Can I install software on an external drive?

Can I install software on an external drive?

Q The SSD in my laptop is completely full. I understand I can use an external drive, or ‘slave’, to load new programs on to my laptop. However, I don’t know how to do it. Do you have you any advice? I’ve only just started my subscription to Computeractive, so it’s possible you have published an article on this in the past.

Eddie McCoy

A We’ve certainly covered this topic a few times over the years but we’re happy to recap. You simply have to tell Windows where you want it to install (or ‘save’) any new apps.

To do this in Windows 10 and 11, click the Start button followed by the Settings cog. Next, click System, then Storage. In Windows 10, under the ‘More storage settings’ heading, click ‘Change where new content is saved’ (see screenshot 1). In Windows 11, you need to take a slightly different route to reach same place. Under the ‘Storage management’ heading, click ‘Advanced storage settings’ followed by ‘Where new content is saved’.

Finally, in either Windows 10 or 11, under the heading ‘New apps will save to:’, click to open the menu, then choose the drive to which you’d like Windows to install new programs (see screenshot 2).