Windows 11 24H2 update yoinks 8.6GB of your precious drive space and refuses to give it back – but a fix is coming

Cache files left behind to the tune of 8.6GB, and Disk Cleanup won’t remove them

· TechRadar

News By Rosario Blue published 11 October 2024

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Antonio Guillem)

Windows 11 24H2 contains a bug (among others already spotted) that seemingly eats a sizeable portion of your drive space.

Windows Latest reports that the 24H2 update leaves behind an undeletable 8.63GB cache of files in its wake (a bit like a visitor who doesn’t know when it’s time to go home).

Normally, Windows 11’s Disk Cleanup feature would be able to remove these temporary files after the installation of 24H2, but if you try to do so, this doesn’t work due to the bug – the 8GB cache still remains.

The problem seems to be related to a new improvement made to Windows Update known as ‘checkpoint cumulative updates’ which were brought in with Windows 11 24H2. This is a system designed to trim down update sizes by providing more compact incremental cumulative monthly updates (though some will still be larger baseline updates – we go into this in more detail here).

The issue began with the release of Windows 11 24H2, and hasn’t been cured with the latest cumulative update for October, as folks are still complaining about the 8.6GB of files being eaten up.

Is there any way around this? The best bet is to play a waiting game

Is the bug actually grabbing 8.6GB of your drive, though? Well, we can’t be sure of that, as the 8.6GB of files might not really exist in their entirety on your drive (that’s just the size being reported, and Windows Latest notes the size might actually be smaller than this).

Even so, this is still lost drive space, which is certainly an annoyance – especially if you have a small system drive. So, what can be done?

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors