7 Ways to Free Up Space on C Drive in Windows Server 2022/2019/2016 (UTF-8)

The Necessity of Cleaning Up the C Drive on a Windows Server Computer

The importance of free space on the C drive of your Windows Server cannot be overstated. If your Windows Server doesn't have enough free space, it can cause you problems. Hence, it's crucial to have some free space on the C drive.

If the C drive doesn't have enough space, Windows Server may experience delays during runtime. The system may boot slowly and freeze at certain points. Therefore, you need to clean up the C drive on your Windows Server regularly.

Here are seven simple and effective ways to clean up your Windows Server computer's C drive: 1. Delete temporary files: Cleaning temporary files is an excellent way to free up disk space. Open the "Run" dialog box (press Win+R), type `%temp%`, and click "OK." This will open the Temp folder, where you can delete all its contents. 2. Uninstall unnecessary programs: Access "Control Panel" > "Uninstall a Program," review the list, and uninstall applications you no longer use. This helps reduce the space occupied on the C drive. 3. Clean system restore points: In "System Properties," select the "System Protection" tab, and then click "Configure." Choose "Delete all restore points" to free up space. 4. Manage hibernation and memory dump files: Go to "Power Options" > "Change plan settings" > "Change advanced power settings." Under "Sleep," expand "Hibernate" and "Hybrid Sleep" and disable them. Additionally, open "Command Prompt" as an administrator and enter `powercfg /h off` to disable the hibernation file, freeing more space. 5. Move user folders: If your user folders take up a lot of space, consider moving them to another drive. In "Control Panel" > "User Accounts" > "Manage another account," select the account, and click "Move your files." 6. Use the Disk Cleanup tool: Right-click on the C drive, select "Properties," and then click the "Disk Cleanup" button. The tool will automatically find and suggest deleting unnecessary files. 7. Compress old files: Right-click on the C drive, choose "Properties," and then click "Advanced" on the "General" tab. In the pop-up dialog, select "Compress this drive to save disk space." By following these steps, you should be able to effectively clean up your C drive and free up valuable storage space. Make sure to back up important data before performing any operations.

1. 1. Disable Hibernation
2. 2. Run Disk Cleanup
3. 3. Move Large Programs to Another Drive
4. 4. Uninstall Unnecessary Apps
5. 5. Run System Files and Large File Cleanups
6. 6. Free Up More Space on Your C Drive
7. 7. Turn On Storage Sense

Guidelines for Cleaning up the C Drive on a Windows Server Computer Using the Methods Mentioned Above

When using these methods, you must decide on the scope of the cleanup. If you want to get rid of junk files from your C: drive, the first two approaches are perfect.

Unlike the above two methods, following other ways can also help you clean up C drive and increase its storage capacity. They can also speed up your Windows computer, free up C drive space, and enhance the storage capacity of C drive.

1. Disable Hibernate

Your Windows Server computer has a hibernation file called "hiberfil.sys" on the C drive. The hiberfil.sys file is created when the Hibernate feature is enabled. When your computer goes into hibernation, it saves the current state of the Windows Server computer.

While it does save state, it does so at the cost of your C: drive space. Disabling hibernation can help free up some space on your C: drive.

Follow these steps to disable the hibernation feature on a Windows Server 2022/2019/2016 machine: 1. 打开命令提示符以管理员权限运行: - 按下 `Win + X` 键组合，然后选择 "命令提示符(管理员)" 或 "PowerShell(管理员)"，具体取决于你的操作系统。 2. 在命令提示符窗口中，输入以下命令，然后按 Enter: ``` powercfg.exe /hibernate off ``` 3. 系统将确认已禁用休眠。你可以通过以下命令验证设置： ``` powercfg.exe /hibernate on ``` 如果休眠被禁用，此命令将显示 "The hibernate feature is disabled." 4. 关闭命令提示符窗口。 现在，你的Windows Server已经禁用了休眠功能。要重新启用休眠，只需在步骤2中将命令更改为 `powercfg.exe /hibernate on` 并执行即可。

Step 1: Open the Command Prompt (CMD).

Press the Windows key + R, then type cmd into the Run window that pops up. Press ↵ Enter to open Command Prompt.

Step 2: Type the command “powercfg.exe /hibernate off” in the CMD window and press Enter.

Running this command will disable hibernation, freeing up some space on your C: drive and cleaning it up.

2. Run Disk Cleanup

On a Windows Server, the C drive contains all the files associated with your programs and server. Some of these files are unnecessary and take up a lot of space on the C drive.

You can use the Disk Cleanup tool to free up space on your Windows server's C drive by removing unnecessary data, temporary files, cache files, and Recycle Bin items. To perform a disk cleanup on your Windows server, follow these steps: 1. Press `Win + E` to open File Explorer. 2. Right-click on the `C:` drive (usually named "Local Disk (C:)") and select `Properties` from the context menu. 3. In the Properties window, click on the `Disk Cleanup` button. 4. The Disk Cleanup utility will calculate how much space can be freed up. This may take a few moments. 5. Once the calculation is complete, check the boxes for the file types you want to delete. At a minimum, consider selecting: - Temporary Internet Files - Downloaded Program Files - Recycle Bin - System error memory dump files - Old chkdsk files - Temporary Windows installation or update files - Thumbs.db files - Previous Windows installations (if you have any) 6. You can also choose to clean up system files by clicking on the `Clean up system files` button. This will require administrator privileges. Make sure to select the same items as before, plus any additional system-specific files. 7. Click `OK` to start the cleanup process. A confirmation prompt may appear; click `Delete Files` to proceed. 8. Wait for the process to finish. It might take some time, depending on the amount of data to be deleted. After the cleanup is complete, your Windows server's C drive should have more available space. Regularly performing this maintenance task can help optimize your server's performance.

Caution: Be careful when cleaning up the disk on the server computer. Remove only unnecessary files and do not delete any required files for the server computer.

Step 1: Open the properties of the C drive on the Windows server.

You can open the Properties window for Drive C by opening File Explorer, right-clicking on “C:”, and selecting “Properties.”

Step 2: In the window that pops up, select “Disk Cleanup.”

Step 3: Disk Cleanup will show you how much space you can free up on the C drive.

Step 4: Uncheck the boxes next to any files you don't need. When you're done, click “OK.”

Running the C Drive Cleaner tool on a Windows Server

3. Moving Large Programs from the C Drive to Another Drive

You can clean up your Windows Server C drive by moving large programs to another drive, thus freeing up space on the C drive.

Migrating an application, however, is more than just copying and pasting it from one location to another, because a program has many libraries and dependency modules that all have to be relocated correctly.

A professional file transfer software like the Todo PCTrans Technician tool can easily move programs from your Windows Server C drive without any hassle. The applications moved this way don't require you to reinstall them.

Todo PCTrans Technician is the recommended software for migrating installed applications. It offers an Application Migration feature that lets you move installed apps from one drive to another.

To quickly move installed programs from the C drive to another disk on a Windows Server, follow these steps:

Step 1: Run Todo PCTrans and choose the transfer mode

On the main interface of Todo PCTrans, go to the “App Transfer” section and click “Start” to proceed.

Select Transfer Mode

Step 2. Choose the apps to transfer and another drive

1. Select the source partition, and check the applications, programs, and software you want to migrate (labeled as “Yes”).

2. Click the triangle icon and select another drive or disk as the target device, then click “Migrate” to start the migration.

Select the apps to migrate:

Step 3: Complete the migration process

After the transfer is complete, click OK to finish.

You can restart your computer to apply the changes, and the migration app should work on the other drive again.

4. Remove Unnecessary Apps

Uninstalling unused apps can also help you free up space on your C drive on a Windows Server computer. Sometimes, there might be some large, unnecessary apps on the C drive. Uninstalling them can free up space.

Follow these steps to uninstall unnecessary apps from the C drive on a Windows computer:

Step 1: Open the Control Panel.

You can find and open Control Panel through the Search bar in the Taskbar.

Step 2: In the Control Panel, click on "Uninstall a program" under the "Programs" category.

Uninstall the program using Control Panel

Step three: identify the duds, and uninstall them one by one.

Uninstall unnecessary programs via Control Panel

Note: You can also use the Todo PCTrans Technician tool to uninstall unwanted applications.

5. Run System and Large File Cleanup

Todo PCTrans Technician also helps you to perform system cleanup and large file cleanup to free up space on your C drive. The System Cleanup feature can remove all unnecessary and junk files from your C drive.

You can also use Todo PCTrans Technician to move user folders from the C drive to another location. With these two great features of Todo PCTrans Technician, you can free up a lot of space on your C drive.

It is highly recommended that Windows Server users download and install this software. After downloading and installing it, follow these steps to perform a system cleanup and large file cleanup:

Step 1: Launch the Todo PCTrans tool on your computer. Click “System Cleanup” and then hit the “Scan” button to proceed.

When the scan is finished, a list of junk files will be displayed. Select the ones you don't need. Be careful not to delete anything that might affect your computer's or any software's performance.

Step 3: Click the “Clean” button and confirm the cleanup. You can use this feature regularly to free up disk space.

6. Add More Space to Drive C

Resizing your current partition will allow you to increase the size of your system C: drive. There is a significant risk involved when making changes to partitions on your computer. If something goes wrong, you could lose data and corrupt your entire partition scheme.

Thus, if you want to extend the system C drive, you need reliable partition management software. Partition Master Server Enterprise Edition is a highly recommended program.

It only takes you a few simple steps to add more space to your Windows server C drive. To effectively utilize the Partition Master Server program to expand the storage capacity of the C drive, follow these steps:

Option 1: Extend the System C Drive using Unallocated Space

1. Right-click on the System C drive and select "Resize/Move." 2. Drag the endpoint of 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. Right-click on a partition with enough space on the system disk and select "Allocate Space." 2. In the "Allocate from (*) to" section, choose the system drive, then drag the end of System C: to the unallocated space. Click "OK" to confirm. 3. Click "Perform Tasks" to see the pending operations, then click "Apply" to save the changes and extend the C: drive.

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

7. Enable Storage Sense

If you can't clean up your Windows Server C drive on your own, Storage Sense can help. Storage Sense is available on Windows Server. Enabling it can help your system automatically get rid of unnecessary files and data.

To enable Storage Sense on Windows Server, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Settings app in Windows.

Step 2: Go to the Storage section of the System menu.

Figure: Open the Storage panel

Step 3: Toggle the Storage Sense slider.

Step 4: Configure Storage Sense settings.

Manage default settings for Storage Sense:

You can use the default storage sense settings, or customize them to your preference.

Additionally, we recommend using the Todo PCTrans Technician software to automate these processes, making cleanup effortless. Click on the button below to learn more about this data transfer tool:

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Conclusions

Windows Server helps manage and create server computers. Usually, the Windows Server operating system is installed on a computer's C drive. As such, you need to clean the C drive on your Windows Server to avoid issues.

When it comes to cleaning up the C drive on Windows Server 2022, 2019, or 2016, there are seven methods you can employ. To get rid of junk files, you can try disabling hibernation and running Disk Cleanup.

Other methods, such as mobile apps, app uninstallers, system cleaners, and comprehensive file cleaners, can help optimize server performance.