Microsoft broke my computer.

[LouAvul]

They put a bug on my computer that has a 500GB appetite for free space. My computer is 469GB. By the time I was made aware of what's happening my free space was down to ~5GB.

MS released a patch, but it requires ~6GB to install and run. By the time I was made aware of the patch, my free space was down to ~2GB. I tried to download the patch several times but it aborted each time for lack of space.

I deleted programs and files but as soon as I did, the bug ate the free space.

Now, I can't even reformat and restore because that process also requires 6GB to run. It aborts and tells me to erase enough programs to let it run.

It's an old computer so it's not worth much, but it ran ok till now. There is a program I bought in digital form and have no cd backup.

W/win 11, can a bible study program be transferred from this computer to a new computer? AI says no. It can't even be transferred to an external drive.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: fillupmyharddrive; microsoft; spyware; stupidvanity; windows; windows11; windowspinglist

[Bob434]

right after you reinstall, and get it where you like it personal settings wise, and updates- get Macrium Reflect Free (Can still get it on majorgeeks.com get the last free version) and do a backup- then maybe another a month or two later after you tweak windows to your liking even more- and label it as ‘First/Second CLEAN INSTALL backup”: or something similar-

Another option would be to clone a clean install after tweaks to another spare drive with Macrium Reflect or other clone software- and if you get another virus down the road- plop in new clean drive- and erase virus drive, then clone from new drive to older drive again- after it’s formatted and clean-

[dayglored]

Windows 11 Bug Fills Hard Drive ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Thanks to Red Badger for the ping!

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[dayglored]

Re: your proposed fix:

> 2. Click inside the long, white address bar at the very top of the window, delete any existing text, paste the following path, and press **Enter**:
`C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager`
3. Locate the file named exactly **`CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal`**.

Only one problem. No permission to get into the folder or read its contents. I'm running Win11 Pro 23H2.

Tried as my normal non-admin use, then the local Administrator, then another local fallback admin account, etc. All no dice.

How did you accomplish access?

[sloanrb]

Just run Disk Cleanup in windows. It will allow you to free up space without deleting your data.

Quick YouTube video showing how to use it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_xXpdhwX0nI

[dennisw]

Go to setting >>> type in reset >>>> do the Windows 11 reset while keeping all your files...... Before this back up your files on a flash drive

[citizen]

That is all very interesting but mostly above my usage knowledge.

Powershell scripts - the one thing I know of them is Copilot wrote one for my laptop, as it would use up my battery overnight even with the top closed. The settings were proper for it to sleep with the top closed but apparently Msft has so many processes running in background, the unit was waking up every few seconds. Checking, we found it actually had about one/1.5 of hour of sleep out of 14 or 15 hours. I don’t use the laptop until middle of my afternoon or later - desktop in the morning.

I suggested to disable wifi each night. AI agreed and wrote the Powershell to do that and deactivate some other things. I run it each night and my battery usage is now minimal overnight.

This is more important beyond alleviating an aggravation. I find the weak link in my laptops is the charging port; they get worn out and eventually the device becomes a paperweight. My current Lenovo has two charging ports. I am on the 2nd one now and try to be careful to align the plug with the port when engaging/disengaging the type C plug.

I do love the charger; I use it for the phone and other devices as it is much faster than a wall charging block. (The Lenovo won’t charge via a wall block) I am also on the 2nd charger convertor.

I’m the old dog not wanting to learn new tricks, just want Win to function for my small needs. I have Win 11 Home.

Oh, on AI: I have used Copilot so much it tells me now I need to buy a license, after a few minutes. I would do this but typical Msft, a Copilot license is bundled with the Msft 365 for $10-15/month. I don’t need 365, tho I do miss Wordpad. I pay for X premium so I’ll use Grok more and Copilot less.

[aspasia]

How is your household managed? And your finances? IIt resembles computer management. There is no automatic and in all three something else wants it.

[nevadapatriot]

Windows is the bug

[fireman15]

How did you accomplish access?

I should have known better than to post an AI created solution without testing it first... this of course is an example of the typical runaround one gets consistently from AI chatbots. Here is the revised “solution” for what it is worth:

Step 1: Open Command Prompt as Administrator
Press the Windows Key on the keyboard, type cmd, and locate Command Prompt in the search results.

Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Run the Reset and Deletion Commands
Copy and paste the following commands into the Command Prompt window one line at a time, pressing Enter after each:

DOS
:: 1. Stop the Capability Access Manager service to unlock the file
net stop camsvc

:: 2. Take ownership of the folder for the Administrators group
takeown /f “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager” /a /r /d y

:: 3. Grant the Administrators group full control permissions over the folder
icacls “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager” /grant administrators:F /t

:: 4. Force-delete the bloated .db-wal log file
del /f /q “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager\CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal”

:: 5. Restart the service to let Windows generate a fresh, normal-sized database file
net start camsvc

Once the final command runs, the database log file will be recreated at its default size (typically under 2 MB), instantly restoring the missing storage space. Proceed to install update KB5095093 via Windows Update to permanently prevent the file from growing again.

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It is possible this will work for you, but I expect the OP to have further difficulties because this is obviously fitting a familiar pattern when one tries to follow AI generated instructions.

[citizen]

I have found the same: AI certainly knows the Win OS but it didn’t prioritize things well, having me check a dozen things before getting to what might be the real fix.

I’d hear over and over from AI such as “[my name], that tells me everything I need to know; there’s only one thing it can be, this will definitely solve it” and then provide the script for the next fix try.

Later, it was “[my name], that tells me everything I need to know; there’s only one thing it can be” again.

Rinse & repeat. Eventually, the issue was fixed but I know I did the same things over and over during those days. As the issue was a Windows problem, I was using Copilot.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I always laughed when Microsuck tech told me to reinstall the system.
Why? It actually self destructs.

I switched to Mac 17 years ago.
Never once have I reinstalled the system, drivers, or had a virus.
I do not use virus software.

It just plows on.

[moviefan8]

I am kinda blind as how to fix your computer without looking at it. I cannot give good advice without physically looking at it.

1. Try disk cleanup in settings and also by right clicking on “C” in my computer.

Second suggestion and this is pretty drastic.
In Settings go to Recovery and click on reset this PC.

You will have to reinstall your programs from your disk back up.

Make sure you copy all your documents to a backup drive before doing this.

[dayglored]

> I should have known better than to post an AI created solution without testing it first..

Yep :-)

> 2. Take ownership of the folder for the Administrators group
takeown /f “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager” /a /r /d y
3. Grant the Administrators group full control permissions over the folder
icacls “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager” /grant administrators:F /t

Yep, that's what I would have done next if I weren't somewhat allergic to permanently taking ownership and changing access of system objects to "fix" something that shouldn't have broken in the first place. I'm a Sr.DevOpsEngr and have been doing IT for two decades officially after doing it unofficially for three previous decades in which my title was "Sr. System Design Engineer", LOL.

So yeah, in the immortal words of Richard Nixon, "We could do that. But it would be wrong, that's for sure." I can afford to wait for the official fix, which in my case isn't available yet. My Win11 Pro is policy-blocked at 23H2 and the official Microsoft patch for this bug is only currently available for 24H2 and 25H2, so I get to unblock and upgrade first....

[Tacrolimus1mg]

External hard drives are helpful. You can buy 1TB jump drives now, and that was where I put all manner of things. Aside from programs, I have no other files on my computer. You may be able to move non-essential files to the external and download the patch to it so it can run.

Micro Center sells small jump drives (5-50GB) on the cheap. I boot stuff from external drives all the time.

[takebackaustin]

Totally agree, and your advice is what I would and did do anyway : I bought one with 4x the threads of execution, 4x memory, and 4x ssd — used and five years old for $1000. For me the first reason that comes to mind is “it’s the cost of doing business”, but if it wasn’t it would still be exactly what you said, “life’s too short”. Linux wouldn’t do this (hog all the user space I freed up) but I also want to run TurboTax etc, and big companies only support models and os releases that go back about 5 years.

But there is also something a colleague (IBM Fellow) told me in 1989 : “Your stuff Just Works… You Don’t have to Mess With It to get it to work”. I used to (about 2015) say that about Apple’s OS and systems, and found out other people were saying it too — for instance backup with Time Machine — but now I can’t. I’m pushing it harder, and they have kids hacking on MacOS (maybe they are using AI or bargain Indians which are just as ignorant) until it looks less and less like the UNIX they licensed. You can’t even copy your Time Machine backups to a different disk. That’s totally giving up on satisfying fundamental requirements. Sometimes you find out processes in a different terminal are opening stale versions of a written and closed file. Again, they abandoned important parts of the OS design that made UNIX something more than the overgrown child’s toy the MS OSs are.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Upgrade to Linux.

[Still Thinking]

Get a larger drive and an offline disk duplicator and clone your drive to the new larger one. You shouldn’t lose anything. Using the new drive as an external drive (the duplicator may also act as a drive dock), either by booting to the old drive or using a different computer, enlarge the cloned partition to a larger (probably fill the entire new drive). Then put the new drive in your computer and boot to it.

[LouAvul]

go to Recovery and click on reset this PC.

I tried that but, again, it said I didn't have enough available space to run the reset.

[moviefan8]

I thought of something. Maybe deleting all your system restore points except for the last one to free up space.

Type “system restore” in the search bar in settings.

You can also configure the system restore settings there.

Maybe look into this:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

It is kind of tough for me to diagnose and fix without actually looking at it.

The other suggestion is to take it to a computer repair shop, but that may cost you money.