What Is Reserved Storage in Windows 11?

During the early days of Windows 10, it was very common to encounter different errors due to a lack of storage when downloading Windows updates. The only workaround you had at the time was to delete some of your personal files to create space whenever you wanted to install a Windows update. However, things changed for the better with the release of the Windows 10 May 2019 Update.

There may also be times when Windows does not have any update files to store in reserved storage. In such situations, Windows will allocate the reserved storage to temporary files created by installed apps and to system cache data in order to improve overall functionality. These temporary files and cache data are regularly monitored by Storage Sense, and once it determines that the temporary data is no longer necessary, it is automatically removed from reserved storage.

Similarly, Storage Sense will monitor stored Windows update files, and if it determines that they are no longer necessary for your computer, they will be automatically deleted to make room for new, important Windows update files. If you are trying to install a major Windows update whose storage requirements cannot be met by the space available in the reserved storage, the update will use the required space from the available free storage on your computer.

All that being said, to check how much reserved storage you have on your Windows 11 computer, open the Settings menu, then navigate to System > Storage > Show More Categories > System & Reserved. In the Reserved Storage section, you’ll find the amount of storage Windows has set aside. In my case, it’s 4.95GB.

Credit : https://www.howtogeek.com/how-i-free-up-storage-on-my-windows-11-pc-by-disabling-one-setting/