Windows 10 has the ability to roll back to a previous version of the system. That is, if your old Windows 7/8 has been updated to Windows 10, or Windows 10 has been updated to a new release, then the system creates a backup copy of the previous operating system before updating.
Everything is fine, but the backup takes 10-30 Gigabytes on your hard disk! And if for 200-500 GB disks this is not a problem, then for SSD and small partitions for the "C:" drive it is a lot. Then the errors "Running out of free space on the C: drive" or "Not enough space to install" something start to appear. If the new Windows has been working well for about a week or a month, then the "Windows.old" folder can be deleted. By the way, 30 days after the update, the folder will be deleted automatically.
Disk Cleanup tool
Windows 10 has a built-in utility to clean up the disk, so there is no point in manually deleting the folder. In the search bar of the "Start" menu, write "cleaning", and in the results select the program "Disk Cleanup"
In the dialog box, select the "C:" drive. I call it "Windows 10", your name can be anything else:
You need to wait a minute while the program scans the system. Next, you need to go to the "Clear system files" button and select the "C:" drive again
In the disk cleanup window, leave a check mark on "Previous Windows installations". Click "OK" and in subsequent dialogs we confirm that we want to delete the files, and that we agree that it will be impossible to roll back to previous versions.
The "Windows.old" folder will be deleted after 2-3 minutes.
CCleaner program
If the previous method did not help, there were some errors, insufficient rights, or the folder was not completely deleted, then it is best to install the free version of CCleaner.
Do not start the program, but find its shortcut in the "Start" menu, right-click on it and select "Run as administrator"
This will give the program more access rights to delete system files. On the first tab "Cleanup -> Windows", look at all the marked items or uncheck all the boxes if you don't understand, and put only one on "Old Windows Installation" or "Old Windows Installation" if you have an English version:
We press "Cleaning" and confirm the deletion. After a few minutes, the "Windows.old" folder will be deleted from the computer.
For many PC users, after updating or reinstalling Windows, the "Windows.old" directory appears, if, for example, you upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 10... This folder contains all files of the previous OS, as well as all files of users and programs. All this information takes up a lot of space on your hard drive. Depending on the amount of user data of the previous OS, in some cases this directory can reach tens of gigabytes. Therefore, we will try to understand this issue in detail.
The system keeps the previous version for further opportunity to return to it(execute the so-called Downgrade). As a rule, this feature is temporary, and if you do not use it, the folder will be deleted automatically.
Eight removal process
Let's consider an example of deleting the "Windows.old" directory after upgrading the seven to Windows 8. For this go to our local drives by clicking Win + E. Select the local disk with Windows installed and go to its properties, as shown in the figure.
In the disk properties window, click the button.
The Disk Cleanup analysis window should appear.
After that, the "Disk Cleanup (C :)" window will appear, where you should press the key Clean up system files.
If you click this button, the system will estimate the amount of files to be deleted, and we can go to the next window. Here you need to put one check mark, as shown in the figure.
In our case, the files of the previous OS are 7.92 GB... After the appropriate item is selected, you can safely press the OK button. Disk Cleanup will start, which will delete all files from the previous OS.
The process of deleting a folder in the top ten
Deleting a directory in a top ten is very similar to erasing a folder in a eight. We also go to the explorer. Select the local drive "C: /" and go to its properties.
We also click on the button.
After clicking on the button, we will see the same window as in the figure eight, only with a slightly different design.
Press the same key Clean up system files and go to the next window.
Select the same checkbox and press the OK button.
As you can see, the process is similar to the first one with the eighth version of Windows.... In this example, we have released 8,36 GB which is not a bad result.
It should also be remembered that when you delete the "Windows.old" directory, user data and files of installed programs are erased. The structure of subfolders with files from the previous OS is shown below.
These files can be multimedia data, Word or Excel documents. Therefore, before deleting this folder, you should save important data in it.
Deleting the Windows.old folder using CCleaner
The most optimal option is a program for cleaning the system. CCleaner... This program can be downloaded for free from the official website www.piriform.com/ccleaner. Installation of the program is quite simple and even a novice PC user can handle it. After starting the program, you should select in the "Cleaning" tab the item " Old Windows installation"As shown below.
Now click the Analysis button. This is necessary in order for CCleaner to analyze the files to be cleaned and display their complete list in the program window. In the figure below, a line is highlighted that contains files from the "Windows.old" directory.
After clicking the Clean button, the program will completely delete the files of the old OS.
Manual deletion
Now we will describe the process of deleting manually, that is, if you were to delete a directory with the Delete key. By deleting the folder using the Delete key, you can see this message.
This message means that we do not have permission to delete this directory. To correctly set the appropriate rights, go to the properties of the folder on the tab " Safety».
Now click the Advanced button. You should be taken to the additional security window for this folder.
As you can see from the figure, the owner of our folder is “ SYSTEM". Therefore, you need to select the owner of the user with which you logged in and click the Apply button. After applying the rights, you can delete "Windows.old" using the explorer with the Delete key.
Removal with TakeOwnershipPro
You can delete the "Windows.old" directory with a simple utility TakeOwnershipPro which you can download at http://www.top-password.com/download.html. After installing the utility it will appear as a separate item of the explorer context menu a. To delete a directory, go to the context menu for the folder to be deleted and select the item " TakeOwnershipPro».
After clicking, the program window will start, where scanning and assignment of rights for files and directories will be performed in order to remove them later.
Scanning can take two minutes or longer, depending on the size of the folder to be deleted. After waiting for the scan to complete, click the Take Ownership button. After that, the folder will be permanently deleted after about two minutes.
Conclusion
After reading this material, you should no longer have a question why I can not delete the "Windows.old" folder. By doing this, you will free up gigabytes of free space on your hard drive. I would also like to remind you that by deleting this directory, you delete all user data from the previous OS. Therefore, if necessary, you need to make backup copies of this data.
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Upgraded to Windows 10? If so, then you probably noticed the Windows.old folder on your computer, and it takes up a huge amount of space on your C drive. You may have even tried to delete it, but without success, as a window appears: “No access to this folder. To delete a folder, you must have administrator rights. " Consequently, users have questions.
So how do you uninstall Windows.old and free up some disk space? Not difficult - but not in the same way as you would delete a regular folder.
I'll show you three methods that work, and they are all pretty simple, so pick the method that works best for you.
Windows.old - what is it and can it be removed?
This folder contains the files required for this way, if you delete the folder, you cannot then return to your previous OS without a clean installation process. So, if you are not going to restore the old system and are absolutely sure of this, then the Windows.old folder can be deleted and even necessary.
Well, if you're staying with Windows 10, then read on. If you are thinking about returning to Windows 8.1 or 7, then let the folder sit still until you make a final decision. However, remember that the solution you have exactly 30 days from the date of the system update... After the line expires, Windows will automatically remove Windows.old.
How to uninstall Windows.old: option 1 (wait)
You could just wait and do nothing - 30 days from the time you upgrade to Windows 10. A built-in utility called Disk Cleanup will scan your hard drive and automatically delete the folder. This is by far the easiest option.
Option 2 (disk cleanup)
If waiting is not an option for you, you can manually launch the program Disk cleanup to clear the disk from the Windows.old folder.
To do this, follow these steps:
Disk Cleanup will now remove Windows.old from your disk. This may take a few minutes, so be patient. Once completed, restarting your computer is not required.
Option 3 (command line)
If, for some reason, Disk Cleanup does not help, you can try deleting the Windows.old folder using the command line.
Here's how to do it:
That's all. You should free up some disk space by deleting the Windows.old folder (I freed up 22GB). But remember, after that - you won't be able to rollback to Windows 8.1 or 7.
The computers of modern users have terabyte hard drives installed, but it often happens that there is still not enough free space. PC owners face a sharp and significant decrease in the amount of free disk space if they have updated from Windows 7 or 8.1 to version 10.
This is the fault of the emerging Windows.old directory. This article will tell you about the procedure for deleting this folder, as well as what it is for and when you can get rid of it.
What is this directory and can I delete it?
It appears after installing the OS, if the disk is not formatted at the same time. The files of the previous Windows remain in this directory. It cannot be removed in the usual way.
It should be noted that if the folder appeared after updating to Windows 10, then it may be required to roll back the system. In this case, it is recommended to postpone the disposal of the catalog for at least one month (suddenly there will be problems with the new axis).
If the user does not intend to return to the previous OS, Windows.old must be removed, since this will free up a significant amount of memory.
First method of deleting a folder
This method is the easiest to use. All inexperienced users can use this first method. In order to use it, you need a program.
Algorithm for running the utility:
- Through "Start" enter "All Programs" and then into "Standard";
- Then open the "Service" and find the utility.
Unfortunately, this does not work in the case of the "Eight" installed in the computer. Windows 8 users need to follow these steps:
When the utility opens, the following steps are the same on operating systems:
- Specify the files to be deleted. To do this, put a check mark next to "Previous Windows Installations" and click on "OK" - \;
- Wait until the end of the process;
- Ready! Windows old directory deleted successfully.
Second removal method
This is a manual method for deleting a folder.
In order to use it, you need rights to the Windows old folder, i.e. the uninstallation procedure is performed with computer administrator rights, and the administrator account must have full access to the directory to be deleted.
After starting the system under the above "account", the following steps should be taken sequentially:
Ready! Now, having entered through the explorer into the directory where the Windows old folder is located, you can simply delete it by the usual use of the "Delete" key.
