A disk analyzer is the program, not the pie in Settings. You install it, you point it at a drive or a folder, it walks the tree, then it draws what it found. Directory list for names and sizes. Treemap for area. Extension list for types. Those three views are the tool. If you typed a full-disk question in everyday words, that walk sits on Check storage on PC. If you typed a brand next to this name, that comparison sits on Disk analyzer vs WizTree.

This is WinDirStat. Windows. GPL v2. The WinDirStat team publishes it. We did not make it. Official files live on GitHub Releases. The repo is windirstat/windirstat. This site does not host the installer. Skip Softonic, CNET, SourceForge wraps, and unofficial sites that wrap the name.

The button on this page goes to Install on the home page. Home is Open Source Disk Space Analyzer. The copy box on home is the live command. Releases on home and on Open Source Disk Space Analyzer Releases are the live file list. This page is the tool after that install.

Install so a disk analyzer actually runs

Paste this into Windows Terminal or Command Prompt:

winget install -e --id WinDirStat.WinDirStat

Copy

If winget is missing, install App Installer from Microsoft, then paste the command again. Official Microsoft links only. The package id is WinDirStat.WinDirStat. Do not paste a lookalike id from a comment thread.

The other Windows path is GitHub Releases. Open the latest release. Usual file is WinDirStat-x64.msi. Portable is WinDirStat.zip or WinDirStat.7z. Arm64 and x86 msi files exist for those machines. Pick one asset that matches the PC in front of you. Latest live tag observed on this site is v2.8.0. Fetch and trust sit on Disk Space Analyzer Download Safe. Repo and LICENSE sit on Open Source Disk Space Analyzer GitHub. If winget itself is the missing piece, How to Install Winget is the Microsoft path.

How to use a disk analyzer on the desktop

Install WinDirStat with the command on this page, or open the latest GitHub release and pick the Windows installer for your machine.
Open WinDirStat on this Windows machine. You want the analyzer window, with a target picker, not a browser tab that wraps the name.
Choose the drive or folder. All local drives if you want the whole picture. One drive if you already know which letter is full. A single folder if you are inspecting a tree you own.
Let the scan complete. The directory list, extension list, and treemap fill as it walks. Wait until the run finishes before you treat a rectangle as the whole story.
Use the directory list and the treemap together. Sort the tree by size. Click a large block. The tree opens that path. Select a type in the extension list and the treemap lights files of that type.
Open, move, or delete from the app, or from Explorer. Copy the path if you need it. Show properties if you need dates and attributes. The original file stays until you choose an action.

That list is the disk analyzer path. You are reading a map of this PC. You are not sending the tree to a website.

Directory list, treemap, and the extension list

The directory list looks like Explorer, sorted by how much each subtree holds. Expand a folder and the children are still ordered by size. That is how you walk from "C: is full" to a named path without guessing. Columns can include logical size, physical size, percentages, item counts, attributes, owner, and modified time. Logical versus physical matters on NTFS when compression, sparse files, or cluster slack make the two numbers disagree. Read both if a file looks larger than the data you remember saving.

The treemap draws every file as a rectangle. Area follows size. Directories become rectangles that contain their children. Color follows file type, with the extension list as the legend. Cushion shading helps the nested folders read as nested. Click a rectangle and the directory list selects that file. Select a folder in the list and the treemap frames that folder. The two views stay coupled on purpose. Zoom in to treat a subtree as the whole map. Zoom out to step back to the parent.

The extension list is types, not folders. It tells you whether the disk is full of videos, archives, disk images, or a mix. Select one extension and the treemap highlights that type across the tree. That is faster than opening every folder that might hold a .iso or a .mp4. It is still not a delete. It is a filter on the picture so you know which kind of file to hunt.

Other views in this version include largest files, duplicate files, search results, and a file watcher. Largest files is the short list when you only want the top weights. Duplicates by hash catch copies that different names would hide. Search and filters (including regular expressions and size filters) cut the tree when you already have a guess. File watcher reports created, deleted, modified, and renamed events after a scan if you are watching a tree change. Use those when the three main panes are not enough. Start with the three panes.

Scan one drive, several drives, or a folder

A disk analyzer does not have to eat every letter. All local drives is the wide pass. Selected drives is the pass when D: is the media disk and C: is the system disk and you only care about one. A folder target is the pass when the question is a project directory, a user profile, or a backup tree. Command-line targets exist in the project README if you launch from a prompt. Refresh, suspend, resume, and stop sit on the scan itself. Elevated privilege helps when a folder refuses a normal-user read.

Fast NTFS scanning and multithreading are listed in the README. That is how this build talks about large drives. We will not convert that into a race against another brand. Official WizTree can sit first for people who typed that name. This page stays on the GitHub Windows program we document.

Save or reload a scan when you want to look again without walking the disk a second time. CSV import and export sit in the same family of reporting. Useful if you want a snapshot you can open later. The live drive can still change while the saved scan sits still. Treat a saved scan as a photograph. Run a fresh scan before you delete from a week-old picture.

Act on a file once you can see it

Built-in actions: open the item, copy the path, select it in Explorer, use the Explorer context menu, open Command Prompt or PowerShell at that path, move the file, show properties, delete, empty a folder, empty Recycle Bin. User-defined cleanup actions exist if you have a command you already trust. Windows maintenance shortcuts in the README include Disk Cleanup, Programs and Features, DISM, shadow copies, defrag, CHKDSK, and related tools. Those are for Windows-owned hogs. Your Downloads folder is still a file you pick by hand.

Dark mode, portable settings, Explorer context-menu integration, localization, and high-DPI UI behavior are listed as product notes. Portable settings matter if you ran the zip or 7z instead of the msi. One fetch. One folder. Do not run the portable copy and the installed copy at once and wonder which window owns the scan.

Delete is still a choice. A disk analyzer shows weight. It does not know that the huge folder is the only copy of a client archive. Open the file. Read the path. If the path is under Windows or Program Files and you did not put it there, stop. Uninstall from Programs and Features, or leave it. If the path is under your user profile and you put it there, you can move it to another drive or delete it. Recycle Bin first is the calmer habit.

What this disk analyzer will not do

It will not defragment as its main job, even though a maintenance shortcut exists. It will not clone another publisher's homepage. It will not scan a machine you are not sitting at. Network paths Windows can see are a Windows question. If the share is not mounted, this program cannot invent it.

It will not replace Check storage on PC as the "bar is red" article. That page is the everyday job. This page is the tool: panes, scan targets, actions. Keep the two URLs for the two phrases.

Free space and unknown space can appear on the map. Free space is not a folder you delete. Unknown space is not a file you click. Stay on named paths. If a scan skipped a directory, that is often a permission limit. Run as administrator only when you actually need those folders in the view.

How do I use a disk analyzer?

Install with the command on this page, or pick the Windows file from GitHub Releases. Open WinDirStat. Choose a drive or folder. Wait for the scan. Use the directory list and treemap to find large items, then open, move, or delete. This site does not host the installer. Files stay on GitHub.

What is the winget command for a disk analyzer?

Paste winget install -e --id WinDirStat.WinDirStat from the box on this page. That is the live command. GitHub Releases is the other path if you want WinDirStat-x64.msi or a portable zip or 7z.

What does a disk analyzer show?

A sortable directory tree, an extension list by file type, and a treemap where larger files take larger rectangles. Click one view and the others follow. That coupling is the point of the tool.

Did you make this disk analyzer?

No. This site only points at GitHub. The WinDirStat team publishes WinDirStat under GPL v2. Official files live on GitHub Releases. Skip Softonic, CNET, SourceForge wraps, and unofficial wrappers.