Xbox Game Pass Games taking up twice the amount of space due to files being saved in both...

Hi Avi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Xbox Community. I understand that you have questions regarding the disk space that the Xbox App is using whenever you install the game.

Are you referring to the WindowsApps folder? None of the games are downloaded twice or taking twice the space of your drive. This has been explained in an existing thread that the files in this folder are disk images of the game, in their native Xbox format, which are mounted as virtual disks by the Xbox Virtual Disk driver.

Here's the original thread for your reference:

https://answers.microsoft.com/nl-nl/windows/for...

I hope this clears out any confusion that you may had and answered your question directly.

Regards,

Alvaro

Thank you for contact us! I'm Anderson, an Independent Consultant and a Microsoft user like you.

Good evening

Besides the game installations, there are several other factors that contribute to the storage usage on your Xbox. These include system files, game updates, downloadable content (DLC), saved game data, captures/screenshots, and temporary files. These additional files can accumulate over time and take up a significant amount of space. It's not uncommon for the storage usage to be higher than the sum of the installed games alone. To free up space, you can consider deleting unnecessary captures/screenshots, clearing cache/temporary files, and managing your saved game data.

To identify what is occupying your Xbox's storage, you can follow these steps:

On your Xbox console, go to the "Settings" menu.

Select "System" and then choose "Storage."

You will see a list of storage devices connected to your Xbox. Select the internal storage device.

The storage breakdown will be displayed, showing the categories of content taking up space.

Review the categories such as games, apps, captures, saved data, and system files to see which ones are using the most space.

When you go to download a game and are about to purchase it it tells you on the right hand side how much memory is required .

-

When the game is downloading a bar will come up and say X percent of X amount is now being downloaded.

-

For the game save files go to systems - memory and click on the game it will tel you what the save files take up.

Hello Samuel Gemmill,



Greetings!



Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.



It appears that your query is related to the space taken by the games when installed in apps and also taking up space in File Explorer. Let us check and see on what we can do to help resolve your concern in a timely manner.

The reason why the game is taking space in both the Xbox app and the File Explorer is because the game files are stored in a hidden folder called WindowsApps, which is located in the Program Files folder on your C: drive. This folder is protected by Windows and is not accessible by default, so you may not see it in the File Explorer. However, the Xbox app can access this folder and install the games there. Therefore, the game is taking up space on your C: drive, even if you don’t see it in the File Explorer. If the game was installed from the Microsoft Store or the Xbox app, and the game files are stored in the WindowsApps folder, then uninstalling the game from the app should remove all the files of the game from both the app and the WindowsApps folder. This is the normal and expected behavior. However, sometimes there may be a bug or a glitch that prevents the game files from being deleted properly from the WindowsApps folder, even after uninstalling the game from the app. This can cause the game to take up space on your C: drive, even if you don’t see it in the File Explorer. This is a known issue that many users have reported.

For your OneDrive issue that occupies space and showed in folder even if you have uncheck sync and save locally, this will be another topic and should be posted in different category because there is a dedicated support for this.



We look forward to your response. Kindly let us know, if there is any misunderstanding or clarifications of our description by sending us a reply.



Sincerely,

You get unlimited cloud storage for game saves, game clips, your profile, ect. Please note your OneDrive is not the same cloud storage that your Xbox One uses for game content and your profile. You OneDrive is used to save clips you've edited in Upload Studio
or storing any files you wish. You can check how much storage is left in your OneDrive by going to
http://onedrive.live.com

To sum it up OneDrive is used to upload game clips and store/share files and you have a limited amount of space (Unless you purchase more), and the separate Xbox One cloud storage saves your profile, game saves, ect and it has an unlimited amount of space.