Do you share your work or home computer with others? Do apps and files from guest accounts consume an insane amount of disk space? Windows has a quota system that grants administrators more control over storage management. You can use the tool to set disk usage quota for both internal and external storage devices.
We’ll walk you through the steps to control data users can store on your PC by setting disk quota limits. Before jumping to the steps, note that the Windows Quota Management tool only works on drives formatted using the Sistèm fichye NTFS.
Configure Disk Quota via File Explorer
There are several ways to enable the quota management system in Windows 11. You can do so via File Explorer, Registry Editor, or the Gwoup Policy Editè. However, the File Explorer route is the easiest.
- Open File Explorer and select Sa a PC sou ankadre a.
- Scroll to the “Devices and drives” section, right-click the disk you want to limit, and select Pwopriyete.
- Head to the Quota tab and select Show Quota Settings.
- Tcheke la Enable quota management bwat.
- Next, check the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit box. That will enforce the limitation and ensure any user who reaches the quota limit can no longer write data to the disk.
- chwazi Limit disk space to.
- The next step is to set the disk limit. Say you want to set a 30GB disk quota, enter the digit (30) in the first dialog box and select the storage unit (GB) in the adjacent drop-down box.
You should also set a warning level that’s slightly lower than the disk limit. For a 30GB disk limit, setting a 25GB warning level is ideal. When users hit or exceed the warning limit, Windows sends a reminder that they’re close to exhausting the disk space allocated to them.
- If you want Windows to record an event log (in the Windows Event Viewer) when users excess their disk quotas or hit storage limit, check Log event when a user exceeds their quota limit ak Log event when a user exceeds their warning level.
- chwazi Aplike kontinye.
- chwazi OK on the warning prompt to enable the quota system you configured.
- chwazi OK in the Quota Settings window.
Note that you might have to restart your computer for these changes to take effect. We should also mention that disk quota configurations are drive-specific. If your PC has multiple disk partitions (separate from your C: drive), quota limits on the local disk don’t apply to other partitions.
View and Adjust Disk Quota Limit
When you set a storage quota limit for disk, Windows applies the limit to all users on your computer. There’s a “Quota Entries” tool in the Quota Settings window that lets you adjust or disable the disk quota limit for specific users. You can also use the tool to check the current disk space usage for all user accounts against the set quota.
- Open the Quota Settings window for the drive and tap the Quota Entries bouton.
- The “Amount Used” and “Quota Limit” columns show how much disk space a user has consumed against their allotted quota limit.
If you don’t find an account in the “Name” or “Logon Name” columns, proceed to add the user to the list manually. Tap quote on the menu bar and select New Quota Entry.
- chwazi avanse nan kwen anba-gòch la.
- Chwazi nan Jwenn Koulye a button and double-click the account you want to include in the storage quota limitation.
- chwazi OK kontinye.
- Set the quota limit and warning level for the user and select OK.
- To adjust or disable disk quota for a user, right-click the account and select Pwopriyete.
- Adjust the user’s disk quota in the Limit disk space to ak Set warning level to dialog boxes. Select Aplike ak Lè sa a, OK.
- Chwazi nan Do not limit disk usage radio button if you want to delete or remove the quota limit. Select Aplike ak OK kontinye.
Another way to disable quota limits is to right-click the account name in the “Quota Entries” window and select Efase.
chwazi Pran Pwopriyetè on the next page to save files in the disk space you allotted to the user account. Select Efase if you don’t need the files.
Set Disk Quotas Using Group Policy Editor
There are instances when Windows fails to enforce the storage quota limit configured via File Explorer. If that happens, modify or re-enable the disk quota in the Group Policy Editor.
Note that the Group Policy Editor is only available in Windows 11 Pro, Education, and Enterprise. If you use Windows 11 Home edition, try re-enabling the storage quota in the Registry Editor instead.
- Sèvi ak nan Window key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Windows Run box. Type gpedit nan bwat dyalòg la epi peze Antre nan.
- On the sidebar, go to Konfigirasyon Odinatè > Administratif modèl > Sistèm epi chwazi a Disk Quotas folder.
- Double-klike sou Enable disk quotas.
- Chwazi nan Pèmèt bouton radyo, chwazi Aplike, epi chwazi OK kontinye.
- One more thing: configure Windows to enforce the disk quota settings. Double-click Enforce disk quota limit.
- chwazi Pèmèt epi chwazi Aplike to save the changes. Afterward, select OK yo fèmen fenèt la.
- The next and most crucial step is to specify your quota limit. Double-click Specify default quota limit and warning level.
- chwazi Pèmèt, enter the quota limit and warning level values and units, select Aplike, ak Lè sa a, OK.
- If you want the disk quota configuration applied to removable or external drives, double-click Apply policy to removable media epi mete li nan Pèmèt.
Set Disk Quota via Registry Editor
You can also force-enable a disk quota limit on Windows 11 devices via the Registry Editor. Ensure you make a backup of your PC’s registry files before proceeding, so you don’t damage any critical file that could corrupt Windows or break your PC.
- Laprès Windows kle + R to open the Windows Run box. Enter rjdi nan bwat dyalòg la epi chwazi OK.
- Kole HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows NTDiskQuota nan adrès ba a ak laprès Antre nan.
Asire a Pèmèt ak Ranfòse registry keys and their values are set to 1 (i.e., enabled). They both enable and enforce the disk quota limit in Windows.
- Double-click the “Enable” or “Enforce” registry keys, enter 1 in the “Value data” dialog box and select OK.
Automate Storage Management
With the steps in this tutorial, you can set up a disk quota management system in Windows 11. These methods are backward compatible with older versions of the Windows operating system. That is, you can adopt these steps to set disk quotas in Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.