its official website. These requirements must suit you to install the system on your computer.

CPU: not less than 1 GHz
RAM: 1 GB for 32-bit system or 2 GB for 64-bit system
Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS or 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Video adapter: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

As you can see, the developers claim that 16 GB for a 32-bit OS or 20 GB for a 64-bit OS should be enough for installation. For comfortable use you need to have some free disk space.

How much does a Windows 10 image weigh?

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the image of the Windows 10 operating system version 1803 weighs 3 gigabytes - the 32-bit version and 4.2 gigabytes for the 64-bit version. All data was taken from the site tb.rg-adguard.net, from where you can actually see the sizes of images of previous versions of Windows.

This is exactly what needs to be taken into account if necessary, since a 4 GB flash drive may not always be enough for this.

At the time of release, Microsoft announced that Winodws 10 will take up less space due to optimization and compression. If you look at it in practice, then everything is somewhat different. Because the 32-bit Windows 10 version Home takes after installation 13 gigabytes memory, and 64-bit version weighs approx. 16 gigabyte. At the same time completely updated 32-bit Windows 10 Professional weighs a little more 20 gigabytes, A 64-bit version weighs approx. 25 gigabytes.

If we compare these indicators with the minimum system requirements, we can conclude that they were indicated using the example of installing a home version of the Windows 10 operating system.

At the same time, the second most popular operating system Windows 7 after installation using a standard distribution, which already includes the SP1 update package, stationary system For 32-bit versions takes OT 5 to 8 GB, and systems with 64 bit – from 11 to 16 GB.

The system disk is usually local disk C, on which the system is installed. During the operating system installation process, users are given the chance to select the size of the system disk and expand it if necessary. Therefore, users have a question about what size of the system disk should be set for normal operation computer.

When installing the Windows 10 operating system, it is recommended to select system disk volume of at least 100 gigabytes. This volume will be optimal for normal operation of the system. To be honest, the system will work with much less memory, but the system performance as a whole will be significantly inferior to the previous option.

conclusions

In this article we answered main question users how much space Windows 10 takes up after installation. We also recommend that you pay attention to the paragraph in our article, the recommended size of the system disk.

If you upgrade to Windows 10 from previous versions of Windows, such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, or if you install more fresh update on Windows 10, some features may be deprecated or removed. See below for information on some key remote features:

Phone Manager: With the release of the April 2018 update, we announced that we would be ceasing further development of Phone Manager. Starting with the October 2018 update, the Phone Manager app is removed from your PCs. For synchronization mobile phone From a PC, use the Phone page in the Settings app. It contains all the functions of the phone manager.
Home group: will be removed starting with the April 2018 update. However, you will still be able to share printers, files, and folders. After Windows updates 10 through April 2018, the homegroup will no longer appear in File Explorer, Control Panel, or in the troubleshooting section (Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot). Any printers, files, or folders that you shared using home group, will have general access. Now to provide public access To printers, files or folders instead of a homegroup, you can use the features built into Windows 10:

Xbox 360 and HomeGroup users can learn more about media streaming

People app: In Windows 10, email messages received from Office 365 contacts as well as contacts from your educational institution or organizations are displayed in People app In chapter Conversations. Starting with the April 2018 update, to view new mail messages in the People app, these specific contacts will require you to be online or logged in with either account Office 365, either for school or organization accounts through the apps, or Calendar. Please note that you will only be able to see messages for school/organization accounts and some Office 365 accounts.
Reader application: The Reader app will be removed from Windows 10 with the Fall Creators Update (Windows 10 version 1709). To view PDF files use Microsoft Edge- a recommended application as a replacement for the one being removed, which has similar functionality, as well as additional functions, including extended support special features, improved ink input, and support for Ask Cortana. Likewise, it is recommended that you use the XPS Viewer for Windows to view XPS files and application " Windows Photos" to view TIFF files. Please note that users are more than earlier versions Windows 10 can continue to use the Reader app.
Windows Log: When you install the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Windows 10, version 1607), your Windows history will be deleted. After this you will no longer be able to open or edit files Windows log with JNT or JTP extension. We recommend using OneNote instead of Windows Journal. For more information on how to open or edit log files if necessary, see .
digital rights management Windows Media(WMDRM): After installation Anniversary update Windows 10 (Windows 10, version 1607) will no longer support digital management Windows rights Media (WMDRM). As a result, you will no longer be able to play audio and video files protected with this technology. for more information.
Windows Media Center If you're using Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Professional with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Professional with Media Center, Windows Media Center will be removed when you install Windows 10.
Control mobile devices(MDM) MDM feature will not be available in Windows 10 Home after Windows release 10.
Worker gadgets Windows desktop 7: Windows 7 desktop gadgets will be removed during Windows 10 installation.
Games "Klondike", "Sapper" and "Hearts": The Klondike, Minesweeper, and Hearts games that come pre-installed in Windows 7 will be removed when you upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft has released versions of the Klondike and Minesweeper games under the Microsoft name Solitaire Collection" and "Microsoft Minesweeper".
Floppy drives: If you have a floppy drive, you will need to download latest version drivers from the Windows Update client component or from the manufacturer's website.
If your system has "Basic Windows components Live", OneDrive app will be removed and replaced with the built-in version of OneDrive.
Placeholder files in OneDrive: Windows 10 doesn't support OneDrive placeholder files. Windows 8.1 displays available placeholder files in OneDrive instead of locally on the device. In Windows 10, users can choose which folders to sync in OneDrive settings.
Attachment: In tablet mode, you can pin a maximum of two apps.