Win32_DiskQuota class

The Win32_DiskQuota association WMI class tracks disk space usage for NTFS file system volumes. A system administrator (SA) can configure Windows to prevent further disk space use, and log an event when a user exceeds a specified disk space limit. An SA can also log an event when a user exceeds a specified disk space warning level. This class is new in Windows XP.

The following syntax is simplified from Managed Object Format (MOF) code and includes all of the inherited properties. Properties are listed in alphabetic order, not MOF order.

Syntax

Members

The Win32_DiskQuota class has these types of members:

Properties

The Win32_DiskQuota class has these properties.

DiskSpaceUsed

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Number of bytes currently in use by this particular user or group.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Limit

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read/write

Limit set for this particular user or group.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

QuotaVolume

Data type: Win32_LogicalDisk

Access type: Read-only

Reference to the instance representing disk quotas.

Status

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Current status of the disk quota.

Value	Meaning
0	«OK»
1	«Warning»
2	«Exceeded»

User

Data type: Win32_Account

Access type: Read-only

Reference to the instance representing the user account associated with a disk quota.

WarningLimit

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read/write

Warning limit set for this particular user or group.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

How to use Windows 10 disk Quota to limit user storage

One of the many great features of Windows 10 is the ability to create multiple accounts to share a computer with other people. Thanks to this feature, everyone can have a space they can call their own with custom settings and separate files.

The only issue is that users have unlimited access to the available space on the hard drive to store as many files as they want, and they don’t have storage limitations to install apps and games, which can cause your device to run out of space quickly.

In order to overcome this problem, Windows 10 includes a handy feature known as «Quota,» which allows you to control and manage the space users can use to prevent a single person from filling up the hard drive and leaving no space for anyone else.

In this Windows 10 guide, we walk you through the steps to set storage limits using disk Quota per account or volume.

Important details

While Quota is a useful feature on Windows 10, there some details you need to know before limiting storage to users:

• Quota is only available on volumes formatted using NTFS.
• Quota is commonly used in corporate networks, but anyone can use it on any device, including on Windows 10 Home.
• Quota needs to be configured per volume, not per computer.
• Quota can be set per individual user or everyone, but you can’t set limits on groups of users.
• Quota scans the particular volume every hour to update the storage usage for each user.
• Users with files already on the drive will have their quota initially disabled.
• Newly-added users will start with their quotas as expected.

Although you can configure disk quota on any supported volume, it can become a little messy implementing limits using the Windows installation drive (C:). Whenever possible, you should consider enabling Quota on secondary partitions or external drives. Also, using the C: drive, the system and other files owned by the account count towards the quota limit, so plan accordingly.

How to set up Quota per volume on Windows 10

If you want to limit the available storage for all users, use the following steps:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E).
2. Click on This PC.
3. Under «Devices and drives,» right-click the drive you want to limit and select Properties.
4. Click on the Quota tab.

Click the Show Quota Settings button.

Check the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit option.

Set the amount of space before a warning is triggered to the user and specify the size unit (for example, megabyte or gigabyte).

Click Apply.

Click OK.

Restart your computer.

Once you completed these steps, every account on your device will only be able to use part of the total available storage on the hard drive. A warning will alert users that they’re reaching their storage quota, and when the threshold is reached, users will no longer be allowed to store additional files.

You can always increase or decrease the storage allowance by modifying the Limit disk space to and Set warning level to options on step No. 6.

If you no longer want to limit the storage users can use on a drive, you can use the same instructions. However, on step No. 6, select the Do not limit disk usage option, and clear the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit and Enable quota management options.

How to set up Quota per account on Windows 10

In the case that you want to set storage limit on individual users, while keeping your account unlimited, use the following steps:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E).
2. Click on This PC.
3. Under «Devices and drives,» right-click the drive you want to manage and select Properties.
4. Click on the Quota tab.
5. Click the Show Quota settings button.
6. Check the Enable quota management option.

Check the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit option.

If the account you want to restrict isn’t listed, click Quota, and select New Quota Entry.

In the «Select Users» tab, click the Advanced button.

Select the account you want.

Set the amount of space before a warning is triggered to the user and specify the size unit (for example, megabyte or gigabyte).

Click Apply.

Click OK.

After completing the steps, the users you configured storage limits for won’t be able to fill up the entire drive.

If you want to disable or change the disk quota settings, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 15, select the Do not limit disk usage option to disable or change the settings using the Limit disk space to option.

Deleting a disk quota entry

In the case you no longer need to limit the space a user can use, you can simply change the settings in the user entry. However, if you want to remove a Quota entry, this can be a challenge as the account must not be consuming any space before you can delete it.

To remove a Quota entry, do the following:

Note: It’s a good idea to relocate the user files to another location temporarily, remove the entry using the steps below, and then move the files back to the original location.

1. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E).
2. Click on This PC.
3. Under «Devices and drives,» right-click the Local Disk (C:) drive and select Properties.
4. Click on the Quota tab.
5. Click the Show Quota Settings button.

Check that the Enable quota management option is selected and disk quota is enabled. Otherwise, you won’t be able to delete any of the entries, and you’ll get a «users charged with disk space cannot be deleted» message.

Right-click the user and select Delete.

Click the Take Ownership button if you want to keep the files, or click the Delete button if taking ownership doesn’t work.

Click Close to delete the entry.

Once you complete these steps, you can properly disable disk quota on the drive, or you can reconfigure the same account again.

Although we’re focusing this guide on Windows 10, the ability to set disk quotas has been around for years, and you can also refer to these instructions to limit the space people can use on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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What are disk quotas and how to use them to limit the space of each user

If you are not the only person using your computer, you might want to limit the amount of storage space that every user can use. If you do that, you ensure that the storage space on a specific drive or partition is never filled up by only one user account. Everybody has their personal space to fill, and nobody can trespass his or her limits. In Windows, this is called disk quotas, and, in this tutorial, we show you how to use quotas to limit the space of each user:

NOTE: This guide applies to Windows 10, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1. The processes described in this article are the same in all three versions of Windows. To make it easier to create this guide, we used screenshots taken in Windows 10.

What are disk quotas in Windows?

Disk quotas are a means of controlling the storage space available to Windows users. An administrator can enforce limits on disk quotas so that no user account can exceed them. This means that, whenever a user exceeds their disk quota, he or she can no longer add new data to the disk. Furthermore, the administrator can also set warning levels, so that the users know beforehand when they are getting close to their quota limit.

There are also a few other things that you should know:

• In Windows, disk quotas can be set up on drives or partitions that are formatted using the NTFS file system. You cannot use them on a volume that is formatted using FAT32 or exFAT because these file systems do not offer support for this feature.
• You can set disk quotas and enforce quota limits only if you have a Windows account that has administrative privileges. Standard users cannot set disk quotas.
• You can set disk quotas for disks or partitions, but you cannot set disk quotas on folders.
• If you have multiple drives or partitions on your Windows computer, you must set disk quota limits for each, individually. You cannot set disk quotas for multiple disks or partitions simultaneously.

Now let’s see how to use disk quotas to limit the storage space of each user account:

Step 1. Turn on the disk quota management

Start by opening File Explorer (in Windows 10 or 8.1) or Windows Explorer (in Windows 7). Then, go to This PC (in Windows 10 or 8.1) or Computer (in Windows 7) and click or tap the disk for which you want to set quota limits. Right-click or tap and hold on the disk, and then choose Properties.

In the drive’s Properties, go to the Quota tab, and click or tap the “Show Quota Settings” button.

In the “Quota Settings” window, you can make the settings required to enforce quota limits for each user account from your Windows computer. This is what it looks like:

First and foremost, you have to “Enable quota management.” This is the setting that turns on the disk quotas on the selected disk. All the other options in this window are greyed out, but once you enable the quota management, all the other settings should become active.

Step 2. Use disk quotas to limit the storage space of each user

Now you can proceed and enforce quota limits: check the option that says “Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit,” select “Limit disk space to,” and input the quota limit.

If you want the operating system to log an event when a user is close to his or her disk space limit, also set the warning level.

If you are wondering what happens if a user reaches his or her disk quota limit, know that every time a user fills his or her disk quota with files, two things take place:

• The user gets an “out of space” message, and
• The user cannot add new data on that drive.

However, the user can clean some of its allocated disk space by doing things like:

• emptying the Recycle Bin,
• deleting the files he or she does not need,
• uninstalling some programs and apps.

Step 3. Log disk quota events when the users exceed their quota limits or warning levels

If you also want the operating system to log the disk quota events on your computer, you can enable the quota logging options. In the drive’s “Quota Settings” window check one or both of the following options:

• “Log event when a user exceeds their quota limit.”
• “Log event when a user exceeds their warning level.”

Then, each time an event takes place, it is recorded by the operating system and can be viewed in Event Viewer , in the System category from the Windows Logs.

Step 4. Apply the disk quota settings

To enable all the settings that you have made until now, click or tap Apply. Windows should ask you to confirm again that you want to enable disk quotas. Press OK, and you are good to go.

NOTE: You might have noticed that we skipped explaining the “Quota Entries” button. This is the entry point to some advanced quota settings, like setting specific disk quotas for specific users, managing files owned by users and so on. These are settings not commonly used by home users, but rather by system administrators, on enterprise networks.

Conclusion

Enabling quota management and enforcing quota limits for users can be useful if the computer in question is used by more than one person. The process is simple and does not require advanced know-how. Do you believe disk quotas are useful even on a home computer, or just in office environments? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.