Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug can steal over 500GB of storage – here's how to check and fix it

[midian182]

Facepalm: Is the amount of storage you have left on your PC suddenly a lot lower than it should be? Then you may be one of the people experiencing yet another bizarre Windows 11 bug, one that can gobble up more than 500GB of drive space.

The bug, which was spotted by Windows Latest, is related to Windows 11's Capability Access Manager, a system component tied to Microsoft's app permission controls. It manages access to privacy-sensitive features such as the camera, microphone, location, contacts, and screen capture, and records when apps request or use those capabilities.

The problem is not with the permission system itself so much as one of the files behind it: CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal, the write-ahead log for the Capability Access Manager database.

A WAL file can grow during normal use, but it's supposed to be merged or compacted back into the main database. In affected systems, the file keeps filling the system drive and then remains huge.

Some users have reported it growing to around 70GB to 200GB, while others say it has reached 500GB and sometimes even higher. One Reddit user said TreeSize showed the file taking up about 513GB.

To find out if you've been impacted by this annoying issue, go into Settings > System > Storage, then select Show more categories. If System & reserved, or more specifically System files, is showing hundreds of gigabytes, you're likely one of those affected.

If System & reserved seems high but not quite at that hundreds-of-gigabytes level, Windows Latest notes that affected users can also check the protected folder from an elevated Command Prompt by running the following list-only Robocopy command, which does not copy or delete any files:

robocopy "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\CapabilityAccessManager" "%TEMP%\CAMCheck" /L /B /R:0 /W:0 /BYTES /NP

The file to look for in the output is CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal. If it is only a few megabytes, your system is probably fine. If it is several gigabytes and keeps growing, the bug has likely struck.

There does appear to be a simple fix for the problem: installing Windows 11 KB5095093, which includes builds 26200.8737 and 26100.8737. The update can be downloaded through Windows Update's optional updates section in advanced settings, or users can wait for the fix to arrive more through July's regular Patch Tuesday rollout.

Microsoft's release notes now state that KB5095093 "improves disk space usage for the CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file," though the company has not offered a full public explanation for why some Windows 11 systems allowed the file to balloon into the hundreds of gigabytes in the first place.

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Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug can steal over 500GB of storage – here's how to check and fix it

 

[GeforcerFX]

I have seen this on 5 computers in the repair shop. Winderstat can find it I have been deleting the file without issue and moving a copy of it from a fresh load back onto there drive without issue. Good to see there is a official fix coming.

 

[texasrattler]

Not seeing much in my system n reserved. 44GB and 16GB in system files. Guess I dont have the bug.

These issues/bug that crop up for people have to be more specific. Dont know why MS just dont say what if you have this hardware/software you could have the issue. I hardly ever see the bugs that people talk about, there has to be some sort of software/hardware or a combination that gets the bugs. Clearly not everyone gets these.

 

[trents]

I get a parsing error when I try to run that command.

 

[poshflamingos]

I hardly ever see the bugs that people talk about, there has to be some sort of software/hardware or a combination that gets the bugs. Clearly not everyone gets these.

Every time you see articles written about issues with windows or windows update, it's safe to assume it's an extremely niche issue. The problem is that tech outlets such as TechSpot (and many others) are incentivized to word their headlines and articles as to imply they are widespread issues affecting everyone and causing generalized discontent/chaos. It's engagement bait, notice how the comment section in every such article just devolves into the same "microsoft bad, linux good" circlejerk every time.

TechSpot does not care about journalism or accurate reporting. They care about clicks and engagement. They make way more money by fomenting outrage than they do by reporting accurate information and data.

 

[AndreV]

Every time you see articles written about issues with windows or windows update, it's safe to assume it's an extremely niche issue. The problem is that tech outlets such as TechSpot (and many others) are incentivized to word their headlines and articles as to imply they are widespread issues affecting everyone and causing generalized discontent/chaos. It's engagement bait, notice how the comment section in every such article just devolves into the same "microsoft bad, linux good" circlejerk every time.

TechSpot does not care about journalism or accurate reporting. They care about clicks and engagement. They make way more money by fomenting outrage than they do by reporting accurate information and data.

"TechSpot does not care about journalism or accurate reporting. They care about clicks and engagement. They make way more money by fomenting outrage than they do by reporting accurate information and data."
This is valid for at 90% of the so-called journalism today everywhere. I guess its a side-effect of the savage capitalism we are living in now. Its important to be the first, say it very loud and everything alse to sell it. The rest is at best a very far secondary.

 

[Art C]

"here's how to check and fix it"

1. switch to Linux

2. there is no step 2

 

[Loadedaxe]

Not seeing much in my system n reserved. 44GB and 16GB in system files. Guess I dont have the bug.

These issues/bug that crop up for people have to be more specific. Dont know why MS just dont say what if you have this hardware/software you could have the issue. I hardly ever see the bugs that people talk about, there has to be some sort of software/hardware or a combination that gets the bugs. Clearly not everyone gets these.

Same here, mine are almost identical to yours.

 

[daffy duck]

Mine's right on 2MB.

 

[DrkKnight]

Old news, this was fixed with the June updates. if you're using ZDnet as your source you really need to find another, ZDnet is usually late to the party a day late and a dollar short.

 

[GTvon]

"here's how to check and fix it"

1. switch to Linux

2. there is no step 2

With Linux there are a lot of step 2s and it still wouldn't run everything.

 

[Abhinay]

I have this issue as well, I noticed this 2 weeks ago, I tried to open and check which apps were using location and other services but th esettings app just crashes as soon as I open it, and the storage its taking is 10gb.