Windows 10 Disk Usage 100% Fix

The first thing to try and remedy the issue is to stop a couple of services temporarily, these services are known to cause issues with disk usage, those being Superfetch and Windows search. If one of these services is identified as the cause of the high disk usage we can then permanently disable them.

1. Hit the windows key on your keyboard or press the windows button in the bottom left hand side of your desktop.
2. Once open type cmd into the windows search bar
3. Right click on command prompt and be sure to run as administrator, the commands will not work unless the command prompt is run with elevated privileges.
4. Once the command prompt is open type the following “net.exe stop Superfetch” hit enter and allow the command to run, if executed correctly you will be met with the text “The Superfetch service is stopping” followed shortly by “The Superfetch service was stopped”
5. After the command has been run correctly open the task manager (ctrl+shift+esc) and see if this has had any affect on the disk usage, if it has lowered the disk usage we can then move to disable it permanently, if it has not lowered the disk usage move to step 12.
6. To disable the command permanently first press win+r keys, this will open the run box.
7. Type services.msc into the run box and hit enter, this will bring up the list of local services.
8. Search through the services to find Superfetch
9. When you find the Superfetch service in the list right click on it and select properties.
10. From properties change the startup type to disabled and click on OK, this will permanently disable the service until you decide to re-enable it.
11. Close out of the services window.
12. Go through steps 1 – 3 again, when the command prompt is open this time enter the command net.exe stop “Windows search” (make sure Windows search is in quotations).
13. If the command is executed correctly it will respond with the same messages as with the previous command with Windows search replacing Superfetch.
14. Repeat step 5 to see if disk usage has lowered.
15. If disk usage has lowered follow step 6 – 7, and when the services window opens search for Windows Search.
16. Follow step 10 for the Windows search service.

If stopping these services did not drop disk usage to a reasonable level continue to the next fix.

In this next fix we will reset the virtual memory of the computer to try and fix the high disk usage issue.

1. On your keyboard press win+pause/break keys, this will open the system control panel.
2. On the left-hand side click on advanced system settings, if prompted for administrative privileges click yes.
3. When the advanced system setting window opens click on the advanced tab, when there under the performance header click on settings.
4. When the performance setting window opens click on the advanced tab.
5. When in the advanced tab click on the change button.
6. Uncheck the “Automatically manage page file size for all drives” checkbox if it is checked.
7. Select C: drive (or the drive your OS installed on if it isn’t C:) from the Drive/volume selection box.
8. Click on custom size and enter the appropriate numbers
   1. For the initial size you can use the number that was listed as recommended just bellow the custom size boxes.
   1. Maximum size should be set to 1.5x that of your physical ram, if your computer has 4GB of ram it will be 6144MB, if it has 8GB it will be 12288MB, if your computer has a different amount of physical memory simply multiply that number by 1.5.
9. Once the values are set click on OK, if you are asked to restart your computer restart.
10. When your back to your desktop open the task manager (ctrl+shift+esc) and check to see if the disk usage has changed

If changing the page file size didn’t change your disk usage delete your temp files:

1. Press win+r to open the run box.
2. Type temp into the run box and hit enter.
3. Highlight all the files in the window, right click and delete.
4. If prompted that a file is in use while deleting the temp files check the skip checkbox and continue deleting the rest.
5. Once complete open task manager (ctrl+shift+esc) and check your disk usage once again

If the high disk usage problem persists even after completing both previous fixes proceed with the last fix.

The last fix is using the windows check disk utility to ensure the drive is healthy and if not attempt repairing it, before proceeding with this fix be aware that it may take several hours and during that time your computer will not be usable.

1. Start by opening an elevated command prompt, press the windows key or click on the windows button in the bottom left-hand corner of your desktop, type cmd and right click on command prompt selecting run as administrator.
2. When the command prompt opens type in chdsk.exe /f /r and hit enter.
3. If the command is executed correctly you will be met with a prompt stating the disk is currently in use and if you would like to complete the check upon your next reboot.
4. Press Y and hit enter to accept.
5. When you have decided you want the check disk to run restart your computer and the application will run, you can skip it if you do not have the time to complete the check disk, however you will have to redo all the previous steps to set it up again.
6. When the check disk has completed login to your desktop and open the task manager (ctrl+shift+esc) and check to see if the disk usage issue has been resolved.

*Reminder to add BITS as a possible services that causes the issues*