Cannot delete windows old - Windowsa.top - ваш верный помощник с OS Windows

Updated on Apr 28, 2025

Workable Solutions	Step-by-step Troubleshooting
1. Use Disk Cleanup	Step 1. Press Windows + E, click This PC…Full steps
2. Temporary File Settings	Step 1. Open Settings by typing settings in the Search, then click on it…Full steps
3. Storage Sense Settings	Step 1. Open Settings by right-clicking the Windows icon and select «Settings»…Full steps

Something You Need to Know About Windows.old Folder

Before you start deleting Windows.old folder on your PC, here is something that we think you should know about this folder.

What Is Windows.old?

Windows.old folder is generated by the Windows operating system when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another. The Windows.old folder isn’t something new with Windows 10, which starts with Windows Vista.

The Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from your previous Windows installation, including Windows system files, user accounts’ settings, User Profile, and User Folder files, etc.

You can apply it to restore Windows to the previous version if you don’t like the new version. You can also dig into the Windows.old folder to find a specific file that wasn’t properly copied to your new Windows installation.

Where is the Windows.old Folder?

So you may wonder where is the Windows.old folder saved on the computer and how to delete it right? Usually, Windows.old folder is saved in C: drive under the Windows folder after Windows system upgrade as shown below:

It takes up a huge space as nearly the same size as your C: drive before the Windows upgrade. This explains why so many people notice that their C drive gets full quickly after a Windows update.

Is It Safe to Delete Windows.old Folder?

So is it safe to delete the Windows.old folder? Yes. If you decide to stay with the new Windows system and all your files are safe on the new OS, you can delete it from your PC so as to free up the disk space.

Why Can’t I Remove Windows.old Folder?

According to the Microsoft Windows forum and some tech forums, users complain that they can’t remove Windows.old folder as Windows reports that the file not found or target is not a valid file or directory.

Why is that? Here are two main reasons that explain why you can’t delete Windows.old folder directly from your C: drive:

1. The Windows.old folder has been removed by Windows OS

In order to save disk space, Windows Operating System is designed to delete the Windows.old folder automatically after you upgrade:

On Windows 10, Windows.old folder gets deleted automatically in 10 days after Windows upgrade.
On Windows 8.1/8, Windows.old gets deleted automatically in 28 days after Windows upgrade.
On Windows 7 and older OS, Windows.old will be removed automatically in 30 days after OS update.

2. Delete Windows.old needs administrator permission

Although Windows.old folder is accessible for you to check and view the saved files. But it requires administrator permission from the System to make changes to this folder. Therefore, if you don’t have permission, you can’t directly delete Windows.old from C: drive.

How to Delete Windows.old Folder — 3 Methods

Applies to: Resolve «Can’t delete Windows.old folder» issue with three effective methods, no data loss.

Before You Start — Preparations

#1. Create Backup of Windows.old Folder

Before taking the steps below to delete the Windows.old folder, you can create a backup of the Windows.old in case that you may want to perform a system restore or restore a single file from the folder.

You can either copy Windows.old folder to an external hard drive or to back Windows.old folder with EaseUS free backup software in only three simple steps as listed below:

Launch EaseUS Todo Backup Free, then choose» File Backup».
Choose the important files/data or system and then select a backup destination.
Click «Proceed» to start the backup process.

#2. Gain Administrator Permission from System

The other important thing to make sure that you can delete Windows.old folder successfully is to check whether you are logging in to Windows OS as administrator.

If you have several user accounts on your computer, switch to login your computer with your administrator account:

Step 1. Click the Windows icon and click your username at the top.

Step 2. Select Administrator on the list, click to switch to it.

Step 3. Sign in with the password of your administrator account.

Method 1. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 11/10 Using Use Disk Cleanup

Windows.old folder cannot just directly delete by hitting the delete key and you may try to use the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows to remove this folder from your PC:

Press Windows + E, click This PC.
Right-click the drive with Windows installation and click Properties.
Click Disk Cleanup and select Clean up the system.
Select the Previous Windows Installation(s) option to delete Windows.old folder.
You can also choose to delete other installation files including Windows upgrade log files and Temporary Windows installation files etc.
Click OK and select Delete Files on the pop-up dialog to confirm the deletion.
Click Yes.

Method 2. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Using Temporary File Settings

The other method that you can try is to use Windows Temporary File Settings to remove the Windows.old folder on your PC. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Open Settings by typing settings in the Search, then click on it.

Step 2. Select System > Storage > This PC and then scroll down the list and choose Temporary files.

Step 3. Under Remove temporary files, check Previous Windows Installation then choose to «Remove files».

Remove Windows.old using Temporary file settings

Then Windows.old folder will be deleted in Windows 10 without any obstacles.

Method 3. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Using Storage Sense Settings

Windows 10 Storage Sense settings can also help you remove Windows.old folder on your PC. Follow the steps to delete it now:

Step 1. Open Settings by right-clicking the Windows icon and select «Settings».

Step 2. Go to System, click «Storage», then click «Change how we free up space automatically» under Storage Sense.

Step 3. Check «Delete the previous version of Windows» and click «Clean now».

Once you complete the steps, the Windows.old folder will no longer exist on your computer.

Here is a quick tutorial that has SOLVED ‘can’t delete Windows.old’ error in Windows 10. Scroll down to check the #complete solutions# with detailed guidelines.

Video source: YouTube; Created by Sele Training.

2 Bonus Tips: Extend System Drive After Deleting Windows.old

Besides deleting Windows.old folder using the above 3 methods, you can also try other methods to extend system C drive space. If this is what you want, try the following 2 quick tips to gain space and extend your C drive immediately:

#1. Extend C Drive using Free Partition Manager Software

Free partition manager software provided by EaseUS software can efficiently extend the system C drive with its Resize/Move feature.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Free up unallocated space for C drive.

If there is no unallocated space on the system disk, go to Partition Manager and right-click on a partition next to the C: drive and select «Resize/Move».
Drag left panel of the partition to shrink and leave unallocated space behind the system C: drive and click «OK».

Step 2: Increase C drive space.

1. Right-click on C: drive and select «Resize/Move».

2. Drag the system partition end into unallocated space so to add space to C: drive, or click the «fill in all unallocated» and click «OK».

Step 3: Keep all changes to extend C: drive.

Click the «Execute Task» and click «Apply» to keep all changes so to extend the system C: drive.

#2. Clean Up Large File on System Drive

Step 1. Download and install EaseUS Partition Master Suite.

Step 2. Click PC Cleaner and install EaseUS CleanGinus. Then, click «Cleanup» and click «Scan» to start cleaning up the system and make your PC as good as new.

Step 3. The software will scanning all over your computer to find idle data files that take a huge amount of disk space, you can select useless large files, system junk files and Windows invalid entries and click «Clean» to start system cleanup process.

Step 4. When the scan is complete, click «Done» to finish cleaning system junk files.

If this passage solves the «cannot remove Windows.old folder in Windows 11/10» error, you can share it to help more people in need!

Conclusion and Windows.old FAQS

On this page, we explained what is Windows.old folder, what you can do with Windows.old folder, the default location of this folder, and offered three practical methods to help you fix «can’t remove Windows.old folder» issue on Windows 10.

These methods also can be applied to delete this folder on other older Windows operating systems, like Windows 8.1/8/7, etc. Here, we also collected some top concerned questions and left brief answers to help you out. If you are having the same concerns, check and find the answers:

1. How do I manually delete Windows.old?

Based on the provided methods on this page, you will need to first log in to your computer as an administrator.

And then you can use Windows Temporary file settings, Windows disk cleanup, or Windows Storage Sense settings to manually delete Windows.old folder from your computer. For a detailed guide, refer to the detailed steps listed in Method 1, Method 2, and Method 3.

2. How do I restore system from Windows.old?

To restore system from the Windows.old folder, you can navigate to Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Then click «Get started» under «Go back to Windows 7» or «Go back to Windows8.1».

Note that this option is only available for 10 days or 1 month after you upgrade.

3. How do I restore files from Windows.old?

There are three ways to get back the Windows.old folder. You can manually or automatically recover the Windows.old folder. Or restore files from Windows.old folder using EaseUS file recovery software in just three steps.

For a detailed guide, you may refer to Windows.old Restore for a guide.

4. Will deleting Windows.old cause problems?

Usually, deleting Windows.old folder or files on your computer will not do any damage on your PC.

But if the Windows update failed to keep all your files or you lost files after the Windows update, you can try to bring the lost files from your Windows old by rolling back to the previous version of Windows.

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Updated on: April 22, 2024

Solutions to Try	Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
1. Run Disk Cleanup	Step 1. Press Windows + E, and click on «This PC»…\strong>Full Steps
2. Temp File Settings	Step 1. Type Settings in the search box, then click on it…\strong>Full Steps
3. Storage Sense Settings	Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon, and select «Settings»…\strong>Full Steps

Everything You Need to Know About the Windows.old Folder

Before we proceed with removing the Windows.Old folder from your computer, we’d like to give you some background information about it.

What is Windows.old?

When you upgrade from one version of Windows to another, the operating system creates the Windows.old folder. The Windows.old folder isn’t a new feature of Windows 10 – it’s been around since Windows Vista.

The Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from your previous version of Windows, including system files, user account settings, user profiles, and user folders.

If you don’t like the upgrade, you can use it to roll back to your previous version of Windows. You can also delve into the Windows.Old folder to find a specific file that didn’t copy over properly to the new Windows installation.

Where is the Windows.old folder?

So, you may wonder where the Windows.old folder is located on your PC and how to delete it, right? Generally, after upgrading the Windows system, the Windows.old folder will be saved in the Windows folder on the C drive, as shown below:

It’s about as big as your C: drive was before you upgraded, which is why so many people find their C: drive filling up after a Windows update.

Can I safely delete the Windows.old folder?

Can I safely delete the Windows.old folder? Yes. If you’ve decided to keep the new Windows installation, and all your files are safe on the new operating system, you can remove it from your PC to free up disk space.

Why can’t I delete the Windows.old folder?

According to Microsoft’s Windows forums and various tech forums, users are complaining that they cannot delete the Windows.Old folder because Windows reports that it can’t find the file or that the target is not a valid file or directory.

Why is that? Here are two main reasons why you can’t simply delete the Windows.Old folder from the C drive:

1. The Windows.old folder was removed by the Windows operating system.

To save disk space, Windows is designed to automatically delete the Windows.old folder after an upgrade.

2. Deleting Windows.old requires administrator privileges.

While you can access the Windows.Old folder to check and view the saved files, you need administrative permissions to make any changes to this folder. Therefore, if you don’t have the permission, you cannot directly delete Windows.Old from the C: drive.

How to Delete the Windows.Old Folder – 3 Ways

Applicability: This article provides three effective methods to resolve the issue of inability to delete the Windows.old folder without losing data.

Before we begin — Setting the stage

#1. Create a backup of the Windows.Old folder

Before you delete the Windows.old folder, create a backup of Windows.old in case you need to perform a system restore or retrieve individual files from the folder.

You can copy the Windows.old folder to an external hard drive, or use a free backup software tool and these three simple steps to back up the Windows.old folder:

• Choose the important files/data or system, and then select a destination for backup.

• Click on “Start” to initiate the backup process.

#2. Obtain root access

Another important thing to make sure you can successfully delete the Windows.old folder is to check that you’re signed in to Windows with an administrator account.

If you have multiple user accounts on your computer, log in with an Administrator account instead.

Step 1. Click the Windows logo, then click your username at the top.

Step 2: Select “Admin” from the list, then click to switch to that account.

Third, enter the password for the administrator account to log in.

Method 1: Remove the Windows.old Folder in Windows 11/10 Using «Disk Cleanup»

You can’t directly remove the Windows.old folder by pressing the DELETE key. However, you can try using the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows to delete it from your computer:

Right-click the drive that has Windows installed, then select «Properties».

Click «Disk Cleanup», then choose «Clean up system files».

Check «Previous Windows installation(s)» to delete the Windows.old folder.

You can also check other installation files, such as Windows upgrade log files and temporary Windows installation files.

Click «OK», then confirm the deletion by selecting «Delete Files» in the pop-up.

Click «Yes».

Delete Windows.old via Disk Cleanup

Method 2: Delete the Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Using a Temporary File

Another method you can try is to use the Windows temporary files settings to delete the Windows.old folder from your computer. Here’s how:

1. Type Settings in the search bar, then click on it to open Settings.

Step 2. Go to Settings > System > Storage > This PC, and then scroll down the list and select Temporary files.

Step 3: Under the “Temporary files” section, check the box next to “Previous Windows installation(s),” and then click “Delete Files.”

Delete Windows.old using Temporary File Settings

Then, the Windows.old folder will be deleted hassle-free in Windows 10.

Method 3: Remove the Windows.old Folder with Storage Sense in Windows 10
In Windows 10, you can use the «Storage Sense» feature to automatically clean up unnecessary files, including the Windows.old folder. Here’s how:

1. Press `Win + I` to open «Settings.»
2. Click on «System» (System).
3. In the left menu, select «Storage» (Storage).
4. On the right side, locate and click the «Clean Now» button.
5. In the «Temporary Files» (Temporary files) window, check the box for «Previous versions of Windows.»
6. Click the «Remove Files» button to confirm your selection.

Please note that this process might take some time, especially if your Windows.old folder is large. Once finished, the system will automatically delete the Windows.old folder, freeing up disk space.

The Storage Sense setting in Windows 10 can also help you remove the Windows.old folder from your PC. Here’s how to do it right away:

Step 1: Right-click the Windows icon and select “Settings.”

Step 2: Go to the System page, click on Storage, and then under Storage Sense, click on Change how we free up space automatically.

Step 3: Check “Remove previous versions of Windows,” and click “Clean now.”

Delete Windows.old with Storage Sense:

After you complete these steps, the Windows.old folder will no longer be available.

Here’s a quick fix for the ‘Can’t delete Windows.old’ error in Windows 10. Scroll down for the full solution with detailed instructions.

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Video source: YouTube; created by Sele Training.

Two More Tips: Extend System Drive After Removing Windows.Old

Aside from the three methods above to remove the Windows.Old folder, you can also try other ways to free up space on your System C drive. If you want to do so, try these two quick tips to instantly free up space and expand your C drive:

#1. Extend C drive space with free partition manager

With the help of free partition manager software, you can effectively extend system C drive with its Resize/Move feature.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Free up unallocated space on Drive C.

If there is no unallocated space on the system disk, you need to enter the Disk Management, right-click on the partition next to C drive, and select «Resize/Move Volume».

Drag the left boundary of the partition to shrink it and leave unallocated space behind the system C drive. Then click «OK».

Step 2: Increase the size of the C drive.

1. Right-click on the C drive and select «Resize/Move».

2. Drag the end of the system partition to the unallocated space to add space to the C drive, and then click “OK”.

Step 3: Click Apply to save all changes and extend the C: drive.

Click “Run the Task” and then “Apply” to save all changes and extend your system C drive.

#2. Clean up large files on your system drive

Step 1: Download and install the Partition Master Suite tool.

Step 2: Click on «PC Cleanup» to install the CleanGenius tool. Then, click «Clean» and select «Scan» to begin the system cleanup and restore your PC to its original condition.

Step 3: The software will scan your computer for idle data files that are taking up a lot of disk space. Select the unnecessary big files, system junk files, and invalid Windows entries you want to get rid of, then click “Clean” to start the cleaning process.

4. After the scan is finished, click “Finish” to get rid of the system junk files.

If this article has helped you resolve the issue with deleting the Windows.old folder in Windows 11/10, please feel free to share it to assist more people in need!

Please provide the English content for translation into Chinese.

Conclusion and Windows.old FAQ

On this page, we explain what the Windows.old folder is, what you can do with the Windows.old folder, its default location, and provide three practical methods to help you fix the «Can’t Delete Windows.old Folder» issue on Windows 10.

These methods also apply to deleting this folder on other older versions of Windows, such as Windows 8.1/8/7, and so on. Here, we’ve also gathered some frequently asked questions with brief answers to help you solve your problems. If you have the same queries, check them out and find your answers:

1. How can I manually delete the Windows.old folder?

According to the method outlined on this page, you need to log in to your computer as an administrator first.

Then, you can manually delete the Windows.old folder from your computer using the Windows Temporary Files settings, the Windows Disk Cleanup utility, or the Windows Storage Sense settings. For detailed guides, follow the steps in Methods 1, 2, and 3.

2. How do I revert from Windows.old?

To restore from the Windows.old folder, go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. Then click Get started under Go back to Windows 7 or Go back to Windows 8.1, depending on your previous OS.

Please note that this option will only be available for 10 days or 1 month after you upgrade.

3. How do I recover files from Windows.old?

There are three ways to get back the Windows.old folder. You can manually or automatically restore the Windows.old folder. Or, use a three-step file recovery software to retrieve files from the Windows.old folder.

For a detailed guide, follow How to recover files from the Windows.Old folder.

4. Will deleting Windows.old cause problems?

In most cases, removing the Windows.old folder or files from your computer won’t cause any damage.

But if a Windows update didn’t keep all your files, or you lost files after updating Windows, you might be able to get them back by rolling back to a previous version of Windows.

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Can’t Delete Windows.old on Windows 11/10? Try These Fixes

Can’t Delete Windows.old on Windows 11/10? Try These Fixes

By Ariel | Follow |
Last Updated September 6, 2023

A lot of users reported that they can’t delete Windows.old on Windows 11/10. Why Windows.old won’t delete? How to delete Windows.old folder successfully? In this post, MiniTool will discuss these questions in detail.

Windows.old is a is created by Windows Setup and is an archive of your old Windows installation. It contains all previous Windows installation files and data. It can be used to revert your system to its previous version of Windows within 30 days. However, many users find this folder eats up huge disk space but can’t remove Windows.old from Windows 11/10.

Why can I not delete the Windows.old folder? Access Denied. Windows.old won’t delete on Windows 10 even when I am the Administrator of this machine. Please, help me!!!https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-can-i-not-deleted-the-windowsold-folder-access/66213783-239e-4488-b536-61ad222152e6

What causes Windows.old won’t delete Windows 10/11? According to a survey, the main reason is that the Windows.old folder has been deleted automatically after the Windows upgrade. Another possible reason is that you don’t have administrator permission to delete the folder. How to fix the Windows.old won’t delete Windows 10/11 issue? Let’s keep reading.

How to Fix Can’t Delete Windows.old Folder on Windows 11/10

If you are unable to delete Windows.old on Windows 11/10, try the following 4 methods or choose one that works best for you.

Before You Do

Before taking the steps below to remove the Windows.old folder, make sure you sign into the Administrator account to gain enough permissions. In addition, we highly recommend you back up the current Windows OS so that you can restore your system if you need it someday. How to back up Windows 10/11 OS quickly? MiniTool Partition Wizard can make it! It’s a trued disk clone and backup tool that can migrate OS and clone the hard disk.

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Fix 1. Use Disk Cleanup

The first and simplest solution to “cannot delete Windows old” error is to use Disk Cleanup. Here’s how to delete Windows.old folder using the tool.

Step 1. Type cleanup in the Windows search box and select Disk Cleanup from the best match.

Step 2. Select the C drive from the drop-down menu and click on OK.

Step 3. Click on Clean up system files and select the C drive again.

Step 4. Wait a while until the tool completes the scan and then you will see a list of files and folders. Tick the checkbox for Previous Windows installation (s) and click on OK to remove the Windows.old folder.

Step 5. Click on Delete Files to confirm the deletion.

Fix 2. Use Temporary Files Settings

There is an option in Settings called Temporary Files to delete the Windows.old folder on Windows 10/11. Let’s have a try.

Step 1. Press the Win + I keys to open the Settings window and select System.

Step 2. Select Storage from the left panel and click Temporary files from the right panel.

Step 3. Tick the check box next to Previous Windows Installation(s) and click on Remove files. Then the Windows.old folder should be removed.

Fix 3. Use Storage Sense

Besides, you can use the Storage Sense settings to remove the Windows.old folder on Windows 11/10. Let’s see how to delete Windows.old folder via the settings.

Step 1. Open the Settings Windows again and select System > Storage.

Step 2. Find the Storage Sense option from the right panel and click Configure Storage Sense or run it now.

Step 3. Scroll down the list of options to the “Free up space now”section, tick the box of Delete the previous version of Windows, and click on Clean now. Once done, the Windows.old folder should be removed from your PC.

delete previous versions of Windows from Storage Sense

Fix 4. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard

If all the above methods cannot delete Windows old on Windows 10/11, you may consider using a professional file cleaner – MiniTool Partition Wizard. It can not only tell you what’s exactly taking up your disk space but also help free up disk space. With this tool, you can search for a particular file according to its file name and delete it.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1. Launch the MiniTool software to get its main interface and click Space Analyzer from the top toolbar.

Step 2. Select the drive letter from the drop-down menu and click on Scan.

Step 3. Wait for the scanning process to complete. Then right-click the Windows.old folder and select Delete (permanently).

How to fix it if you can’t delete Windows.old Windows 10 access denied? We have introduced 4 feasible ways to delete the folder. If you have any better way to delete Windows.old, share them with us in the following comment area.

About The Author

Position: Columnist

Ariel has been working as a highly professional computer-relevant technology editor at MiniTool for many years. She has a strong passion for researching all knowledge related to the computer’s disk, partition, and Windows OS. Up till now, she has finished thousands of articles covering a broad range of topics and helped lots of users fix various problems. She focuses on the fields of disk management, OS backup, and PDF editing and provides her readers with insightful and informative content.

Источник

If you have multiple Windows installations on your computer, you may notice some that aren’t used anymore but still take up lots of disk space. Each Windows folder can use up about 20 GB or more. Getting rid of these old Windows folders, usually appear as “Windows.old“, can free up a lot of space. But, you can’t just delete them by pressing the Del or Shift+Del keys. If you try, you might see errors like “Access Denied” or “Permission Needed“.

This guide will show you how to properly remove old Windows folders you don’t need anymore in Windows 11 or Windows 10.

Also see: How to Force Delete a File in Use by Another Program on Windows 11/10

How to delete old Windows folder in Windows 11 or 10

Before you start deleting the folder, make sure you don’t need anything from the old Windows folders anymore. If you still need some of the files in it or are unsure if you have anything that you may need in the future, just make a copy of it elsewhere just in case.

After confirming you don’t need data from these folders, you can use the following methods to safely delete the old Windows folders. If you encounter certain issues when following a method, try the other one.

Delete Windows.old using Disk Cleanup

The easiest and first method to try is to use the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 10/11. Here’s how to do it:

On the drive where the Windows folder you want to delete resides, right-click on the folder and rename it to “Windows.old“. This step is important as it is required for the Disk Cleanup tool to detect that there is an old Windows folder that can be removed.

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com
After renaming the folder, go to the start menu or Cortana and search for the “Disk Cleanup” tool. Right-click it and select “Run as administrator“.

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com

Windows 11

Windows 10
Select the drive where your Windows.old folder is located, then click “OK“.
Under the “Files to delete” section, select the option for “Previous Windows Installation(s)“. Then, click “OK” to begin the cleanup. It may take a couple of minutes to complete the removal. After the process is completed, the Windows folder should be gone.

Related concern: How to Delete System 32 in Windows 11

Delete Windows.old using Storage in Settings app

If the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows doesn’t work to remove the Windows.old folder (stuck or crashes during calculating or cleaning process), you can use the Storage sense in the Windows 11/10 Settings app to remove the folder. Similar to the method above, you will have to first rename the Windows folder that you want to remove to “Windows.old.”

Here’s how to do it:

Rename the Windows folder that you want to remove to “Windows.old.”
Head over to the start menu and search for “Storage.” Select “Storage” (system settings) from the search result.
In the right panel, select the drive where the Windows.old folder is located.

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com

Windows 11

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com

Windows 10
Within the list of storage usage, select “Temporary files.”

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com
Scroll down to look for an option called “Previous Windows Installation(s).” Select it and, alternatively, select other temporary files that you may want to remove together. Then, scroll back up and click on the “Remove files” button. Upon completion of the removal process, the Windows.old folder should be deleted.

Картинка с сайта: www.windowsdigitals.com

Suggested read: How to Delete a Ghost File or Folder in Windows 11/10

Manually deleting old Windows folder with CMD

If both methods above fail to remove the Windows.old folder from your drive or the “Previous Windows Installation” option doesn’t show up in Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 11/10, you can remove the folder manually by using a series of commands in Command Prompt.

Here’s how to do it:

Go to the start menu and search for CMD. Right-click Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator.”
Enter the following commands one line at a time. Note: Replace “C:\Windows.old” with the actual path to the Windows.old folder you want to remove, if it’s not in the C: drive.
```
takeown /F "C:\Windows.old" /A /R /D Y
icacls "C:\Windows.old" /T /grant administrators:F
rmdir /s /q "C:\Windows.old"
```

The first and second lines of commands may take some time to run. The first command is to take ownership of the entire Windows.old folder file by file, whereas the second is to give full control permissions to the Administrator group. The third line is to remove the folder entirely after successfully getting the permission.

Источник

What’s the function of Windows.old folder in Windows 11? Can you delete Windows.old folder safely? What to do if you can’t delete Windows.old folder? How to restore deleted Windows.old folder in Windows 11? If you are interested in one or more of these topics, this MiniTool page will be very helpful.

What Is the Windows.old Folder

Some Windows users said they found a Windows.old folder in the File Explorer of their computer, but they don’t know what it is and they are wondering whether they can delete this folder or not. Now, let’s start with what is Windows.old.

The Windows.old folder will be created automatically on your computer whenever you upgrade your system to a new version of Windows (starting with Windows Vista).

What’s Contained in Windows.old

The Windows.old folder Windows 11 (Windows 10, or other versions of Windows systems) saves a record of your previous version of Windows; all the files and data from the previous Windows installation will be kept there.

System files and folders
Installed programs and apps
Settings and data for all user accounts
All the things required for running your earlier system

In short, the Windows.old folder contains your old Windows system.

What’s the Function of Windows.old

The Windows.old folder is created for 2 reasons, basically: to protect your computer from system update failure and to allow users to roll back to the previous system.

The Windows.old folder is one of the security protection mechanisms developed by Microsoft in case the upgrade process goes wrong suddenly.
The system will use Windows.old folder to undo changes on your PC whenever the new system installation is failed.
After the Windows upgrade is completed successfully, the Windows.old folder leaves users a chance to roll back to the previous system easily if they found any issues or they’re not satisfied with the new system.

To sum up, Windows.old offers an easy way to downgrade Windows 11 to 10.

If you search online, you’ll find that lots of users are not clear about whether to delete Windows.old Windows 11 or not. Some users even complained that they can’t delete Windows.old folder after upgrading to Windows 11. Let’s take a look at two of the real cases.

Can I Delete Windows.old

Can I Delete Windows 10 Files after Installing Windows 11?

I just downloaded Windows 11 developer preview from the Windows Insider program and I saw that the old Windows 10 files were still on my laptop with the file name Windows.old. So would it be safe to delete all those files as those are taking up about 20 GB of space?
— Mehulelevenforum.com

How to Fix When I Can’t Delete Windows.old

Windows 10: Can’t delete Windows.old folder after upgrade to Windows 11 because some drivers in the…

As the title says, I’ve upgraded my new laptop to Windows 11 but I can’t delete the Windows.old folder as there are still drivers in use in the folder, they appear to be audio drivers, Radeon graphics drivers, and some HP stuff. Any idea how I can move these and delete the folder?
— errrrrrrrrrmtenforums.com

Should You Delete Windows.old in Windows 11

As mentioned earlier, Windows.old folder is offered to users as one of the recovery options to restore to the previous version of their systems. Microsoft creates Windows.old folder for safety reasons, so it should be kept there on users’ PCs.

However, many users are complaining about the same thing: Windows.old folder takes much of the free space on the hard disk (usually many gigabytes of system storage). This is very annoying especially when users are running out of disk space.

So, here’s the conclusion.

If your disk has much free space left, you should keep the Windows old folder in case you may need to roll back to the previous system due to issues that occurred on the new system or you’re not satisfied with it.
If your disk is going to run out of space and you desperately need to clean your device to get more usable space, you can consider deleting the Windows.old folder. Several gigabytes of disk space will be released after doing so.

If you want to delete files to free up space, apart from the Windows.old folder, you can also delete the folders listed below:

Windows temporary folder: it keeps files that a system only needs to exist temporarily while in use.
Hibernate file: sys is a file created by the OS (operating system) to keep the current state when the computer goes into Hibernation Mode.
Downloaded program files: you should browse your programs and delete the ones you don’t really need anymore.
SoftwareDistribution folder: this folder stores the latest fixes & improvements and the files needed to install new updates to keep your device secure. It’s essential for Windows Update.
Offline Web pages: your browser may store copies of some Web pages or parts of them within its cache so as to make it possible for users to view the content even without an internet connection.
Downloads folder: all the files, installers, and other content downloaded from the internet will be placed there.

How to Delete Windows old Folder in Windows 11

Will Windows.old Delete Itself in Windows 11

Yes, the Windows.old is almost totally deleted after 28 days.

Lots of Windows systems users are wondering whether Windows.old folder will be kept in File Explorer forever unless they delete it manually. The answer is negative. The Windows.old directory will be deleted automatically 4 weeks after your system has been updated successfully. Before that, it will stay on your disk to provide a quick option to roll back. But you can choose to delete the Windows old folder manually if you need more free space immediately.

If you tried to delete Windows.old from your PC in the following two regular ways, you’ll fail. You should know that Microsoft blocks the usual methods for removing Windows.old folder.

Open File Explorer > navigate to Windows.old folder > select it > press Delete (Shift + Delete) or right click on it & select Delete.
Open File Explorer > navigate to Windows.old folder > drag this folder and drop it directly into the Recycle Bin.

Well, how to delete Windows 10 from Windows 11? You can try the next three methods.

Method 1. Delete Windows.old Using Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a Windows built-in tool to free up disk space on your computer. You can use this cleanup tool to delete unneeded files in a safe way. If you want to delete temporary files, system files, downloaded program files, or other files, you can utilize Disk Cleanup to remove them. Here, you can also delete Windows.old folder in Windows 11 using Disk Cleanup.

Step 1: Press Win + E to open File Explorer.

Step 2: Select This PC from the left-side pane.

Step 3: Right-click on the C: drive and choose Properties from the context menu.

Step 4: Click on the Disk Cleanup button under the General tab.

Tips:

You can read this post to learn more methods about how to open Disk Cleanup.

Step 5: Select Previous Windows installation(s) under Files to delete.

Step 6: Click OK, then choose Delete Files in the prompt window.

Windows.old folder has been deleted. If you want to delete this folder without using Disk Cleanup, you can keep reading.

Method 2. Delete Windows.old via Storage Sense

Storage Sense is designed to delete unused or old files and folders on your computer to free up disk space. It monitors files in three locations: temporary files, files in Recycle Bin, and files in the Downloads folder. Storage Sense will erase these unused files periodically, with a 30-day cycle. Using Storage Sense to delete Windows.old is a good choice.

Step 1: Press Win + I to open the Settings window.

Step 2: Select System and shift to the Storage tab on the left pane.

Step 3: Click on the Temporary files and wait for the analysis process to finish.

Step 4: Find and check Previous Windows Installation(s) and click on the Remove files button on the top.

If you don’t enable Storage Sense, you can toggle the switch to On. Then, you can click Configure Storage Sense or run it now to set the cycle of deleting files or free up disk space manually.

Method 3. Delete Windows.old with Command Prompt

Command Prompt is a useful tool to execute plenty of command lines. You can execute command lines on it to fix computer errors, zip files, or delete files. If you are familiar with Command Prompt, you can follow the next steps to delete Windows.old folder using it.

Step 1: Press Win + R to open the Run window.

Step 2: Type cmd into the text box and press Shift + Ctrl + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 3: Type RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%windows.old and hit Enter.

Then, you can delete old Windows update files successfully.

Can You Restore Deleted Windows.old Folder

What if you want Windows.old folder back after deleting it? Is it possible to recover files or programs from Windows.old? In fact, it’s not a difficult task to recover the deleted Windows.old folder with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

This free data recovery software allows you to recover files under different situations, like mistaken deletion, OS crash, virus attack, etc. It is friendly for both the experienced and novice because of clear instructions. You can try the free edition to scan and recover up to 1GB of files at first. Then, get a suitable advanced edition from this page if needed.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

How to Recover Files from Windows.old

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

Step 2: Run the software and it will launch into This PC interface.

Step 3: Choose the target partition, usually the C: drive, and click Scan.

Step 4: Wait until the scan process is finished. You can browse the items listed on the result page. To find Windows.old folder, you can use the following features:

Filter: you can set the file type, file size, file category, and date modified in this function to narrow down the file list.
Type: you can choose the type of the aimed files/folders, then check this only type of files.
Search: you can directly input the name of the wanted folder. You can see files and folders that match the name criteria in the interface.

Step 5: Add check marks ahead of the Windows.old folder and click on the Save button.

Step 6: Select a storage path in the following window and click OK to confirm.

If you want to know more detailed information about how to recover data from Windows.old folder, you can read the corresponding post.

Final Words

You should have a better understanding of Windows.old folder after reading this post. Besides, when you require more free space on the hard disk, you can delete Windows.old in Windows 11 manually with the methods explained here.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

If you need to recover deleted files, you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery with confidence. It provides a secure data recovery service and will cause no damage to the data stored on your computer. Please feel free to share any questions with us via [email protected].

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