One command disables reserved storage. That part is easy. The part nobody explains is the morning after: what your next update looks like without a safety reserve, and how much free space you now have to protect yourself. This page covers both — the exact steps, then the honest consequences.
The disable itself is a supported Microsoft switch, not a hack — DISM has offered it since Windows 10 version 2004 for exactly this purpose. Follow the steps in order, because two of them exist only to save you from the one error everyone hits: trying to flip the state while the reserve is busy being used by an update. Then read the last section before you fill the freed space with games — it explains the new rule your PC lives by from now on.
👆 A successful disable looks boring — that is good. Errors and their fixes have their own page in this series.
If Windows is mid-update, the reserve is in use and the state change will be refused with a polite error. Clear the decks first.
DISM changes system state, so the window must be elevated. A normal command prompt will fail with an elevation error.
DISM /Online /Set-ReservedStorageState /State:DisabledCopy the command character for character. A missing slash or a typo in /State:Disabled produces an unknown-option error, not a partial change.
The state changes at once; the bookkeeping catches up after a restart.
DISM /Online /Get-ReservedStorageState — it should now report disabledOn some systems the free space total only reflects the release after a second restart. Judge the result by the DISM state first and the free space second.
Nothing breaks, and updates do not stop. The difference is invisible until the day your drive is nearly full. Monthly quality updates are small and will install as before. A feature update is the real test: it downloads several gigabytes and needs working room on top, and without a reserve it takes that room from your free space.
If there is not enough, the update fails — classically with disk full error 0x80070070 — and you free space and try again. Annoying, not fatal. The working rule from now on: keep 10 to 15 GB free on C as your own reserve, or switch reserved storage back on before feature update season and off again after.
Watch the disable command run live in the video, including the before and after free space.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNo. It is a documented, supported DISM state. Windows, your apps and your files work exactly as before — only the guaranteed update space is gone.
No, updates continue normally. The risk appears only when the drive is nearly full: an update that cannot find enough free space can fail until you clear room.
The release can lag behind the state change. Restart once more, then verify with the Get command — if the state says disabled, the space is being released and the total will settle.