Microsoft KB Archive/326212

= HOW TO: Manage Disk Capacity and Usage Using Disk Quotas in Windows Server 2003 =

PSS ID Number: 326212

Article Last Modified on 3/1/2004

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition

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This article was previously published under Q326212



For a Microsoft Windows 2000 version of this article, see 300979.

IN THIS TASK

 * SUMMARY
 * Managing Disk Quotas
 * To Enable Disk Quota Management
 * To Set Default Quota Limits
 * About Disk Quota Options
 * To Deny Disk Space to Users Who Go Beyond Their Quota Limit
 * To Log an Event When a User Goes Beyond Their Quota Limit or Warning Level
 * To Control Individual User Settings
 * Troubleshooting
 * The Quota Tab Is Not Displayed in Disk Volume's Properties



SUMMARY
This step-by-step article describes how to manage disk capacity and usage by using disk quotas in Windows Server 2003. It is intended for administrators that manage Windows Server 2003-based file servers.

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Managing Disk Quotas
Disk quotas track and control the amount of disk space that is allocated to users who are sharing resources on a file server. To effectively manage these quotas, you must be able to set and remove limits on disk space and warn users when they are approaching these limits. In some situations, you may also want to deny additional disk space to users who go beyond these limits.

Before you can apply disk quotas to a file server, you must first enable disk quotas on the disk volume. To use disk quotas, you must format the volume with the NTFS file system.

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To Enable Disk Quota Management

 * 1) Click Start, and then click My Computer.
 * 2) Right-click the volume for which you want to enable disk quotas, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Quota tab.
 * 4) Click to select the Enable quota management check box, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click OK when you are prompted to enable the disk quota system.

Windows rescans the volume to update the disk usage statistics.

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To Set Default Quota Limits
NOTE: Setting default quotas limits applies to all users who are storing files on the disk volume.
 * 1) Click Start, and then click My Computer.
 * 2) Right-click the volume for which you want to assign default quota values, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Quota tab.
 * 4) Click Limit disk space to, type the value that you want, and then specify the disk space limit unit that you want to use (for example, click MB).
 * 5) If you want Administrators to see when users are approaching the disk limits that you set in step 4, specify the value and disk space limit unit that you want in the boxes next to Set warning level to. This value must be less than the value for the disk quota limit that you specified in step 4.
 * 6) Click OK.

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About Disk Quota Options
You can deny disk space to users who go beyond their disk quota limit. You can also specify whether to log an event when users go beyond their quota limit or go beyond their warning level.

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 To Deny Disk Space to Users Who Go Beyond Their Quota Limit

To prevent users who go beyond their assigned quota limit from continuing to write additional data to the volume, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click My Computer.
 * 2) Right-click the volume that you want to manage, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Quota tab.
 * 4) Click to select the Deny disk space to users exceeding their quota limit check box.
 * 5) Click OK.

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 To Log an Event When a User Goes Beyond Their Quota Limit or Warning Level

To log an event to the System log in Event Viewer when a user goes beyond their warning level or quota limit, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click My Computer.
 * 2) Right-click the volume that you want to manage, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Quota tab.
 * 4) Do one or both of the following:
 * 5) * Click to select the Log event when a user exceeds their quota limit check box.
 * 6) * Click to select the Log event when a user exceeds their warning level check box.
 * 7) Click OK.

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To Control Individual User Settings
The steps described in the Managing Disk Quotas section of this article apply common limits to all users who store data on the managed disk volume. To selectively control individual user settings, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click My Computer.
 * 2) Right-click the volume for which you want to modify quota values, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Quota tab.
 * 4) Click Quota Entries.
 * 5) Double-click the entry for the user whose options you want to modify.
 * 6) Modify the options that you want for the user. To do so:
 * 7) * If you do not want to limit disk space, click Do not limit disk usage.
 * 8) * To limit disk space, click Limit disk space to, type the value that you want, and then specify the disk space limit unit that you want to use (for example, click MB). To set a warning level, specify the value and disk space limit unit that you want in the boxes next to Set warning level to.
 * 9) Click OK, and then close the Quota Entries for   window.

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The Quota Tab Is Not Displayed in Disk Volume's Properties
To work with quotas on a disk volume, that volume must be formatted with NTFS. Also, to enable disk quotas, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer on which the disk drive resides. If either of these conditions is not met, Windows does not display the Quota tab.

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Additional query words: kbStorageDev

Keywords: kbClustering kbHardware kbhowto kbHOWTOmaster kbnetwork KB326212

Technology: kbSBServ2003Pre kbSBServ2003Search kbSBServ2003St kbSBServSearch kbWinServ2003Data kbWinServ2003Data64bit kbWinServ2003Data64bitSearch kbWinServ2003DataSearch kbWinServ2003Ent kbWinServ2003Ent64bit kbWinServ2003Ent64bitSearch kbWinServ2003EntSearch kbWinServ2003Search kbWinServ2003St kbWinServ2003Web

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