Windows 10 Will Soon Reserve 7GB For Future Updates

Windows 10 Will Set Aside 7GB of Reserved Storage

Back in 2015, Microsoft revamped their operating system product with Windows 10. Breaking with the previous service pack model, the company decided to make Windows 10 into service. Under the new software as a service model, the OS would get constant updates, with major ones dropping 1-2 times a year. However, in order to fit Windows into this new model, the OS may soon start reserving extra storage for itself.

Windows 10 users have sometimes had an update fail in the recent number of months. After investigating, Microsoft has figured out that issue is that there isn’t enough room on drives. Some systems are simply failing the update as they don’t have enough space to download or install the update. Instead of prompting an error message of some kind, the updates simply failed on their own.

Reserved Space Will Vary Based on System Specs

Due to this problem, Windows 10 systems are not upgrading properly, ruining the whole software as a service model. To solve this problem, Microsoft is forcing systems to reserve and set aside 7GB of storage. This will stop updates from failing due to lack of storage space. The only consolation is that the system will use this space for temporary cache and system files.  For most users, the real world impact is Windows 10 being 7GB more bloated. For those Windows devices with 32-64GB of storage, this is a significant chunk of their capacity.

It’s a shame that Microsoft can’t get the install working with less space. While it is understandable to make this move, it would be better to let the user take charge. Simply let the user know that their storage is too full and the user decides to delete stuff so the update can proceed. Sadly, Microsoft really wants users to be on the latest version of Windows. Choice has not been the calling card when it comes to Windows 10.