Your C drive is smaller than the box promised — and roughly 7 GB of it is not lost, it is reserved. Windows set that space aside on purpose, so updates never fail for lack of room. This guide explains what reserved storage really does, how to check its state in ten seconds, and how to switch it off safely when your drive genuinely needs the space back.
Reserved storage arrived with Windows 10 version 1903 and continued into Windows 11. On a clean install, Windows sets aside around 7 GB that only the system may use — for updates, temporary files and caches — so a feature update never dies halfway with a disk full error. The honest summary: on a 512 GB SSD it is cheap insurance you will never notice. On a 64 GB or 128 GB drive it is real money. Do not decide from a headline. Check the state first, read your own number, then disable it only if the maths works for your PC.
👆 The exact output of the state check on a PC where reserved storage is enabled. Version numbers vary by Windows build.
Everything starts here. You cannot manage what you have not measured, and this check takes ten seconds.
DISM /Online /Get-ReservedStorageState and press EnterIf it already says disabled, your PC is not holding a reserve at all — the missing space is somewhere else, and this is not your fix.
The famous 7 GB figure is a starting size, not a promise. Optional features and extra display languages make the reserve grow, so read the number on your machine.
That figure — not a screenshot from the internet — is what you will actually get back if you disable it.
Microsoft ships an official switch for this. No registry hack and no third-party tool is needed.
DISM /Online /Set-ReservedStorageState /State:DisabledThe state flips immediately, but the freed gigabytes can take a restart — occasionally two — to show up as free space while Windows releases the held area.
Disabling the reserve does not damage Windows, and updates keep working. What changes is the safety margin. Without a reserve, an update competes for the same free space as your files. On a nearly full drive, a feature update can now fail with a disk full error such as 0x80070070 — exactly the failure reserved storage was invented to prevent.
The safe way to live without it: keep at least 10 to 15 GB free on the C drive as your own manual reserve, and consider switching the reserve back on before a big feature update. Small drive, disciplined owner — good trade. Family PC that is always full — keep the reserve.
Reserved storage in Windows 11 — the live state check, the disable command and the result, shown on a real PC.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNo. The recovery partition is separate space on the disk that holds the Windows Recovery Environment. Reserved storage lives inside your C drive volume and is space Windows holds for updates, apps, temporary files and caches.
No. It only releases space Windows was holding for itself. Your documents, apps and settings are not touched, and the change is fully reversible with the same command using State Enabled.
Exactly what the Reserved storage line shows on the System and reserved page in Storage settings — about 7 GB on most PCs, and more on systems with many optional features or extra languages installed.