"Not enough free space" when trying to install XCode even though there's ~7x more free space than required

Developer Tools & Services Xcode Xcode

errata OP

Created Nov ’18

Replies 99

Boosts 1

Views 192k

Participants 98

The title says it all...

I am trying to install XCode, constantly getting that message, no matter what I try. Currently I have 41+ GB free space, XCode requires 6.1 according to App Store.

Please suggest how to solve this issue.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Boost

Jamie Key.Digital OP

Apr ’20

Any one have any ideas on this if you have lowish space left. Trying to install 11.4.1 and getting same error message. Finder says I have 18GB free and Appstore lising says that its 8.1GB so not sure why it can't install.

I read above that someone suggested that them having 17GB isn't enough space for the OS to run. My MacOS has 75GB and my Windows has 175GB as I only use MacOS for XCode and have a few utilities (Avast, Git, BBEdit, Slack) - What is the minimum space macOS needs, when installing it doesn't indicate that it needs to have minimum space to run efficiently. Surely having 20gb free would be sufficient?

Any advice on this would be great, as I did shrink my Windows partition by 25GB, but can't find a way to expand my macOS one with the extra 25GB which is free on the drive now. I assumed this would be fairly simple, but looks like I may have to reinstall both systems to alter the sizes. Would rather do this once I have an indication of what macOS needs to run.

KMT OP

Apr ’20

>Surely having 20gb free would be sufficient?

Again, no. Again, the system needs around 10 just to run for free/swap space, the download needs 7, the unpacked files need 12~15, then you need another 7~12 to install. Do the math. And that's just by the numbers. Actual needs may be more which is why the suggestion is to get several tens free. And even if you do squeek things out so you get an install with minimum free, you're right back against the wall as soon as you start working.

Chasing minimums and trying to do this work is a fool's errand.

FLMusic OP

May ’20

Kinda relevant. I already have Xcode, but I can't seem to update to Xcode 11.5. I just deleted the Xcode beta and I currently have ~17 GB of free space at the moment. So should that be enough, or do I need to free up more storage? Or would I end up deleting half my MacBook for nothing?

Claude31 OP

May ’20

No, 17 GB is not enough. Should have probably 50 or more.

FLMusic OP

May ’20

Oh, ok. Just wasn't sure since I got the last update with around the same amount of free space.

drbax OP

Jul ’20

I had the same problem with Xcode12beta_3.xip. Basically, you just need to play around with it. Free up some space, turn off Time Machine's Back Up Automatically option, restart your Mac, move the XIP file from the Downloads folder to another folder, and then back to the Downloads folder, and then expand it.

Ahmed.Net OP

Jul ’20

solved as per preet41 suggestion:
logout App Store - restart Mac - signin and download.
my free space is 25GB

aqaqa OP

Aug ’20

the simpliest solution is to use command line if you have *.xip* file
xip -x <filename>.xip

devN100500 OP

Aug ’20

Made over 10 attempts already. 22 GB was not enough. 30 was enough. xcode 11.6 - 8.1 GB. Now in the process of updating.

ilkod OP

Aug ’20

Worked the following: sign out from AppStore -> Restart Mac -> Sign in to AppStore -> Download Xcode

Thank you all for a help !

vihlayew.alex OP

Sep ’20

I have 99,64GB of free space and it says "not enough space". How many space do I need? 200GB? 300GB? Or maybe 1TB? Looks like a real garbage..
Don't know what to do with it.
Seems like I'll need to download Xcode from some torrent

111111111111 OP

Sep ’20

APPLE where is answer????????? WTF GUYS 2 years you have this stupid problem.

MrTheStarChild OP

Sep ’20

I started with ~30 gigs on my machine. After trying all of the solutions posted here, I ended up having to first purge my drive of unused applications (mostly pre-installed applications ) which got me to ~40 gigs. The update still didn't work. I then uninstalled and reinstalled Xcode to get the latest version (Xcode 12). I only have 3 non built-in applications installed and a few code bases that I use to develop all under ~10 gigs total. It feels like Apple just wants you to buy their iCloud storage out of frustration.

roc3n OP

Sep ’20

Same issue here. I have 39Gb free and it says there's not enough space :(

DiegoRA OP

Sep ’20

I had to free 44gb to install Xcode, I used onyx to clean up cache files. Search for it on google and look from the url titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html there is a specific version for catalina, be sure to check it