Chromebook limited storage

Problem

You notice that your Chromebook storage is very limited. However, when moved to another organizational unit it shows the correct storage capacity.

Environment

  • ChromeOS
  • Chromebooks
  • Ephemeral profiles

Solution

To fix the issue of the limited storage, you must follow the steps described below:

  1. On the Admin Console, go to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Devices.
  2. Choose the organizational unit the ChromeOS device is assigned to.
  3. Search for the User data policy.
  4. Set it to Do not erase local user data.
  5. Save the changes.

Cause

This is a known behavior and it is working as intended. If you set User data to it to Erase all local user data, the storage available to the users is limited to half the RAM capacity of the device, regardless of the total capacity of the disk available on the device as described in Set ChromeOS device policies, since the device will clear all data every time the user logs out to the Chromebook.