Removing previous Windows installations, Windows old folders. Windows old folder: what is it, a blessing or a curse? Do I need to remove the old version of Windows 10?

After upgrading and switching to a new version of Windows 10, the user notices a directory on the system drive Windows.old, which came from nowhere. At the same time, the directory takes up many gigabytes of disk space, and deleting it in the standard way is not possible. In this article, I will tell you what this Windows.old folder is, explain the reasons for its appearance, and also describe in detail how to remove this folder from your disk.

Typically, the Windows.old folder is created by the system after upgrading the Windows OS to a newer version. The system places files and directories from the previous version of Windows in this folder, and you can use them to return to the old version if for some reason you don’t like the new OS. In addition, if you are interested in a specific file in an older version of the OS, you can always go to the folder in question and find it there.

The Windows.old folder contains three directories:

• Windows– system files of the previous OS version;
• Documents and Settings— documents and settings;
• Program Files– folder with previously installed programs.

If you decide to look for the desired file in this directory, do not delay the search for too long. Typically, Windows 10 deletes the Windows.old folder literally a month in advance in order to free up disk space.

Returning to the previous OS version

For example, if you switched to the tenth version of Windows and its interface or functionality did not suit you, you can use the files located in the windows.old folder to return to the old version of the OS (7, 8, 8.1).

1. Go to settings, select updates and security, then click on “Recovery”.
2. You will see a button to return to the previous OS version.
3. Press one of these keys and Windows will restore the previous version of the operating system using the files in Windows.old as a source.

How to recover personal files from Windows.old

Just use Explorer or another file manager, go to this directory, your personal files are located in Windows.old\Users\YOUR NAME.

How to remove Windows.old

It can be seen that this Windows.old folder takes up a significant amount of space on the hard drive; its volume usually starts at 10 gigabytes or more; 20 gigabytes or more is considered a completely normal size. If you try to delete this folder in the standard way (via Explorer), you will receive a system error message. Of course, you can try to get around this message by changing the attributes of this directory and its attachments, but, in any case, this is not a completely correct way.

1. The system toolkit for will help us delete the Windows.old folder. In Windows 10, click on the “Start” button, find “Disk Cleanup” in the start menu, and launch the Disk Cleanup application.
2. You can also choose a different path by right-clicking on drive C, selecting “properties”, and then clicking on the “Disk Cleanup” button (this is also true for other versions of Windows).
3. In the menu that appears, click on “Clean up system files”. You'll see a "Previous Windows installations" item indicating how much space they take up. Select this item and delete the files of the previous OS version.
4. Usually this is enough to remove it. If for some reason this directory is not deleted, launch a console with administrative rights and type there: rd /s /q c:\windows.old.

The removal process can be seen visually in the video.

The methods described below work with everyone, and we will study minor differences in the process in detail and take them into account.

Important: make sure that there is nothing valuable left inside this folder, because... All documents that you used in the previous version are stored there. Check folders such as "Downloads", "Documents", etc.

Uninstall via Windows

Method 1. System tools.

To do this, we will use the Disk Cleanup function.

1. Open My Computer.
2. Select the system drive (the one on which Windows is currently installed). If you don’t know, Windows will tell you:

3. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.
4. Click the Disk Cleanup button. The system will scan all files available for cleaning. This may take from a few seconds to 10 minutes or more.
5. Now click on “Clean up system files”. The scan will be re-scanned.

6. In the list, find the item “Previous Windows installations”.

7. Mark it and click OK. The system will ask you to confirm the action, answer with consent.
8. Once completed, restart your computer if necessary.

Method 2. Folder permissions.

If you simply try to delete a folder, you will most likely receive a message that says “You need to request permission...”. To prevent this from happening and you can safely delete Windows.old like any other file on your computer, do the following:

For Windows 7:

1. Right-click on the folder, select “Properties” → “Security” → “Advanced”.

2. In “Advanced Settings” go to the “Owner” tab and click “Change”.

3. Now you can specify a new owner for the folder. Select your account from the list. If you don’t know what it’s called, open the Start menu and look under the profile icon.
4. Having selected the account, check the box next to “Replace owner of subctontainers” and click OK.

5. Wait until the end of the procedure, at the end of which the system will notify you about the successful change of rights:

6. Now all that remains is to return to Additional Settings, but to the “Permissions” → “Change” tab.

7. In the new window, click “Add”. In the tab that opens, enter the name of your account, then click on “Name Check”. If successful, the profile name in the search window may change slightly and will be underlined. The latter means that the record was found. Click OK.

8. Now you have a window in front of you in which you indicate what rights are available to this account. Check the box next to “Full access”, then OK.

9. You will see the window from step 7, but now there will be one more entry in the list - your login. Select it and check the “Add permissions” and “Replace all permissions” checkboxes. OK.

10. If one or two windows appear asking you to confirm the continuation of the operation, answer “Yes”, after which the system will quickly issue the necessary permissions.

11. Is it possible to delete the entire “Windows old” folder now? Yes, this time the system will warn that everything will be deleted permanently. This indicates that you have the necessary rights. We confirm, and the job is done.

For Windows 8 and Windows 10:

1. Everything is the same here, only in step 2, instead of the “Owner” tab, there is a line of the same name, next to which you need to click on “Change”.
2. Then a window will open in which you will not need to select from the list, but enter your user name yourself, as in step 7.

3. After that, look at the Permissions tab, click “Add”.
4. In the “Subject” field, click “Select” and enter the user name again. OK.
5. Below we set “Full access” and click OK.

6. Again we find ourselves in the Security Settings on the Permissions panel. Select our login, check the box at the bottom of the window “Replace all permission entries”. OK.

Without formatting the system disk before reinstalling Windows, you will end up with a burden in the form of files from the previous operating system (OS), stored in the Windows.old directory and occupying tens of gigabytes. In addition, the system folders of the old profile and the no longer working option in the OS boot menu will remain. Getting rid of this garbage is necessary for normal computer operation. In this article, we will explain step by step how to remove traces of old Windows.

This folder is located on the C drive and stores personal data of the old Windows user, such as documents. You can open the directory, view the contents, and copy the files you need. You cannot erase Windows.old in the usual way. To do this you need to perform the following sequence of actions:

Removing old system folders

When you open the Users folder on drive C, you will see the system folders left over from the old Windows. They cannot be removed either from Explorer or with special programs. To do this you will need to obtain owner rights:

Having received the necessary rights as the owner of the folder, you can safely send it to the Trash.

Editing the download menu

From the Run command line

Using this method, you can remove unnecessary options from the bootloader menu forever.

From system settings

This option will allow you to hide unnecessary downloads when your computer starts.

Features of Windows XP

The boot.ini file is responsible for the Windows version download manager. It is hidden in the root drive C and can be edited in a regular notepad. It is better not to do this: an error when editing will lead to system failure. A safer way is to use the settings described above (remove the OS boot list). You decide. We will only give advice on how to edit boot.ini.

When a user upgrades his operating system to Windows 10, a Windows.old folder appears on his hard drive. However, this directory often takes up valuable memory - its volume is not limited to several tens of gigabytes. This raises the question of whether it is possible to remove Windows.old from the system disk and avoid unwanted consequences.

Windows.old: what is this folder

The Windows.old directory appears precisely after an OS upgrade. This can be considered a manifestation of Microsoft's concern for the user: all data on the previous version of the system is stored in the folder, so that you can return to it at any moment. It often happens that the user is not satisfied with the new OS for some reason. In other words, the Windows.old directory is needed to restore the previous system. It is stored in memory for 30 days, after which Win 10 deletes the folder itself, although not always entirely.

The Windows.old folder appears on the system drive after updating Windows and is stored there for a month

In this directory you can find various files from the version of the OS that was installed on the computer before - they may be of value to the user. Windows.old includes the following sections:

• Windows, which contains system files;
• Documents and Settings, where all documents and settings of the previous OS are stored;
• Program Files with program files previously installed on this PC.

Is it possible to remove Windows.old in Win 10

If you have worked with the “ten” and realized that the OS is completely satisfactory for you and no rollbacks to the previous version are required, and there are no files or documents of interest left in the directory, then you can safely delete it. In the end, a dozen or two freed up gigabytes never hurt anyone.

How to remove Windows.old in Win 10

If you have already tried to simply delete the Windows.old directory from your PC in the traditional way, you have already been disappointed: when you press the traditional Delete key in such cases, nothing happens. Sometimes the Shift + Del key combination works, but this is rather an exception to the rule. There are several fairly simple methods to get rid of this folder, including standard Windows tools.

Video: The two easiest methods to remove Windows.old

Via Disk Cleanup

The Windows.old directory can usually be deleted without problems using the standard Win 10 Disk Cleanup tool. To do this you need to take the following steps:

1. Press the Win + R buttons simultaneously and enter the command “cleanmgr” in the line that appears.
2. The Disk Cleanup utility window will appear on the screen. In the lower left side, select "Clean up system files."
3. In the new window, find the “Previous Windows installations” section, check it and click “OK” to confirm your actions.
4. The system will show a warning that you can delete important system data - in our case we do not pay attention to this. After a short period of time, the Windows.old directory will be completely erased from the PC.

Photo gallery: step-by-step instructions for deleting the Windows.old folder using Disk Cleanup

Press the Win + R keys and type the command “cleanmgr” In the utility window, select “Clean up system files” and click “OK” Check the “Previous Windows installations” checkbox and click “OK” Wait until the system deletes the Windows.old folder

Via command line

You can also erase the Windows.old directory using the command line. To do this you need to perform several steps:

To delete the Windows.old folder, enter “RD /S /Q C:\windows.old” in the command line and press Enter

Through the "Task Scheduler"

This method sometimes works if the previous two did not lead to the desired result. The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. Launch Task Scheduler: In Windows 10, this is easiest to do by searching in the Start menu. It can also be opened through the “Control Panel” (section “System and Security”, then at the bottom in the “Administration” item, select “Task Schedule”). Similar to calling the “Control Panel,” by right-clicking the mouse, you can select the “Computer Management” line from the drop-down menu. “Task Scheduler” will appear in the “Utilities” section.
2. In the Scheduler library, you need to open the Windows directory in the Microsoft branch and select the Setup subsection.
3. Click SetupCleanupTask. In the default settings, the Windows.old folder will be erased a month from the date of the system upgrade. Change the task execution date, and “Scheduler” will delete Windows.old at the time you need.

Photo gallery: step-by-step instructions for removing Windows.old using Windows Task Scheduler

"Task Scheduler" in Windows 10 can be found in the "Control Panel" in the "System and Security" section ("Administration") In the "Scheduler" library, open the following folders: Microsoft - Windows - Setup In the SetupCleanupTask section, change the execution date of the task to delete the folder Windows.old to the required

Using third party programs

Many people prefer to use CCleaner and its analogues to erase “undeletable” directories like Windows.old. This is the right approach, because the utility can quickly cope with such a task. If you do not have CCleaner installed, then you should download its installation file to your PC from the developer’s website and install the program.

To remove Windows.old through the CCleaner application, in the “Cleaning” section, select the “Other” (“Advanced”) category and check the box next to “Old Windows Installation”.

After launching CCleaner, you need to find the “Other” tab, go to the “Old Windows Installation” line, tick it and start cleaning. The question of whether to delete “Event Logs” can be answered positively. The program will quickly perform the necessary actions and issue a report with a complete list of files that were deleted. The amount of freed memory will also be indicated.

What to do if the Windows.old directory is not deleted

As a rule, the Windows.old directory is completely erased from the system disk using one of the methods listed above. When using the command line method, ensure that all characters are typed correctly and that there are no extra spaces in the commands.

When the contents of the Windows.old directory are not of interest to you, you can safely delete it. This folder can be erased from the PC in several ways if you need free disk space - the directory really takes up a significant amount of space. Please note: if you need any files from a previous version of Windows, take appropriate measures to save them, because the system itself will delete Windows.old after a month.

Have you upgraded your computer to Windows 10? If yes, then you must have noticed the Windows.old folder on your computer and it is taking up a huge amount of space on your C drive. You may have even tried to delete it but failed as a window appears: “The folder cannot be accessed. To delete a folder, you must have administrator rights." Consequently, users have questions.

So, how to remove Windows.old and free up some disk space? Not difficult - but not like you would delete a regular folder.

I'll show you three methods that work, and they're all pretty simple, so choose the method that works best for you.

Windows.old - what is it and can it be deleted?

This folder contains the files necessary for Thus, if you delete the folder, you will not be able to 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 are sticking with Windows 10, then read on. If you are thinking about returning to Windows 8.1 or 7, then let the folder sit until you make a final decision. However, remember that the decision you have exactly 30 days from the date of the system update. When the line expires, Windows will automatically remove Windows.old.

How to remove Windows.old: option 1 (wait)

You could just wait and do nothing - 30 days from upgrading 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 simplest option.

Option 2 (disk cleanup)

If waiting is not an option for you, you can manually run the program Disk Cleanup to clear the disk of the Windows.old folder.

To do this, follow these steps:

Disk Cleanup will now remove Windows.old from your drive. This may take a few minutes, so be patient. Once completed, restarting the computer is not required.

Option 3 (command line)

If for some reason Disk Cleanup did not help, you can try deleting the Windows.old folder using Command Prompt.