This beastly Windows 11 bug quietly eats hundreds of GB of your storage
Don’t worry: if you’re currently experiencing mysterious problems with storage space on your Windows 11 computer, it’s probably not your fault.
Image by Cybernews.
- A Windows 11 bug can silently bloat one logging file to hundreds of gigabytes
- The issue stems from Capability Access Manager repeatedly logging privacy-related access events
- Microsoft’s KB5095093 update should fix it: users should avoid manually altering the file
Even if you’re holding a massive amount of files and apps on your Windows 11 device, the issues you might be facing with storage space are not necessarily your fault, Microsoft has confirmed.
Actually, you may be affected by a system bug, and a nasty one at that. The year-old problem is related to the Capability Access Manager service, responsible for app permissions in Windows.
The CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file, used for Windows privacy/access logging of features like camera, microphone, location, and screen capture, should only take a few megabytes of storage.
But on some PCs, the file is excessively large and can amount to several hundred gigabytes. It can even fill the entire drive. Needless to say, this will inevitably reduce system performance.
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“So my computer warned me that I was running out of space on my C drive. I was confused because I had not added anything recently,” one Reddit user complained.
“So I checked and had 500GB <...> but no folder held it. Googled and found TreeSize (that’s a disk space tracker) that told me capabilityaccessmanager.db.wal was behind it.”
Don’t try to make any unauthorized changes to the file yourself or attempt to uninstall it. This could lead to further errors.
Another Redditor points out: “You’d think Microsoft would update this really obvious and serious issue. It’s almost like intentional malware or a hostile cyberattack. One log file taking up half a hard drive is insane.”
The aforementioned file seems to be growing because the operating system keeps logging repeated events for access requests or other privacy controls, such as location.
Check if your data has been leaked
Apparently, as per Windows Latest, users who want to play it safe should wait a few days for the July 2026 Patch Tuesday update, where the fix – Microsoft has finally woken up to the problem – is expected to roll out automatically. The tech giant is acting quietly.
Buried in the patch notes for Windows 11 update KB5095093, there’s a line saying: “This update improves disk space usage for the CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file.”
What’s worrying is that Microsoft still hasn’t listed it as a known issue on Windows Dashboard, hasn’t described the symptoms, or explained why some Windows 11 systems allowed this file to grow into tens or hundreds of gigabytes.
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Once again, if you’re a user, you should wait for the automatic update on July’s Patch Tuesday. If you want to act now, though, you can install the optional update by checking for update KB5095093 via Windows Update → Advanced options → Optional updates.
Most importantly, don’t try to make any unauthorized changes to the file yourself or attempt to uninstall it. This could lead to further errors.
