Buzz
While default apps on Windows 11 may be 'useful' for some users, they can also be 'restrictive' for others when these apps take up more than 1.5GB of hard drive space, and they don't want or never use them.
Default apps on Windows 11 occupy more than 1.5GB of storage
According to the Oofhours report, exploring the size of these applications via PowerShell revealed a descending order, with Microsoft Teams leading in consuming the most hard drive space, 91MB, as shown in the image below:
Notably, some listed apps like Microsoft Store Purchase occupy only 11KB, but it was discovered that this app has 2 separate folders, and the actual total size amounts to 37MB, nearly 3,500 times the original size.
Similarly, when reviewing the size of all default apps on Windows 11, the total storage adds up to about 1.6GB.
Although this storage may not be significant, for those who dislike or never use them, uninstalling these apps can enhance the Windows 11 experience.
- Explore more: How to uninstall software on Windows 11
Below are the commands you can execute in PowerShell to check the size of default apps as well as apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store:
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -online | % {
# Retrieve the main app package location using the manifest
$loc = Split-Path([Environment]::ExpandEnvironmentVariables($_.InstallLocation)) -Parent
If ((Split-Path $loc -Leaf) -ieq 'AppxMetadata') {
$loc = Split-Path $loc -Parent
}
# Define a pattern to locate relevant directories
$matching = Join-Path -Path (Split-Path $loc -Parent) -ChildPath '$($_.DisplayName)*'
$size = (Get-ChildItem $matching -Recurse -ErrorAction Ignore | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum
# Include the findings in the output
$_ | Add-Member -NotePropertyName Size -NotePropertyValue $size
$_ | Add-Member -NotePropertyName InstallLocation -NotePropertyValue $loc
$_
} | Select DisplayName, PackageName, Version, InstallLocation, Size
An important note is that the 'WindowsApps' folders are hidden by default, so you will need to unhide the folders first.
