5 Ways to Fix the "We can't tell if your PC has enough space to install Windows 11" Error

Updated by

Tracy King 

Written by

Linda 

Last updated on May 2, 2024

Are you excited about the free upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11? Unfortunately, every time you try to update your device to Windows 11, you encounter one of the following error messages. All these errors point to one issue – insufficient disk space for Windows 11 update.

• "Windows needs more space."
• "Can't install due to insufficient disk space."
• "Get more space using an external storage."
• "There is not enough available space on the partition (C:)."
• "We couldn't determine if your PC has enough free space to continue installing Windows 11," etc.

Unable to determine if the PC has enough space to install the Windows 11 theme.

Why do I get the error "We couldn't determine if your PC has enough free space to install Windows 11"?

Any idea why you're getting all these error messages?

This is because, to install the Windows 11 update, your device must have 64 GB or more of available space. This is a mandatory requirement mentioned in the Windows 11 hardware and system requirements list.

If your PC doesn't meet these requirements, you're likely to see one of the errors listed here when you try to install Windows 11.

Among these, one of the most prominent is the “Windows doesn't have enough space to install Windows 11” error. Since Windows 10 and Windows 11 are designed to coexist, your device needs sufficient free space to accommodate the tools and processes of both operating systems.

To resolve this and successfully install Windows 11 on your computer, there are two simple solutions you can try:

One is to free up space on the device; the other is to get more space from another drive. Then, add the available space to the System C drive for expansion.

Here are 5 methods to fix this issue. You can click the button below to assist more users.

5 Ways to Fix the "We can't tell if your PC has enough space to install Windows 11" Error

Here, we've gathered 5 effective methods to help you fix the “We couldn't determine if your PC has enough free space to continue installing Windows 11” error. You can go through these methods one by one to free up enough space to complete the Windows 11 installation:

Please provide the English content you would like translated, and I will do my best to translate it into Chinese.

These methods are also effective in fixing the “We couldn't determine if you have enough space” issue when installing Windows 10 on an old computer.

So, here are five simple ways to get early access to Windows 11 and be among the first users.

Solution 1: Delete the Windows.old folder

The simplest solution to the “We couldn't determine if your PC has enough space to install Windows 11” error is to delete the “Windows.old” folder. This folder is automatically created starting from Windows Vista when you upgrade to another version of the Microsoft operating system. The Windows.old folder contains all the data from your previous version of Windows, which you can use to revert to an older version or retrieve files.

You can find the Windows.Old folder on the C: drive, where your system is installed. While this is a nice feature, this folder can take up 20 GB or more of your hard drive space, depending on how big the previous installation of Windows was.

If the Windows.old folder contains data from an earlier version of Windows, or if you no longer need your old files, it's best to delete the Windows.old folder to free up space for your Windows 11 update.

To remove the Windows.old folder, follow these steps:

Step 1: Click on the "Start" menu search box > Type "Clean up" > Click on "Disk Cleanup."

Step 2: Next, select the C: drive and click "OK." The system will scan your hard drive, then click "Clean up system files."

Step 3: When prompted, select the C: drive again and press OK.

Step 4: Now just check the box next to “Previous Windows installation(s)” and click “OK.”

This method can also greatly help you to solve the "low disk space" problem.

However, if you attempt to delete the Windows.old folder through File Explorer, you might get an error message. You can easily avoid this error by scanning and removing the Windows.old folder with the Disk Cleanup tool, as shown in Solution 2.

If you can't delete the Windows.old folder, follow this guide to find out why and remove it successfully.

Solved: Can't Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 11/10

While you can access the Windows.old folder, you need to get administrative permissions from the system to modify this folder. Without permission, you cannot directly delete Windows.old from the C: drive. Follow and learn how to remove it.

Solution 2: Delete Junk and Large Files

Your computer generates numerous junk files daily as it performs various tasks like opening documents or images. When these unnecessary files accumulate on your device, taking up significant space and bogging it down, they can also be one of the reasons behind your inability to successfully install Windows 11.

To fix this, you need a PC cleaner that can quickly and effectively hunt down and delete junk and large, unnecessary files.

By using a PC cleaning tool like CleanGenius, you can easily detect and get rid of junk, unnecessary, and rarely used files. Such a utility can also remove browser add-ons, free up RAM, optimize startup items, and more.

Step 1. Download and install the Partition Master Suite on your computer. Click on the panel to “Download PC Cleaner.”

Step 2. Install the CleanGenius tool on your computer. First, go to the “Clean” option and then click on “Scan.”

Step 3: CleanGenius will immediately start scanning for all junk files. Select the system junk files and invalid entries, then click “Clean” to tidy up your whole computer.

Step 4: When it's done, you'll see how many megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) of data were cleared. Tap “Finish” to complete the process.

The next three solutions are related to disk and partition space management. So, you still need a tool to manage the drive's space. Here, you can use another member of the tool family – tools Partition Master.

"Partition Master" is an easy-to-use disk partition software that has been utilized by over 60 million users worldwide. This tool can help expand your C drive space on your device, enabling you to smoothly receive the Windows 11 update. Additionally, it allows you to resize partitions, format disks, delete partitions, wipe disks, convert disk formats, and even migrate your operating system without reinstalling it.

So, let's look at three solutions to better manage your disk space!

Solution 3: Move free space to drive C

If you have more available space on your D, E, F, or G drives on the hard disk, you can easily reallocate that space to the C: drive. To do this, you simply use the “Allocate Space” feature on the Partition Master tool.

With it, you can free up unallocated and allocated space on Drive C and set up Windows 11 installation.

Step 1. Right-click on the D: partition with enough free space, and select "Extend Volume."

Step 2: Select the target partition - Partition C, then drag the partition panel to the right to add the free space of Partition D to Partition C. Then click “OK” to confirm.

Step 3. Click on “Execute Task” and then “Apply” to start the process of moving space from Drive D to Drive C.

Solution 4: Resize the C drive

If you have unallocated space on your system disk, you can use it to extend the C drive. To do this, you can use the “Resize/Move” feature of Partition Master.

Right-click on any drive except Drive C and choose “Resize/Move”. Then, drag the left panel of the partition to shrink it and leave unallocated space for Drive C so that you can have enough room for Windows 11.

Option 1: Extend System C Drive with Unallocated Space

1. Right-click on the System C drive and select "Resize/Move." 2. Drag the system partition towards the unallocated space to add it to the C drive. Then, click "OK." 3. Click "Apply" and "Execute Task" to perform the operation and extend the C drive.

Option 2: Extend the System C drive without unallocated space

1. On the system disk, right-click a large partition with sufficient free space and select "Allocate Space." 2. In the "Allocate space from (*) to" section, choose the system drive. Drag the end of the System C drive to the unallocated space. Click "OK" to confirm. 3. Click "Execute Task," which will list the pending operations. Then click "Apply" to save the changes and extend the C drive.

0:00-0:26 Extend the system drive with unallocated space; 0:27-0:58 Extend the system drive without unallocated space.

Solution 5: Merge C Drive with Other Drives

If you have multiple partitions on your hard disk and several drives with ample free space, while Drive C has almost no room left, you can merge the drives with a lot of available space into Drive C to create a larger C drive that can accommodate all Windows 11 updates.

This drive merging process might seem overwhelming, but once you have the Partition Manager tool installed, the process will become much simpler.

Step 1: Select the target partition

Right-click the partition you want to merge more space into and select “Merge.”

Merge adjacent partitions

Merge with one of its adjacent partitions that you select.

Click "OK" to continue.

Step 3: Perform the operation Merge Partitions

1. Click the "Perform Tasks" button at the top, then click "Apply." 2. The program will merge the spaces, adding the contents of the second partition to the first.

Final Thoughts on the "We Couldn't Determine If Your PC Has Enough Space to Install Windows 11" Error

So, Microsoft users, you can now prepare to install Windows 11 on your devices. Next time you get the error message “We couldn't determine whether your PC has enough free space to continue installing Windows 11,” you'll know how to address it.

As long as you have the hard drive space –

• Remove the Windows.old folder
• Eliminate junk files
• Migrate free space to Drive C
• Resize the C drive
• Merge C drive with other drives

To execute all these partition solutions, you can install the Partition Master tool today and easily manage partition resizing, shrinking, merging, and many other features. After trying out Windows 11, don't forget to share your experience here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on How to Determine if Your PC Has Enough Space for Windows 11 Installation - UTF-8 Encoding

If you have other related issues with not enough space for installing Windows 11, or if you can't install Windows 11 successfully, look for solutions under the listed problems.

1. How can I determine if my computer has enough space?

Here are some quick tips to help you resolve the "We can't tell if you have enough space" error: 1. **Check Disk Space**: First, ensure your computer's hard drive has sufficient free space. Right-click on "My Computer" or "This PC," select "Manage," and then click "Disk Management." Check the available space on each disk and ensure there's at least 16GB of free space. 2. **Clean Temporary Files**: Temp files can take up a lot of room. Press `Win + R` to open the Run dialog, type `%temp%`, and hit "OK." Delete all contents in the folder, but avoid deleting any files in use by running applications. 3. **Uninstall Un常用的 Apps**: Go to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Apps & features," find less frequently used apps, and uninstall them to free up space. 4. **Compress Files**: Use the built-in "Compress and Decompress" feature to compress large files or folders to save space. Right-click on a file or folder, choose "Send to" > "Compressed (zipped) folder." 5. **Move Files to External Storage**: Shift some large files to a USB drive, external hard drive, or cloud storage service to alleviate the load on your primary drive. 6. **Run Disk Cleanup Tool**: Use Windows' built-in "Disk Cleanup" tool to find and delete unnecessary system files and other junk data. Type "disk cleanup" in the search bar and follow the wizard's instructions. After following these steps, try reinstalling or updating the program again to see if the issue is resolved. If the problem persists, you may need to investigate further for other potential underlying issues.

• Run Disk Cleanup
• Delete the Windows.old folder
• Clean up and remove junk files and large, unused files
• Extend the C drive using unallocated space or free disk space
• Migrate the operating system to a new, larger disk
• Transfer files to an external hard drive

2. How much disk space does Windows 11 require?

According to the system requirements for Windows 11, you need at least 64 GB or more of available storage to install Windows 11.

3. Do I have enough space on my device to install Windows 11?

To make sure your PC has enough room – or at least 64GB of free space for the Windows 11 upgrade or install – you can open Disk Management and look at the free space on the System C: drive on the left.

If there's enough space, you can install Windows 11. If not, you can expand your system C: drive to free up enough room to install Windows 11.