How to Disable Low Disk Space Checks in Windows

Stop the low disk space alerts in Windows using Registry Editor

By
Tim Fisher
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Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University
Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.
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Updated on January 23, 2023

What to Know

  • Go to Registry Editor, then HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion.
  • Then, open Policies, go to Edit > New > Key, and name it Explorer. Open that, and create a DWORD value.
  • Finally, name that value NoLowDiskSpaceChecks. Double-click it and give it a value of 1.

When your hard drive is nearly out of free space, Windows warns you. This can be handy, but the constant check for low drive space uses system resources, which can slow Windows down. Follow the easy steps below to turn off the low disk space checks in Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

How to Disable Low Disk Space Checks in Windows

Disabling low disk space checks in Windows is easy and usually takes less than a few minutes.

Changes to the Windows Registry are made in these steps. Take great care in making only the registry key changes described below. We highly recommend backing up the registry keys you're modifying in these steps as an extra precaution.

  1. Open Registry Editor.

    The steps for opening Registry Editor are a little different in some versions of Windows, so follow that link above if you need specific help.

    However, no matter which version of Windows you're using, this command, when used from the Run dialog box (WIN+R) or Command Prompt, will open it right up:

    regedit
    regedit Windows 10 command

  2. Locate the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder under Computer and select the expand sign (either (+) or (>) depending on your Windows version) to expand the folder.

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder in the Windows 10 registry

  3. Continue to expand folders until you reach this registry key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER CurrentVersion folder in the Windows Registry

  4. Expand CurrentVersion and select the Policies key located inside of it.

    Policies folder in the Windows Registry

    Before moving on with the next step, expand the Policies key and see if there's a subkey there called Explorer. It's unlikely that there is, but if so, skip down to Step 7. Otherwise, you can continue with Step 5.

  5. From the Registry Editor menu, choose Edit, followed by New, followed finally by Key.

    Windows Registry new key menu item

  6. After the key is created beneath Policies, it will initially be named New Key #1. Change the name of the key to Explorer by typing it exactly as shown and then hitting the Enter key.

    Explorer subkey in the Windows 10 registry

  7. With the new key, Explorer, still selected, choose Edit, followed by New, followed finally by DWORD (32-bit) Value.

    New DWORD (32-bit) Value in the Windows 10 registry

  8. After the DWORD is created beneath Explorer (and displayed on the right-hand side of Registry Editor), it will initially be named New Value #1.

    Change the name of the DWORD to NoLowDiskSpaceChecks by typing it exactly as shown, and then hitting the Enter key.

    NoLowDiskSpaceChecks registry value in Windows 10

  9. Right-click the new NoLowDiskSpaceChecks DWORD you just created and choose Modify.

  10. In the Value data: field, replace the zero with the number 1.

    NoLowDiskSpaceChecks DWORD value in Windows 10

  11. Select OK and close Registry Editor.

Windows will no longer warn you about low disk space on any of your hard drives.

Things You Can Do When There's Low Disk Space

If you're disabling the low disk space alerts but not doing anything to actually clean up, your storage device may very well fill up faster than you anticipate.

See How to Check Free Hard Drive Space in Windows if you're not sure how much space is actually left on the drive.

Here are some suggestions for when a hard drive is running low on disk space:

  1. Delete temporary files in Windows. The operating system often creates files it needs for a specific task, but then it doesn't get rid of them. These can accumulate and, over time, take up quite a bit of precious hard drive space.

  2. Uninstall programs you're no longer using. See this list of free uninstaller tools to find a program that makes doing that easy. Some of them even tell you how much disk space the program is occupying, which can help you choose what to remove.

    What's great about using some of those programs, such as IObit Uninstaller, is that they'll not only delete the program files to clear up space but also clear out any residual registry items and caches for a full uninstallation.

  3. Use a free disk space analyzer or file search tool like Everything to find the files that are taking up the most space. You may not even need those files, in which case you can delete them, or you can move ones you do want to keep to a different hard drive.

  4. Use a backup tool to move the files off of the full hard drive.

    Local backup software is a great option if you have another hard drive with the available storage to hold your large files. An online backup service is another option where your data is stored online; some even have unlimited space options.

    If you don't need your files backed up regularly, but instead just a handful of large items moved off of the full drive, consider a free cloud storage service.

  5. Installing another hard drive or using an external hard drive is a relatively cheap solution for drives with not a lot of disk space remaining. You can either start using the new hard drive for storing things, and leave the full one untouched, or simply split up your data between the two.

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