Why your Windows installation files keep getting bigger – AI is filling up smaller drives

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Microsoft’s Home windows set up information have ballooned in dimension.
• Within the final 10 years, the obtain has doubled to greater than 8 GB.
• The most definitely trigger is Microsoft’s AI information for Copilot+ PCs

Home windows downloads are larger than ever. I seen this a couple of instances over the previous six months (“Huh, I do not bear in mind a obtain being this large earlier than”) however hadn’t had time to dig into the main points.

Then I noticed a latest put up from Michael Niehaus titled “How can Windows 11 keep getting bigger?” and I noticed, no, it was not my creativeness.

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Simply how large are these downloads?

Here is Michael’s chart exhibiting the rise in dimension for multi-edition downloads from Microsoft’s Visible Studio (subscription required). The primary worth is from the preliminary launch of Home windows 11 model 24H2 in November 2024 up by means of the newest model 25H2 from July 2026. (As a result of 25H2 was delivered as an enablement bundle for 24H2, each releases are from the identical department.)

As Michael notes, nearly 6,000 new folders and over 20,000 new information had been added over that stretch of lower than two years.  

I went by means of some extra ISO from my assortment to plot the change in obtain dimension because the preliminary launch of Home windows 10 in 2015. See for your self.

Even utilizing the Media Creation Instrument to obtain the newest ISO would not assist. That file continues to be a humongous 6.8 GB, almost twice the dimensions of the unique Home windows 10 launch.

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Michael’s findings deserve further weight, given his background. He spent 16 years at Microsoft engaged on nearly every little thing to do with Home windows deployment. I realized so much from him, and in case you ever had “deploy Home windows machines in a enterprise” as a part of your job description, you most likely did, too. (He is nonetheless in the identical enterprise, working for the Swedish company 2Pint Software program.)

Is that this simply evolution, or is it bloat?

I am all the time reluctant to make use of the time period “bloat” to discuss with Home windows, as a result of individuals have been complaining about Microsoft’s bloated software program because the days of MS-DOS. I wrote about it 20 years in the past — Windows bloat? It’s always been that way. My favourite might be this evaluate of Home windows XP, which referred to as it…

a monstrous, bloated brute that requires a state-of-the-art PC and two gigabytes of arduous disk house earlier than it would even say ‘whats up’. This implies any shopper silly sufficient to wish to run XP will most likely have to purchase a brand new PC.

Two gigabytes of arduous disk house? It appeared like so much again then.

However possibly this time is totally different. Previously, Microsoft and its OEM companions might resolve the issue by throwing extra {hardware} at it. Given the massive price increases in memory and storage which might be prone to persist for years, the “simply add {hardware}” choice is not possible.

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The most important weak spot is system storage. Microsoft’s official necessities for Home windows 11 name for no less than 64 GB for the system drive. Only for enjoyable, I put collectively a digital machine utilizing a digital drive that dimension and put in the newest launch of Home windows 11 on it. It reached a peak storage utilization of 28.2 GB earlier than it completed putting in Home windows and the newest updates. That is roughly half the dimensions of the drive, earlier than putting in any apps or saving any person information information.

The place’s the bloat coming from?

I wasn’t positive precisely why this was occurring, so I chatted with Michael to see if he had any concepts. One motive the cumulative updates are so giant is that they embrace an enormous quantity of AI-related code, particularly 3GB of shared AI fashions utilized by numerous native AI options on Copilot+ PCs. Dig into these information and you will find dozens of WindowsWorkload.* information devoted to that mission. When you’ve got a plain-vanilla, no-NPU, Copilot-minus PC, you continue to must obtain these bits, which the Home windows installer will then ignore.

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“Is Home windows getting larger? Sure,” he advised me. “Are updates getting larger? Sure. Does Copilot+ make it worse? Sure, a lot worse.”

One downside he identified is that Microsoft is delivery many of those large code dumps within the month-to-month cumulative updates delivered by means of Home windows Replace moderately than distributing them as system parts by means of the Microsoft Retailer.

Sure, that is an choice. Home windows 11 is already delivering a few of its most vital parts that means, lowering the burden on Home windows Replace and guaranteeing these updates are delivered solely when the underlying app is in use. (In addition they do not require a restart to finish set up, which is a giant win.) Verify the Downloads & Updates web page within the Retailer to see examples of system parts now managed by the Retailer as an alternative of Home windows Replace.

Why does it matter?

These are points for anybody whose job includes deploying Home windows and Home windows updates on company networks or sustaining Home windows PC on smaller enterprise networks.

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The true problem is for anybody who owns a system with a paltry 64 GB system drive. Microsoft says that is sufficient to run Home windows, however it’s arduous to think about how minimal your workload must be for that set up to make sense. I agree with Michael that 128 GB needs to be a naked minimal, and anybody doing severe growth or inventive work wants a terabyte of storage.

Asserting Home windows 11 Inside Out, Second Version

I am about to ship the ultimate pages of my new e book, “Home windows 11 Inside Out, Second Version,” to the writer. I have been engaged on it for six stable months, and it is a large revision that anybody who made all of it the way in which to the top of this put up will respect. It is out there for preorder from Amazon now, and I am going to have hyperlinks to different buy websites on my website.