How to delete windows old in windows 10

Ten days after you upgrade to Windows, your previous version of Windows will be automatically deleted from your PC. However, if you need to free up drive space, and you’re confident that your files and settings are where you want them to be in Windows, you can safely delete it yourself.

Warning:  If it’s been fewer than 10 days since you upgraded to Windows, your previous version of Windows will be listed as a system file you can delete. You can delete it, but keep in mind that you’ll be deleting your Windows.old folder, which contains files that give you the option to go back to your previous version of Windows. If you delete your previous version of Windows, this can’t be undone (you won’t be able to go back to your previous version of Windows).

1. Press the Windows logo key on your keyboard, then select Settings > System > Storage.

   Open Storage Settings

2. Under your hard drive information, select Temporary files.

3. Select the Previous version of Windows check box, and then select Remove files.

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Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he… read more

Updated on August 31, 2022

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Windows 10 and some previous versions of Windows sometimes create a folder called Windows.old.

This folder is usually created when you install a new version of Windows, and today we’re going to explain what this folder does and how to remove it from Windows 10.

What is the Windows.old folder?

When you install a new version of Windows, such as Windows 10 for example, your system automatically moves your older installation to Windows.old folder.

With this folder available you can easily restore the previous version of Windows if the new one isn’t working properly for you.

In addition, this folder works as a backup, so even if the installation process fails for some reason, your PC can use Windows.old folder to restore the previous version of Windows.

You should also know that you can roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 days after its installation, and after that period ends, Windows.old folder will be automatically deleted from your system.

As you can see, Windows.old folder can be extremely useful since it allows you to restore the previous version of Windows, but many users want to delete this folder since it takes a lot of space on their hard drive.

Keep in mind that by deleting this folder you won’t be able to revert back to the older version of Windows in case there’s any major problem.

• READ ALSO: How to retrieve your files from Windows.old

Since this folder can take 30GB or more of your hard drive space, today we’re going to show you how to safely remove it from your PC.

Can I remove Windows.old?

You can easily remove it through Disk Cleanup. Keep in mind that deleting the folder will leave you without a restore point. Another way to remove it is by using Command Prompt or a Linux Live CD.

For more info on how to remove the folder from your device, check the guides below.

How to delete Windows.old folder from Windows 10

1. Use Disk Cleanup tool to remove the Windows.old folder

Windows 10 comes with a useful little tool called Disk Cleanup that allows you to quickly free up space on your hard drive. This application will scan your hard drive partition for old or temporary files and allow you to remove them easily with a single click.

This tool also allows you to remove Windows.old folder and you can do that by following these steps:

1. Press Windows Key + S and enter disk. Select Disk Cleanup from the menu.
   
2. When Disk Cleanup tool opens you’ll need to select which drive you want to clean. Select the drive where Windows 10 is installed and click OK.
   
3. Disk Cleanup tool will now scan your PC for old and temporary files. This process might take a minute or two depending on the size of your partition.
   
4. Check if Previous Windows installation(s) option is available. If it is, check it and click OK. You should see a confirmation message available. Select Delete Files and wait until the previous version of Windows is removed.
   
5. Optional: If Previous Windows installation(s) option isn’t available for you, click Clean up system files button and wait for the scan to complete. After that, select Previous Windows installation(s) and follow the instructions from previous step.
   

Another way to run Disk Cleanup is to check your hard drive partition properties from This PC. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Open This PC.
2. Locate your primary hard drive partition and right-click it. Choose Properties from the menu.
   
3. Go to the General tab and click the Disk Cleanup button.
   
4. Now follow the instructions described in the steps above.

-READ ALSO: How to fix Disk Cleanup issues on Windows 10, 8.1

2. Use Command Prompt

1. Press the Windows Key to open the search box.

2. In the Windows search box type cmd.

3. Right-click the first result and select Run as administrator.

4. When Command Prompt opens, enter the following lines and press Enter after each one:

• attrib -r -a -s -h C:Windows.old /S /D
• RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%windows.old

5. After the commands are executed, close Command Prompt and check if the Windows.old folder is removed.

Few users reported that they needed to use two extra commands before they can remove Windows.old folder from their PC. If that is the case, jump to step 6.

6. Input and run the following commands to take ownership over the folder and remove it:

•  takeown /F C:Windows.old /A /R
•  icacls C:Windows.old /Grant Administrators:F /inheritance:e /T

An easy and quick method to delete the Windows.old folder on your device is to do this through Command Prompt. All you need to do is run a few deletion commands, then the tool will remove the folder for good.

Usually, the best way to delete Windows.old folder is to use the Disk Cleanup tool. If you can’t delete it by using Disk Cleanup, you might want to consider using Command Prompt.

Keep in mind that Disk Cleanup is the simplest and the safest solution and you should always use it first.

3. Remove the Windows.old folder using cmd at boot

You can also remove Windows.old folder by using Command Prompt at boot. To do that, you need to start Command Prompt by following these steps:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Click the Power button, hold the Shift key and choose the Restart option.
   
3. When your PC restarts, choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options.
4. A list of options will be available. Select Command Prompt.

Now we need to determine what is your drive letter. If you use Command Prompt during the boot, it’s rather possible that your drive letter will change, so you need to use diskpart tool to find it. You can do that by following these steps:

1. Enter diskpart in Command Prompt and press Enter. We have to warn you that diskpart is a powerful tool, so use extra caution while using it.
2. Now enter list volume.
3. List of all available partitions will now appear. Now you need to locate your drive letter. The easiest way to do that is to compare the size of available partitions. After you find the desired partition, check the Ltr column and memorize its letter. In most cases it should be D, but it might be different on your PC.
4. Enter exit to quit diskpart tool.
5. Now enter RD /S /Q “D:Windows.old” command and press Enter to run it. Keep in mind that you need to use the correct letter that you got in Step 3. In our case that was D, but be sure to double check it on your PC.
6. After running the aforementioned command, Windows.old folder will be removed from your PC. Now you just need to close Command Prompt and start Windows 10 normally.

As we already mentioned, using Disk Cleanup is the safest and simplest way to remove Windows.old folder from your PC, so you should use it always over Command Prompt.

If you decide to use Command Prompt from Windows 10, you’ll have to change the attributes of Windows.old folder.

That can sometimes cause certain issues so it might be better that you use Command Prompt during the boot since it doesn’t require that you change the attributes of the Windows.old folder.

• READ ALSO: Here’s what you need to do if Windows cannot access the disk

4. Use CCleaner to get rid of the Windows.old folder

CCleaner is a useful tool that is designed to remove old and temporary files from your PC. Some users use it to remove Windows.old folder, and if you use CCleaner you can remove Windows.old folder by following these steps:

1. Start CCleaner and click the Cleaner title.
2. Select only Old Windows Installation on Windows and Applications sections. You should find this option in Advanced list.
3. Now click the Analyze button to start the scan.
4. You should now see how much space does the Windows.old folder take. Click Run Cleaner button and wait until CCleaner removes this folder from your PC.

-READ ALSO: Download Free CCleaner for Windows 10 [Latest Version]

5. Change the security permissions

If you try to delete Windows.old folder manually you’ll probably see an error message saying that you lack the necessary privileges to delete this folder. You can fix this problem by following these steps:

1. Locate Windows.old folder, right-click it and choose Properties.
2. Navigate to the Security tab and click the Advanced button.
3. Locate the Owner section and click Change.
   
4. Select User or Group window will now appear. In Enter the object name to select field enter Users and click Check Names. Click OK.
   
5. The owner section will now be changed. Check Replace owner on subcontainers and objects and Replace all child permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object.
   
6. Click Apply and OK to save changes.
7. If you get any security warnings just select Yes.

After changing the permissions you’ll be able to delete Windows.old folder without any problems.

We have to mention that changing the permissions of Windows.old folder can sometimes cause issues with your Windows 10 installation, so you might want to consider using Disk Cleanup tool instead.

6. Disable certain devices from Device Manager

According to users, they were unable to remove Windows.old folder due to some driver files that were still in use by their PC. To find and remove those files you’ll need to do the following:

1. Locate the driver files that can’t be deleted in Windows.old directory. Usually that are SurfaceAccessoryDevice.sys, SurfaceCapacitiveHomeButton.sys, SurfaceDisplayCalibration.sys and SurfacePenDriver.sys. Keep in mind that these driver files might be different on your PC.
2. After you find the problematic drivers, you’ll need to disable the corresponding devices from Device Manager. To do that, press Windows Key + X and choose Device Manager from the list.
   
3. When Device Manager opens, look for the devices that are related to those drivers. After you find the problematic device, right click it and choose Disable.
   
4. After disabling all the problematic devices, try to delete Windows.old again.
5. After Windows.old folder is removed, enable the disabled devices again.

Apparently this issue appears on Surface devices, but if you experience this problem on your PC, feel free to try this solution.

7. Use Linux Live CD to remove Windows.old folder on Windows 10

If you can’t delete Windows.old folder from your PC, you might want to consider using a Linux Live CD. Windows.old folder is protected by your system, and in order to delete it you need to change certain privileges.

Obtaining the necessary privileges might not be easy for non-advanced users, and if you want to delete Windows.old folder without changing your privileges, you might want to consider using a Linux Live CD.

Simply download any version of Linux and create a bootable media. After that, boot to your PC from a bootable media. After Linux starts, locate and delete Windows.old folder.

After deleting the folder, remove the bootable media and restart your PC.

As you can see, Windows.old folder is extremely useful because it allows you to restore your PC after an upgrade in case anything goes wrong.

Using Windows.old folder you can restore your documents and some other files even with the new version of Windows installed.

As we already mentioned, Windows.old folder will be stored on your hard drive only for 10 days, so if you want to revert, be sure to do it quickly.

If you’re concerned about your storage space, you can delete the Windows.old folder by using Disk Cleanup tool or by following any other solution from this article.

Hope that now you can understand better what Windows.old folder is and whether to delete it or not in Windows 10. If you have any more questions, leave them in the comments section below.

Is this article up to date?

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».

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 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.

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.

Introduction

If you have upgraded to a new version of Windows 10, you end up with a folder named Windows.old under C:.

Now comes the next question, is it safe to delete the Windows.old folder?

In this blog post, I explain the Windows.old folder and if it’s safe to delete the folder.

What is the Windows.old folder?

This folder contains the contents from the previously installed Operating System. It is used to restore to a previous version of Windows 10.

The Windows.old folder is created after an update to a new version of Windows 10.

The Windows.old folder is automatically deleted after ten days if you have not made any changes to it locally or via a Group Policy.

Here you can see the Recovery area in the Settings app in Windows 10:

If you are sure you do not wish to restore to a previous version of Windows 10, it is safe to remove the Windows.old directory.

The Windows.old folder may take 50+ GB of storage, so it’s advisable to delete it if you want to free up disk space.

The folder contains temporary files that you can use to restore the previous version of Windows 10. If you are not planning to restore your operating system, these are not essential files.

How to restore a previous version of Windows 10 using Windows.old

If you want to restore your PC to the previous version of Windows 10, you can do it through Settings -> Recovery > Go back to the previous version of Windows 10.

Note that there is a time window when it’s possible to restore your machine. In my case, I can’t restore, since I upgraded my PC more than 10 days ago. The amount of time here can be changed via Group Policy.

How to delete the Windows.old folder

Here I describe a few different ways of removing the Windows.old directory:

• Using the Disk Cleanup Tool
• Using the Command Prompt

Delete Windows.old using the Disk Cleanup Tool

Open the File Explorer in Windows, Right-click and press Properties.

Select Disk Cleanup.

To remove the Windows.old folder, you need to click the Clean up system files button. Because the folder is considered to be a system folder, and requires elevation, you might receive a UAC prompt. Press Yes at the prompt.

5. Select Previous Windows installation(s).

6. Select Yes at the confirmation prompt.

Delete Windows.old using the command prompt

To be able to delete the Windows.old folder, we need to do the following:

• Take ownership of the Windows.old directory
• Set permissions for the Windows.old folder
• Remove the folder

You can accomplish the above actions using the following sequence:

1. Open an elevated command prompt or elevated Powershell prompt
2. Run the following command: takeown /F C:Windows.old* /R /A /D Y
3. Follow up with this command: cacls C:Windows.old*.* /T /grant administrators:F
4. The last command to run: rmdir /S /Q C:Windows.old

Summary

If you are not planning on rolling back your Windows 10 installation to a previous version, you should safely remove the Windows.old folder.

Have you removed your Windows.old folder? Please leave a comment below!

References

• Retrieve files and folders from Windows.old

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If your PC is low on space, there’s little doubt that at one point or another you’ve been eyeing up your Windows.old folder. This folder can occupy a hefty amount of storage that you can’t afford to lose if your operating system is on a small SSD or micro-SD card. But how to delete Windows.old, and is it even safe? We’ll be answering these questions in today’s tutorial. Let’s start with the most asked question:

Can I delete Windows.old?

Short answer, yes. But you may have gathered that by the fact that this tutorial exists. Removing the Windows.old folder, however, isn’t always as simple as clicking on it and pressing the delete key. This is why there’s often confusion.

The more pertinent question, then, is if Windows.old is safe to delete. The answer to this question really depends on your situation, so it helps to understand what Windows.old is. 

Windows.old is typically stored on your C: drive, and like the name suggests, stores an old version of Windows. More specifically, your old version of Windows, before you refreshed, upgraded, or performed a custom install of Windows on the same partition as your previous installation.

If you chose to “keep” nothing during your refresh or upgrade, the folder will contain your personal files from the previous installation. As a result, you should only delete it if you’re sure there’s nothing there you need. When you remove Windows.old, you also remove your ability to roll back to your previous version of Windows, so keep that in mind.

After ten days, Microsoft will automatically delete Windows.old from your drive. If you’re patient, then, you don’t need to take any action to remove it. If you need the storage space now, you can follow the steps below. Just make sure you copy across anything you need first:

How to Delete Windows.old and $Windows.~BT Folders in Disk Cleanup

How to Remove Windows.old and $Windows.~BT Folders via Storage Settings

Removing Old Windows Versions via Elevated Command Prompt

How to Delete Windows.old Folder via a Command Prompt at Boot

How to Cleanup the WinSxS Folder and Enable CompactOS

If you’re still struggling for space, you can follow our guide on how to cleanup the WinSxS folder to free up a little more. If you’re still struggling after that, you may have to take more drastic measures like enabling CompactOS, which may affect performance.