C drive fills when plugged into network

I wrote down all the sub-folders in the root of C drive and checked size of each folder <- what are the figures?

Two things:

(1) TreeSize (Jam Software) is really good for this. It will tell you where the space is going.

(2) 40Gb is not enough for Windows 7. Why so little? My Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines without any data (but some software) use 45Gb. Winsxs takes 12 - 15Gb alone. This may be why you are running out of space.

.... Thinkpads_User

@thinkspad_user

I think that the author means that 40gb is the partition size for c drive of server 2008 and there are a numbe of installation guide that says to have a system partition with size of 40gb and another partition for data of the remaining portion of the hdd.

The problem here is the strange behavior of the immediate drop in free space on connection to network.

There should be a log in the event viewer to see why the system uses additional space, but I am not sure.

Besides, according to marektech, it says:-

"When I come across problems like this I find Space monger is a great tool.

http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm

It lets you see visually which files take up the most space. Say if its a log which has grown too large you can spot it instantly."

Source: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26477856/Server-2008-C-drive-keeps-running-out-of-space.html?anchorAnswerId=33692175#a33692175

Hello.

Have you considered moving your spooler folder location?

Jobs will take space on your box as they are sent to print and rebooting will clear much of the queue.

You may also wish to check your VSS settings.

many possibilities can cause this problem:

- are there roaming profiles on server?
- Did you check SQL database size?
- you can also check pagefile size.

you have to look on event logs too as suggested by experts for troubleshoot this issue. if you privide some errors here then it will be easy to resolve this problem.

It would be so easy to find out if you only monitored the file system. procmon (free downloadable Microsoft tool) can do this, it will tell you where files are being written to. You can set filters to see only write actions to the file system.

I guess it will be a large print job that gets written again and again.

Thanks for the suggestions
Jackieman, yes it's a server 2008 matter
I found PrintSpooler warnings in events Event ID 8, this was being generated by most of my printers, it explained the following fix:

The jobs in the print queue for printer HP Color LaserJet CP5520 Series PCL 6 on hopper (redirected 2) were deleted. No user action is required.
To stop logging warning events for the print spooler, in Control Panel, open Printers, right-click a blank area of the window, click Run as Administrator, click Server Properties, click the Advanced tab, and then clear the Log spooler warning events check box.

I went into "Print Server Properties" and unchecked
-Log spooler error events
-Log spooler warning events
-Show informational notifications for network printers

I also installed SpaceMonger and plugged the network cable back in

the server seems to be working properly now for over an hour now. Before it would fill up the C drive within 10-15 minutes

Question
Can anyone tell me why this is happening?
I've never seen this before

1 out of 8 printers is not working porperly
HP LaserJet CP5525, the printer shows a blinking amber light on the "!" icon
but my users say it's been like that for months. I'm doing a firmware update to it right now

I also did not find any malware with Malwarebytes, but over the weekend I'll be running a malwarebytes scan in Safe Mode just in case

Hello.

As suggested, try moving your spooler to a different drive (if available).

The jobs will then be able to spool without filling up your system drive.

Look and see how big Shadow Storage is allowed to grow. This should be in Computer, Properties and should be expressed as a percent of total disk size.

And TreeSize (as I mentioned above) works on Servers and Workstations and will give you a good idea of where the space is being used.

How big is C:\Windows\WinSxS?  It may be bigger than you planned for. 15Gb should not be a surprise.

Also, I think 40Gb is too small for a Server so perhaps you can allocate more space.

... Thinkpads_User

WinSxs is 11.3 GB
In computer properties where is Shadow storage?

I see event:
5 storflt
The Virtual Storage Filter Driver is disabled through the registry. It is inactive for all disk drives.

WinSxs is 11.3 GB
System 32 is 23.9 GB
System/Spool 6.9 GB

So winsxs is a quarter of your entire space.

I don't have a Server 2008 in front of me.

Try Computer, Properties, System Protection tab, and look under Configure Protection settings.  Check all the tabs in Properties as Microsoft likes to move things around.

.... Thinkpads_User

I do not see
Try Computer, Properties, "System Protection tab"

Shadow Copies is disabled on all drives

Thanks for the update. I think overall you have allocated too little space for a Server.

Get a copy of TreeSize (Jam Software), install it, set it to show hidden files and let it display space usage for the whole drive.

.... Thinkpads_User

How do I move my print spooler to a diff. partition as rigo2013 suggested?

I found out how to move spool
Thanks

Update
Unplugging the printer HP LaserJet CP5525DN stop the issue
If I plug it back in the server's C drive fills up, I also moved the print spool to another partition
which is 1TB, the strange thing is the C drive has been 40GB in size with about 9GB of free space with all of the same printers for about two years.
Has anyone every heard of a printer doing this to a print server?

I have not seen such an issue.

On one computer, uninstall the printer (Programs and Features or Devices and Printers) and then remove the print drivers (Devices and Printers, Printer Server Manager). When the printers have been completely removed, restart the computer and reinstall.

Is the issue still there for this computer? or does it go away?

.... Thinkpads_User

thinkpads_user
This is a server, I plan to remove the printer off it compelely
fix whatever is wrong with the printer off line, it's display is showing me a blinking amber ! icon.
plug the printer back in and add it back to the server
I'll do this over the weekend since the server is a file server and I do not want to interrupt users here. Thanks

Thanks, so then do the uninstall / reinstall as I suggested. It doesn't matter whether workstation or server.

... Thinkpads_User

I let the printer drain over night, it had a blinking ! icon and now it's gone
I also moved the print spool
The print spool is not growing like it used to and it's been moved to a diff. partion
the printer is back on-line and working properly
my C drive is fine now, no more filling up
I'm not sure if moving the print spool fixed it or letting the printer drain fix it by it not generating large print logs

@jsarinana - Thanks for the update and I was happy to help.

... Thinkpads_User