Where can I find and remove Pending Updates and Preview Builds in Windows 10?

Question

I have an ACER laptop with 30G of hard drive space, and as I learned after purchasing, most of that in Windows 10 is consumed by System files :)

So I have precious little space to spare, and wonder if I can get rid of the 1.30G of "Pending Updates and Preview Builds" files shown here at bottom:

Note that I've clicked on View Update Status and nothing there indicates where the files are located or how to remove.

Solution

Deleting "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download" would clear the pending updates. That's the easy part.

To install them, you'll need to use a PowerShell Module to get access to the updates via command line and install them manually. Search for PSWindowsUpdate.

Comments

[spikey_richie]

Start > Run > cleanmgr.exe and hit enter/ok, then on the Disk Cleanup dialog click 'Clean up system files' bottom left. It's more reliable than the new interface, imho.

[Oliver Williams]

I did this (the UI isn't that great) and at first the Clean System Files button was present. I clicked it, it "did it" and then the button was gone. Checking Storage again, it appeared to have worked. However sometimes this value fluctuates - I still don't know WHAT it deleted or where it is. But, positive result :)

[Ramhound]

If you no longer want to recieve Insider Preview builds that would require to leave the program. However, if you are running a Insider Preview build of Windows I wouldn't suggest you do that. Insider Preview builds expire after a period of time, once they expired, you no longer will be able to use your installation.

[Oliver Williams]

Never been in that program. So it seems that folder could just be deleted entirely. I've done a good job with this cleanup so far, and I'll make a backup for it before deleting it.

[Oliver Williams]

I'm accepting this answer as the size of that folder matches the size in the Storage > Temp files value. I actually did not delete them (as I can live with a few MB, but not so much GB), but used the tip by @spikie_richie in the comment above, that tool seems to have done the job.