Low Disk Space after Windows10 version 1607 upgrade

[CleanEnergyGuru]

In August I upgraded my Windows 7 Home Premium laptop to Windows 10.  All has worked well for a month now until the Windows 10 version 1607 was highly recommended by Windows10 people.

Having kept current with all of the updates faithfully but as soon as I tried (four times) to install Windows 10 version 1607 and then the time-consuming step again of reverting back to the previous Windows version.  So I have hit a brick wall.  I always get the error message: "Low Disk Space".  And Windows continually is reminding me to upgrade to 1607. Like the famous movie, this is a CATCH-22 situation.

I read some of the Forum's help and was lead to a link suggested by a HP staffer as the only resolution available.  The link for this Low Disk Space Error problem is http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03736755.

I translated the link's Windows 7 instructions into Windows10 style organization of problem resolutions and located the "Files and Folders" section and then followed the Windows 7 steps.  But I still hit a brick wall.  In viewing the hidden files on my Recovery Drive (Drive D:) I verified that I did not have any personal backup files to occupy space needlessly.  I also cleared out previous System Restores and just did a new System Restore.  But still have the same problem.  It appears I need to expand my Recovery Drive to accomodate Windows 10 version 1607.  But in doing the steps under changing my partitions the option to extend the Recovery Drive was shaded and therefore available.  

Is it possible to enlarge my Recovery Drive? This laptop is great and has a lot of life left.  I do not want to have to buy a new one just to work out this Low Disk Space error problem. 

Desperate for help because this is our family's only computer.

[WAWood]

Clean EnergyGuru

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

First off, once you did the Upgrade to Win10, that corrupted the HP Recovery information, rendering any HP recovery unlikely.  So, at this point, the Recovery partition serves no useful purpose.

If you want to remove it and recover the space, then use this link to download the Minitool Partition Wizard boot ISO file:  Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

Once you have this, you have a choice of media to create:
1) If you can boot from CD, download and install ImgBurn and use the Write Image to Disk option to create a bootable CD.
2) If you can boot from USB, download and install RUFUS and use the option to create a bootable USB stick from the ISO file.

Boot your PC with the media you created. You should now be able to do partition changes without problems.

Second, may be folders on your C: drive named $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS. These are used by the Upgrade tool to store files needed for the Upgrade. If these are hidden, will have to change your settings in File Explorer to see them, but once you find them, then remove the folders.

Also, you need to remove the Windows.old folder.  Here are the instructions:  http://www.howtogeek.com/223821/what-is-the-windows.old-folder-and-how-do-you-delete-it/

Once these are gone, you have a lot more free space in the C: drive.

Good Luck

[CleanEnergyGuru]

Thank you so much for your inciteful information.  

I had no idea that Windows10 would render the Recovery Drive useless.  I had not seen any communication on this from Windows in the upgrade process.  I guess I need to learn more about what changes after Windows10 upgrades.

Because of the delicate nature of these steps over the next few days I am going to ask the help of my son who is more savvy than I on the computer to execute your steps.    I will post the results as soon as I can.

Once again, thank you so much.

[CleanEnergyGuru · Accepted solution]

Sorry for not providing the follow-up resolution earlier.  Here's how my problem was solved:

I asked my IT specialist son for help.  He re-partitioned my computer using a free software tool (AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition).    I choose  to add 50 GB to my D:drive (Recovery Drive)  which then totaled 68 GB for this drive. because I wanted to guarantee this problem would not come back and I had the space to work with.

I have been working with this resolution now for about a month and have a zero problems.  What I noticed was that after a few weeks Windows 10 must have automatically cleared out my previous upgrades because Windows Explorer now reports that this drive has a file size a total space available of 68 GB and 51 GB that is unused which brings my usage of the drive to 17 GB. 

I am guessing that before Windows 10 automatically cleared out previous upgrades it must have needed somewhere between 20-25 GB to do the final 1607 version upgrade and retain the previous versions (to allow me to revert to previous editions).   Then when the time period for going back ended Windows 10 must have automatically removed my previous editions and just kept the 1607 version upgrade.  Looking back I would not have added 50 GB to my drive - instead about another 10-12 GB would have been more than enough for this transition period to work out.

Lastly I EXTREMELY well pleased that I did the Windows 10 update and then added the Anniversary Version update (1607).   I like the added security features and a large number of features and benefits.

Hope this helps others.