There is not enough free disk space to complete the System BIOS and Device Firmware update operation

[Larry313]

There is not enough free disk space to complete the System BIOS and Device Firmware update operation, Win 10, 64-bit.

[Garp_senchau]

@Larry313, Welcome to HP Support Community,

Thank you for posting your query; I’m here to help by guiding you through steps to resolve this issue

When attempting to update the System BIOS and Device Firmware on a Windows 10 64-bit system, sufficient free disk space is crucial. If you're encountering issues due to inadequate free space, follow these steps to resolve it:

Check Current Disk Space:

• Go to Storage settings: Open the Start menu, type "Storage settings," and select it.
• Review how much space is currently available on the drive. The system drive (usually C:) should have at least 15% free space.

Free Up Space via Storage Sense:

• Under Storage settings, enable Storage Sense to automatically free up space by removing unnecessary files.
• Click on Configure Storage Sense or run it now and enable cleaning of temporary files.

Manual Cleanup:

• Use Disk Cleanup: Search for "Disk Cleanup," select the drive you want to clean, and choose which files to delete.
• Delete unnecessary files from Downloads, Desktop, and other folders.

Uninstall Unnecessary Applications:

• In Apps & features, review installed applications and remove any that are not needed.

Move Large Files:

• Transfer files such as videos, photos, and documents to external storage or cloud storage to free up space.

Empty Recycle Bin:

• Make sure to empty the Recycle Bin to increase available disk space.

These steps should help you free up sufficient space on your system drive. Once the necessary disk space is available, you can proceed with the BIOS and firmware update safely.

I hope this helps.

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

If my response helped, please mark it as an Accepted Solution! ✅ It helps others and spreads support. 💙 Also, tapping "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" makes a big difference! Thanks! 😊

Regards,

[Larry313]

Thanks for your response although it does not solve my issue. The message I get from HP is: "HP recommends creating a BIOS recovery partition to enable this device to automatically recover in the event of a BIOS corruption. This partition will use 256 MB of free space."

It then gives two options:

- Create partition (recommended)
- Proceed without creating a partition

After choosing the recommended option 1, that’s when I finally get the message “There is not enough free disk space to complete the System BIOS and Device Firmware update operation.”

Now, my (C:) Local Disk has 154 GB free of 299 GB (which obviously is insufficient). But (D:) New Volume has 579 GB free of 585 GB and (H:) New Volume has 932 GB free of 976 GB, where (D:) & (H:) are partitions of the Local Disk (C:).

For the last several years, I have tried installing the BIOS update (shown here below) on either of the three storage spaces, but without success and yet (D:) & (H:) have a lot more free space than is required for the update. That’s what really baffles me!

HP Consumer Desktop PC BIOS Update (ROM Family SSID 843C)

This package provides an update to the HP Consumer Desktop PC BIOS (ROM Family 843C) for supported models running a supported operating system

SoftPaq number: sp156602

Version: F.55

Size: 11.13 MB

[Garp_senchau]

Hey @Larry313, 

Thanks for the detailed explanation—this clears things up quite a bit. What's happening here is less about overall free space and more about where the free space is located and how the HP BIOS update utility operates. Here's how to resolve this:

Why You're Seeing the Error

When you choose the “Create partition (recommended)” option, HP tries to create a BIOS recovery partition on the system drive (C:) only—and not on 😧 or H:. Even though C: has plenty of space overall (154 GB free), the BIOS utility specifically looks for unallocated or contiguous free space near the end of the physical drive to carve out a 256 MB recovery partition. If that space isn't available as a continuous block, you'll see the "not enough free disk space" error.

Use Disk Management to Shrink C: Drive and Create Unallocated Space

You need to shrink the main C: volume to make space for the BIOS recovery partition:

Press Win + X > choose Disk Management.

Right-click on the C: drive > click Shrink Volume.

Shrink by at least 300 MB (give more room just to be safe).

This will create unallocated space after the C: volume.

⚠️ Do not format the unallocated space—leave it as-is. The BIOS updater will use it.

Re-run the BIOS Update Utility

Now that there is raw unallocated space:

Re-run the BIOS update package (sp156602).

Choose “Create partition (recommended)” again.

It should now proceed without error and create the recovery partition in the space you just freed.

I hope this helps.

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

If my response helped, please mark it as an Accepted Solution! ✅ It helps others and spreads support. 💙 Also, tapping "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" makes a big difference! Thanks! 😊

Regards,

[Larry313]

Shrinking (C:) will make it even smaller, won't it? Or did you mean expand/extend (C:) and shrink (D:)?

[Larry313]

Wait a minute! I'm sorry, I have confused GB’s and MB's.

With a free space of 152 GB's, my (C:) actually has sufficient space for the update which only requires 256 MB! So, why is it not working???

Now, when I right-click on the (C:) drive in Disk Management and choose “Shrink Volume”, I get a dialogue with the following information:

Total size before shrink in MB:               307151

Size of available shrink space in MB:    73135

 So, where have all the 152 GB’s gone and where am I going to get the required 256 MB for the update from if all that is available is only 73135 MB???

Help me make sense of these figures.

[Larry313]

What is even stranger is that the update, sp156602, Version: F.55, is a mere 11.13 MB in size!

[Garp_senchau]

Hey @Larry313,

Thank you for your response

it seems like there's a ton of space available, but here's the key: the BIOS update utility needs a small, contiguous, unallocated space at the end of the physical disk, not just general free space in the filesystem. Here's what’s actually going on:

The 154 GB of free space you're seeing on (C:) is file system-level free space, meaning space not used by files. But the BIOS utility (when set to "Create partition (recommended)") is trying to physically create a small 256 MB recovery partition at the end of the disk. This requires unallocated space, not file system free space.

When you opened the “Shrink Volume” dialog and saw:

Total size before shrink: 307,151 MB (~300 GB)

Size of available shrink space: 73,135 MB (~71 GB)

That means:

The OS can shrink the C: volume by up to ~71 GB based on current file placements.

The rest of the space is not shrinkable because there are immovable files sitting near the end of the partition.

So even with 154 GB free, you can only reclaim ~71 GB as actual unallocated space. That’s okay for our purpose—we only need about 300 MB unallocated, so you're still in good shape.

Shrink the C: drive to make unallocated space:

Go to Disk Management.

Right-click on C:, choose Shrink Volume.

Enter 300 MB (or more, just to be safe) and proceed. This will shrink C: and create 300 MB of unallocated space right after C:.

Do NOT format the new unallocated space.

Just leave it as-is. The BIOS update utility is looking for this unallocated space to create the recovery partition.

Run the BIOS update (sp156602) again:

Choose "Create partition (recommended)" when prompted.

It should now detect the unallocated space and proceed without throwing the disk space error.

Let me know how it goes.

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

If my response helped, please mark it as an Accepted Solution! ✅ It helps others and spreads support. 💙 Also, tapping "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" makes a big difference! Thanks! 😊

Regards,

[Larry313]

Nothing is working.
I have tried shrinking 300 MB (as you advised), I then tried with 350 MB and, finally decided to shrink all the available shrink space of, now, 141,329 MB (it increased from the initial 73,135 MB after the first shrink) but neither has worked! I still get the message “There is not enough free disk space to complete the System BIOS and Device Firmware update operation. Delete some files to free disk space then retry again.”

This is so frustrating!
 
Incidentally, when the update fails to install, my (C:) Local Disk always reverts to its initial properties of 154 GB free of 299 GB.

[Garp_senchau]

Hey @Larry313, 

Thanks for reaching out! Since the issue remains unresolved, I suggest contacting our phone/chat support team for personalized assistance. They can provide one-on-one help and may even be able to work their remote assistance magic to fix the problem.

Note: There might be a nominal charge for the service they provide.

Regards,