How to disable “Low disk space” notifications in Windows

 

The notifications “Low disk space” messages can be annoying when you least expect them, but before silencing them, it’s a good idea to understand why they exist and what risks you take by doing so. Windows needs a minimum amount of free space to function normally: without that margin, performance, updates, and even stability degrade.

That said, there are scenarios where disabling the warning makes sense (controlled environments, false alarms, demos, lab equipment). In this guide, you'll learn how to disable the low disk space notification in Windows using the Registry, see management options (MDM/Intune, scripts, and custom alerts), and have reliable techniques at hand to recover space when you really need it. Let's get started.  How to disable “Low disk space” notifications in Windows. 

What exactly is the low disk space alert?

Since Windows XP/Vista/7 and Server 2003/2008/2012/2016, the system displays a notification when it detects a drive running out of margin. The classic text reads something like: You're running out of disk space on the Local Disk. To free up space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary files, click here.. In Windows 10/11 (and Server 2019/2022), the prompt changes the header to “Free storage space” and suggests going to Storage settings. The intention is to warn you before the system starts to fail..

When does it pop up? In Windows 7 and later, the available space check is performed by default every 10 minutes (in Vista it was every minute). Typical thresholds are 200 MB, 80 MB, and 50 MB.: At each level, the prompt becomes more insistent. If the prompt appears while copying a large amount of data, you may see it at inconvenient times.

Ignoring this alert is not a good idea: not enough free space C drive: turns red in Explorer, Windows updates may fail, your computer may become slow, restart unexpectedly, or even experience boot errors.

How to disable notifications from the Windows Registry

This method is direct and reversible, and has scope per user (Hkcu). Before touching the Registry, create a restore point and/or export the key that you are going to modify.

1. Press Windows + R, type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor. Grant administrator permissions if requested.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. If any subkey does not exist, create it.
3. In the right pane, create a DWORD (32-bit) value named NoLowDiskSpaceChecks (in some texts it appears translated as "No low disk space checks"). Assign value 1.
4. Close Regedit and log out or restart your computer to apply the change.

By putting NoLowDiskSpaceChecks=1 the check that triggers the warning is disabled in the current user's profile. To revert this, change the value to 0 or delete the DWORD.

Tips and observations

• If you want to apply the change to multiple users, deploy the setting using GPO Preferences, logon scripts, or management tools (MDM/Intune) that write to HKCU. Remember that it is a per-user configuration.
• Editing the Registry incorrectly can cause problems. Act with caution and note the changes to be able to undo them.

Alternatives for administrators: MDM, policies, and related settings

There is no Windows-specific CSP that can “turn off” the low disk space warning globally, but you can orchestrate your environment to reduce noise or adapt behavior. Some useful tweaks in corporate deployments:

• Search/Indexing: the CSP Search/PreventIndexingLowDiskSpaceMB controls whether the indexer continues to run when the disk is below 600 MB. Useful to avoid extra activity when the disc tightens.
• Using Intune, you can force or prevent other system behaviors that generate notifications and uploads (e.g., Spotlight, tips, telemetry, etc.). They do not disable the space warning as such, but they help keep the environment quiet.
• Distribute the value NoLowDiskSpaceChecks at HKCU via Custom OMA-URIs or PowerShell scripts in the user phase if your MDM allows it. It's the supported way to automate what you would do by hand..

Custom Monitoring and Alerts: Windows Servers

On servers, rather than silencing notifications it is better implement reliable and actionable alertsWindows Server 2003 included Performance Logs and Alerts to trigger actions when a counter crosses a threshold. The basic workflow for monitoring free space was:

1. Open Performance from Administrative Tools and expand “Performance Logs and Alerts.” In Alerts, create a "New Alert Configuration" with a descriptive name (e.g. “Free disk space”).
2. In “General”, add the counter: “LogicalDisk” object, “% Free Space” counter and select the drive you want to monitor. Mark the comparison type "Below" and define the threshold (for example, 10%).
3. Under "Action", choose what to do when triggered: write to the application log, send a network message, start a counter log, or run a program/command (you can pass command line arguments). This last option is key to automate cleaning or sending emails..
4. Under “Schedule,” decide how to start and stop the poll (manually, at a specific time, or after a specific duration). So that it doesn't stop after reboots, set “Stop exam” to a very high number of days and activate “Start a new exam”.

This approach remains conceptually valid in modern versions with current tools (Performance Counters, Task Scheduler and Scripts). The goal is to proactively warn and, if appropriate, execute automatic actions..

PowerShell scripts for Server 2012 R2 (and later)

If you manage multiple servers, a script saves you work. A very common pattern is to read a list of computers and, for each one, query Win32_LogicalDisk, calculate the free percentage and compare with a threshold. When the figure falls below, an alert is issued or a notification is issued..

The logic, summarized: defines $freespacethreshold (for example 17), loads the file names servers.txt, recover your logical drives with Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk, calculates $percentfree = ($l.FreeSpace / $l.Size) * 100, what if $percentfree is less than the threshold, issues the alert (And, if you want, send an email or write to a SIEM.) You can schedule it with Task Scheduler and extend it with SMTP sending.

How to safely free up space (and avoid muting the notification)

The priority is to recover space on C: and on the affected drives. Start easy with Disk Cleanup:

1. Press Windows + R, type cleanmgr and Enter. Select drive C: and press OK.
2. Check the categories of files to delete (temporary files, thumbnails, caches, etc.). Review the description of each category to understand what is being deleted.
3. Confirm the cleanup. Then run cleanmgr again as "Clean up system files" for additional options (e.g., previous Windows installations).

In Windows Server 2008/2012, the tool was not enabled by default; if you see the error "Windows cannot find 'cleanmgr'", enable it first and try again.

If cleaning doesn't recover enough (less than ~20 GB of margin), tap expand C: moving space from adjacent volumes with a partition manager. The usual procedure is to shrink drive D: to create unallocated space immediately behind C:, and then extend C: to absorb that space. You can do this online with third-party server-oriented tools; Always check backups and maintenance window before applying changes. If you're working with external drives, first learn how to safely eject an external hard drive.

If you want to learn more about freeing up space, here's an article to dig deeper: how to free up hard drive space

Tableau Server: Maintenance when the disk is tight

If you manage Tableau Server, the product itself can fill up disk space with logs and temps. Act with these specific measures:

• Run tsm maintenance cleanup to purge logs, temporary files, and unnecessary entries from PostgreSQL. If you want to save the logs, generate a package before deleting them.
• Check the coordination service (ZooKeeper): by default, it creates snapshots every 100.000 transactions and deletes those older than five days. If you generate fewer than 100.000 per day, logs can accumulate. Adjust with tsm configuration set -k zookeeper.config.snapCount -v <num> and applies with tsm pending-changes apply. Records are usually in C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\appzookeeper\<n>\version-2.
• If you run out of space and can't access the Tableau or TSM UI, frees up unnecessary files and force reconfiguration by creating a non-existent key: tsm configuration set -k foo -v bar --force-keys and then tsm pending-changes apply.

Sync Clients: Set thresholds to avoid disk overload

In tools like the Nextcloud desktop client, free space is a determining factor in synchronization. You can modulate its behavior with environment variables:

• OWNCLOUD_CRITICAL_FREE_SPACE_BYTES (default 50*1000*1000): Critical minimum. Below this, the app fatally fails to protect itself.
• OWNCLOUD_FREE_SPACE_BYTES (default 250*1000*1000): Downloads that leave the disk below this threshold are skipped. Avoid filling C: during a sync.

Additionally, you can limit concurrency (OWNCLOUD_MAX_PARALLEL) or timeout (OWNCLOUD_TIMEOUT) if you are short on resources. Adjusting these values ​​reduces the risk of seeing the low space warning during full synchronization..

Other information balloons you may want to mute

If you are looking to minimize distractions on managed computers, you can disable Classic Explorer tooltips and balloons. In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer create the DWORDs EnableBalloonTips y ShowInfoTip and assign them 0. This does not affect the space check as such, but reduces the number of pop-ups that users see.

When not to disable the warning

Silencing the notification does not solve the underlying problem: insufficient space. If C: is red or below 10–15%Prioritize freeing up and/or expanding. On servers and user computers, running out of space can interrupt backups, cause database failures, stop services, or prevent you from installing security patches.

Good practices to avoid returning to this point

• Schedule periodic cleanups of temporary files, logs, and caches. Automate with tasks and scripts.
• Separate data and system volumes to prevent C: from growing out of control. Place heavy profiles on another unit.
• Monitor the % free space with counters or your observability tool and generate alerts with margin. Don't wait for 200/80/50 MB.
• On servers with verbose software (BI, ETL, etc.), plan log rotation and retention. Avoid unexpected accumulations.

In certain corporate environments, you can also adjust system features related to activity and notifications (Spotlight, suggestions, telemetry) through Intune/MDM policies. They don't turn off the low-space warning, but they help keep the noise under control while you troubleshoot the source.

The low space notification is a lifesaver when things get out of hand, but sometimes you just need to keep it quiet. With the courage NoLowDiskSpaceChecks You can do this cleanly and reversibly in the Registry; and if you manage fleets, deploying it by policy is simple. Don't lose sight of the fact that the lasting solution is to free up or expand space.: Clean up with Windows tools, adjust apps that download/sync, rotate logs (Tableau/others), and, if necessary, extend C: by safely moving partitions. Now you know  How to disable “Low disk space” notifications in Windows.