Many users have updated their operating system up to windows 10 with windows 7 or windows 8.1. After that, they noticed a significant reduction in free space on the C drive. When analyzing it, you can pay attention to a folder called windows.old, the size of which can often approach 10 GB. This folder contains files from the previous version of windows, which was before the upgrade.

In this article, we will explain how to remove the previous version of windows after upgrading to windows 10 and thereby get rid of the windows.old folder, on system disk C.

Delete windows.old - the folder with the previous version of windows

To do this, click on the notification icon in the lower right corner of the screen near the clock. In the menu that opens, select "All parameters".

Menu item - "System"

Then select "Storage" from the menu on the left.

Moving on to analyzing disk space C

On the right side of the window, your local drives... Click on the C drive, which contains the windows.old folder.

The analysis will be carried out for a few seconds, after which the data on occupied place... The files from the previous version of Windows are located in the Temporary Files section.

Opening "Temporary files"

Scroll down the window that opens and find the "Delete Previous Versions" button.

At reinstalling Windows old versions always remain. Of course, keep old versions on disk, especially if this SSD disk and has a small volume too wasteful. Therefore, it is better to delete old versions and files and free up space. hard disk... But you need to remove them correctly so that there are no extra tails that take up space on the hard drive.

Removing older versions of Windows

Older Windows versions are on boot disk in the C: //Windows.old folder. Sometimes it is impossible to delete this folder from the disk directly, and if it is possible, then unnecessary tails of the system files remain.

Therefore, it is necessary to delete old system Windows is correct and correct.

To remove old versions of Windows and temporary unnecessary files, go to the "Start" menu (Fig.1-p.1).

Options

Click on the gear button "Parameters" (item 2).

Go to the “System” menu (Fig. 2-p. 1).

Then we go to the item “Free up space now” (Fig. 4). After that, we will see various types of temporary files that can be deleted. And thereby free up disk space.

Now putting, checkboxes in front of the items that we want to remove. First of all, we are interested in the item “ Previous installations Windows ”(Fig.5). As we can see, they occupy 25.2 GB, you must admit this is a very significant amount of disk space that is wasted.

This is especially true for SSD drives which are expensive and therefore usually have a small volume. And here it is very important to have free space on the hard drive for installation required services and programs.

After we have installed all the necessary checkboxes to remove old versions of Windows and temporary files. Click the "Delete files" button.

After that, the deletion of unnecessary temporary files and systems will begin. This process may take some time. Therefore, you will need to wait and not leave ahead of time so that the removal and cleaning goes to the end.

When everything is removed, a message appears stating that the removal of temporary files is complete.

Thus, in this article we have analyzed how to correctly and correctly delete old Windows installations and other temporary files.

I would be glad to receive your questions and comments.

I wish you success
Best regards, Vladimir Shishkov

When you reinstall Windows without formatting the hard drive, a folder with the mark .old remains on it. It stores information about the previous installation of the operating system. As a rule, it is worth deleting this folder when there is not enough free disk space. There are several techniques:

1. Removal by formatting.
2. Manual removal.
3. Removing with Disk Cleanup.

On a note! When upgrading the system toWindows 10 folder deleted automatically after ten days. When installingXP does a complete formatting of the hard drive, so the old version is not saved.

The method is reliable and irreversible. During installation, it is worth removing all partitions hard disk and mark it up again. Please note that you should not select the "Quick Format" option, since it does not check for bad sectors (bad, bad sectors) of the hard drive. However, with full formatting take care of saving the information, it will not be possible to restore it after installation.

Manual removal

Step 1. Enter the directory of the drive with installed system.

Step 2. Select the Windows.old folder and use the Shift + Del combination. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

On a note! Do not delete the folder in the trash after context menu or by pressing "Del ". The hard drive will not be cleaned - the data in the trash can still take up space.

Uninstalling via the command line

Actually this method is also a manual removal, but uninstallation is carried out at a low level, which guarantees the best result, due to the passing scanning of the sectors of the hard drive.

Step 1. To call the command line in the "Start" menu in the "Find programs and files" line, enter cmd command, call the context menu and run the handler as administrator.

Step 2. To remove the directory, enter the command "rmdir / s c: \ windows.old".

On a note! Instead of the commandrmdir can be usedrd. Pay attention to the syntax - the command is case insensitive, that is, “RMDIR "and"rmdir "are both equivalent and equally possible. At the same time, pay attention to the prescription of the directory - if the folder intended for deletion bears the name “ ", And you indicate"windows.old ", then nothing will be deleted.

Step 3. Confirm the deletion of the Windows.old folder by pressing the "n" key and "enter".

On a note! Key "/s' allows you to delete a directory including all subfolders and hidden files... If you add the key "/q ”, then confirmation of the request will not be required, however, in order to avoid deleting the wrong folder, it is better to leave the request.

Removing using the Disk Cleanup utility

Step 1. To call the utility in the "Find programs and files" line, enter the "Disk Cleanup" line, and run the program as an administrator.

In the line "Find programs and files" enter the line "Disk Cleanup" and run the program as administrator

Step 2.

Step 3.

Step 4. At the end of the analysis, a window will appear with a list of possible items intended for deleting partitions. Run the cleaning analysis process system files by clicking on the appropriate button.

Step 5. Select the device you want to clean and click OK.

Select the device on which to perform cleaning and click "OK"

Step 6. Wait for the end of the analysis process. The evaluation is carried out according to the sections of the hard drive.

Step 7. Highlight Previous Windows Installations and click OK.

Step 8. Wait for the end of the cleaning process.

Video - How to remove old Windows after installing a new one

Conclusion

We have described four ways to remove an old system. All of the above methods are standard for operating systems. Windows family, and do not require the installation of additional software... After cleaning your system, be sure to use the disk defragmenter procedure to use the remaining disk space as efficiently as possible. The evaluation of each of the methods is shown in the summary table.

There are two ways to get rid of Windows 10 after upgrading to it from a previous version of the operating system: rollback and complete removal systems. The first method involves returning to the previously installed OS, and the second, discussed below, will help to erase all references to the system from the hard drive without installing another version of Windows.

Uninstall Windows 10 system

Removing the system from the hard disk can be done in three ways:

• via BIOS and bootable media;
• through the execution of commands;
• across third party program.

You can save documents and other items that are not stored on the main partition of the hard disk using any method. You just need to determine in advance which partition contains the operating system, and which contains all the other files.

Since the drive names required to work with them on the command line may differ from what you see on home page explorer, you need to find out the correct names in advance:

Remove Windows 10 by executing commands

1. Using the official Microsoft tool to upgrade to Windows 10, create a bootable USB flash drive. We will not use it to install the system, but use it to go to the command line.
   How to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10
2. Insert the created media into your computer, restart the machine and go to BIOS settings.
3. In the BIOS, change the boot order so that the name of the installation media you created appears first. This is necessary so that when you turn it on again, the computer starts booting not from the hard disk, but from the flash drive, entering the OS installation program.
   Move the bootable flash drive to the first place (1st Boot Device)
4. Save the changes made to the BIOS and exit.
   Save changes and exit BIOS
5. When Windows 10 Setup boots, use the Shift + F10 keyboard shortcut to load Command Prompt.
   Hold down the Shift + F10 key combination to go to the command line
6. Since you know the number of the partition to be deleted in advance, use the sel part 2 command to select it. If you do not know which partition you need to delete, then go back to the instructions above and find out the name of the partition on which Windows 10 is currently installed.
   We execute the command sel part 2
7. Run the del par override command to erase the section selected in the previous step. Done, system removed, now you have HDD, clogged only with files located on additional partitions.
   We execute the command del par override

Removing Windows 10 via BIOS

This method is similar to the previous one, as the first three steps are repeated.

1. Create an installation flash drive with Windows 10 using the official Microsoft tool for installing their OS.
2. Insert the flash drive into your computer, start a reboot and go to BIOS.
3. Change the boot order of the computer, putting the created installation media in the first place, save the changes and wait for the computer to turn on the system installation program.
   In the BIOS, move the installation flash drive to the first place in the list
4. In the first step of installing Windows 10, choose your preferred language and other options.
   Selecting the required language parameters
5. In the second step, confirm that you want to start the installation. We will not install the system, but use this program to clean up the disk.
   Press the button "Install"
6. Input license key miss, it is useless to activate the system now.
   Skip the step with entering the key
7. Choose any OS version.
   We choose any version of the operating system
8. Skip license agreement by accepting it.
   We accept the terms of the license
9. Select manual installation type to be able to work with hard disk.
   Choosing a manual installation
10. A window will open with a list of hard disk partitions, click on the "Disk settings" button to see additional buttons.
    Press the button "Disk settings"
11. Select the partition with the installed system and use the "Format" button to erase all data on the selected partition.
    Select the section and click the "Format" button

Done, the system is completely removed, and partitions with backups, third party files and other elements remained intact. If you want to wipe the hard drive completely, then format them right there. After you finish working with disks, you can close the program and start using the cleaned disk to your advantage.

Through a third party program

A third-party will be used to edit disk partitions. EaseUS program which you have to download and install from the developer's official website. There is no Russian language in it, but all actions will be described in detail below. Please note that after deleting the main partition using this program, the computer will enter reboot mode to make all the changes, but will not be able to exit it, because the system will removed. Instead, it will issue a corresponding error confirming that the disk is empty.

Removing a Previous Installed System

By default, when switching from an old operating system to a new one, a Windows.old folder is created, which contains all the necessary files to restore the previous installed OS. It is needed so that, if desired, the user can easily return to old version systems using standard features Windows and without having to reinstall the system. The folder is automatically erased after 30 days from the date of switching to a new OS, but you can delete it earlier by following these steps:

1. Using the keyboard shortcut Win + R on your keyboard, launch the Run window.
   Hold the Win + R combination to open the Run window
2. Use the cleanmgr command to navigate to the disk cleanup program.
   We execute the command cleanmgr
3. Click on the "Clear system files" button. Please note that for this action you must be logged into the systems under account administrator. Click on the button "Clean up system files"
4. Check the box "Previous Windows installations". Do not forget to uncheck all other checkboxes so as not to accidentally delete unnecessary files.

   Deleting restore points

   Restore points are created by the system in automatic mode and manually. They are needed in order to always be able to roll back the computer to a certain state when all functions and processes worked fully. Over time, there may be too many points, and they take up some part of the disk memory, so they should be deleted:

   
   

   What to do if you get an error while uninstalling

   If, when trying to delete a system or a folder located in it, an error appears with the code 0x80004005, then the reasons for this may be the following:

   • virus;
   • damage to system files or registry data.
   
   

   File recovery

   
   

   Registry fix

   By default, the system stores the files of the initial version of the registry, designed just for recovery in case of malfunctions. They are located along the path Primary_Drive: \ Windows \ System32 \ config \ RegBack.

   
   

   What to do if all else fails

   In the event that none of the above methods helped, roll back the system through restore points or return to initial settings... Please note that this will cause some personal data to be lost, so please back it up in advance.

   There are several ways to remove a system from a disk using bootable media or a third-party program. Getting rid of Windows will lead to the fact that you will get a clean hard disk from the systems, but with the presence of user files on it, if you did not erase them separately. And also you can delete the restore points and the folder from the previous Windows version... Removal problems are solved by scanning for viruses, restoring system files and the registry.

A pleasant addition to the new operating room Windows system 10 is the fact. This saves all user files, settings and programs. Unfortunately, this comes at a very high price, in the form of depriving some of the hard drive space. Yes, there is a folder called Windows.old that stores the old version. So the 10th generation can quite easily return to the user everything that he had before the installation.

Nevertheless, old folder huge in size, as necessary a large number of data for a correct rollback. Many users wish to delete such a folder. Well, in fact, Windows 10 looks so great, and all the bugs will most likely be fixed in the not too distant future. Thus, the question arises, how to delete this already unnecessary old folder in order to give the system to breathe freely and not to store an impressive pile of old junk? On this score, there is a certain simple sequence of actions.

Getting rid of the old

The old folder on the computer is formed if the user automatically switched from Windows 7 or 8 to 10 series. It can also occur if you perform a clean install without formatting hard disk. It often eats away at several gigabytes, which are very valuable at the current prices of hard drives.

It should be remembered that if you rub the old folder on your computer, you will not be able to painlessly return from Windows 10 to your old system.

So this decision should be approached very carefully. So, if all doubts are swept away, then:

• Press Win + R on the keyboard, which launches a special Run window.
• Enter the command in the window that appears: cleanmrg and click on OK.

• Thus, starts standard cleaning disk.

• In the window that appears, click on the Clear system files button.

In this simple way, you can delete a folder called Windows.old. But Windows 10 is a cunning system full of unpleasant surprises. Therefore, in some cases, you may simply not delete the old folder for reasons not clear to the user. In this case, there are countermeasures.

If it didn't work right away

We open a wonderful interface command line, who always helps out in difficult times. Naturally, you need to do this under administrator rights. Next, enter the command: RD / S / Q C: \ windows.old. Of course, this folder must be located on the C drive. Press Enter and wait for the result.

There is another way to delete the old folder. To do this, you should:

• Launch Task Scheduler, which can be opened via search.
• In the list of tasks that opens, you need to find the SetupCleanupTask.
• Right-click on this task and select Run from the drop-down menu.

At the end of the process, the old folder should be gone forever.

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