The question of how to uninstall Windows Old in Windows 10 often arises from users, and read the answer to it later in our article.

Despite the fact that in the operating room Windows system, regardless of its version and hardware capabilities of the device, problems often occur, there is always an option for how to fix them - simply, which will return the computer to its original state. This is a safe operation - it saves everything custom files but removes any installed programs and the driver (or vice versa installs). An absolutely indispensable feature for any PC user, but what to do if problems arise when installing or updating itself operating system... Even so, there is a Plan B. It lies in the fact that when installing new system or after Windows updates 10, all old files are saved in a special Windows Old folder, and can be used for full-fledged. But it's worth making out what this Windows Old folder is, and whether it can be deleted on Windows 10.

Why delete the Windows Old folder?

Again, this is an excellent precaution, if not for one "but". V individual cases the size of this folder can be up to 20 GB. And if in the case of full-fledged hard drives this may not be a big problem, then, for example, when working with netbooks it can create certain difficulties. It's ok if the Windows Old folder appears after Windows installations 10. Fortunately, it is recommended, but not required, which means that it can be easily removed. But if you want to keep, you can keep, just by knowing.

How to delete the Windows Old folder in Windows 10 using regular means?

Of course, this is done using various programs, like CCleaner, but why resort to third-party software if the system itself does an excellent job of this task. To delete the Windows Old folder, you need to open the properties of the system drive C. In the "General" tab that opens, next to the disk volume histogram, click on "Disk Cleanup". A short scan will take place and the desired tool will open.

By the way, you can also get to it using the Run dialog box or the combination of Win + R and the phrase "cleanmgr". Select desired disk and click "OK".

The opened tool, as you can see, can be used to periodically clean the system. V this case you need to click on "Clean up system files". Then in the list find the item "Previous Windows installations"Old. With a high degree of probability, this element will take up several GB, which can be deleted here and there. Again, even here, in the system files, you can freely select any items without fear that deleting them will entail some kind of system error. However, they can significantly free up disk space.

Also, you can either remove this directory using Explorer, or using another file manager, however, there is a high probability that there will be problems with access rights to certain files, and some of them will not be removed. It is better not to use this method.

Using the command line

You can use the command line to delete the Windows Old folder. To open it, use the system search or in the Run dialog box (Win + R) enter “cmd” and click OK.

In the console that opens, enter "rd / s / q c: \ windows.old" without quotes. It will take a little time, but all files will be 100% deleted.

As a result, it is worth noting that it is better not to delete the Widnovs Old folder immediately after reinstalling the new system. Problems are more likely to arise and escape routes are best left. And if there are no problems with the internal storage in principle, then it is better to leave it in order to be sure that you will not be left without a computer with a normally working operating system at the most crucial moment. It can be used to recover data from the Windows Old folder in Windows 10.

After updating the operating room Windows systems a copy of it is created, into which all installed updates are integrated. The original operating system, for example, to rollback in case of problems during the month before previous version, is stored in the "Windows.old" directory, which is located at the root of the system drive (as a rule, this is the drive labeled "C:"). The same happens when installing a new operating system over an old one, that is, when the user boots not from an installation disk / flash drive, but starts the installation from under a running Windows.

Can I delete the Windows.old folder?

Naturally, such a directory takes up a significant amount of space, sometimes up to 15 or even more Gigabytes (for example, when updating Windows 8 to version 10, the folder takes about 20 GB), which is unacceptable for the system disk (after all, most users give system partition no more than 30-60 GB). If you are not going to do before the previous version, for example, the trial period of 30 days has expired after updating Windows 8 to 10, then we do not need the Windows.old folder, and you can safely delete it in order to free up a dozen or two gigabytes of space for system disk.

In order to make sure that a significant amount of free space on the system disk is occupied by the Windows.old folder that we do not need, you need to check whether it is present and how much space it takes.

How do I find the Windows.old folder?

1. To do this, start Windows Explorer and go to the "C:" drive.
2. Next, select this directory, if present, and call it context menu.
3. We select "Properties" from the drop-down menu.

Items 2-3 can be combined: select the directory and hold down the "Alt + Enter" key combination.

1. We look at the space occupied by its files in the item "Size".

How do I delete the Windows.old folder?

Method 1. How to remove Windows.old?

In order to erase the Windows.old folder with all its contents, perform the following steps.

1. Launch the window Windows explorer by any method and go to the "My Computer" directory.
2. Then select the system drive "C:" and call its context menu with the right mouse button and select "Properties" from the drop-down list of parameters.

You can also select a disk and press the Alt + Enter key combination to open the Properties dialog box of the selected object.

1. In the first tab of the "Properties: Local disk(C :) "under the name" General "click on the" Disk Cleanup "button.

4. We are waiting while the operating system analyzes its contents to calculate the occupied space and find junk files.

After a few tens of seconds, a maximum of a couple of minutes, the "Disk Cleanup" window will open.

1. We get acquainted with the objects that can be deleted and mark unnecessary checkboxes in your opinion.
2. Below we click on the "Clear system files" button (the action requires administrator rights if the action is performed from an account with limited rights).

System Disk Cleanup will calculate the space that can be removed without causing any harm to the operating system. The operation can take up to several minutes if the system disk is large.

1. In the "Disk Cleanup ..." window that opens, put a check mark next to the item " Previous installations Windows ”, where the volume occupied by the files of the previous operating system is written (in our case, it is about 24.5 GB).
2. To erase the "Windows.old" directory from the computer, click on the "OK" button.

9. In the next dialog box with a warning, we agree to the operation by clicking "Delete files" or by clicking "Enter" on the keyboard.

After that, the operating system will start deleting the Windows.old folder with all the files.

Method 2. Deleting the Window.old folder in the usual way

You can delete the directory with the files of the previous OS using the most usual method, while having administrator rights, but you must immediately open the Window.old directory and all its subdirectories with full access to perform any operations with them.

1. Call the "Properties" folder Window.old as in the previous methods.

2. Go to the "Security" tab.

3. Select the computer administrator from the "Groups and users" list.

5. In the "Advanced security settings" window for the Windows.old directory, go to the tab named "Owner" and click the "Change" button.

6. In the list of users, select the account from which you will delete the directory, and check the box next to "Change the owner of subcontainers and objects"

7. Click "Apply".

8. We are waiting until Windows completes the operation of assigning new rights to all files.

9. Go to the "Permissions" tab and click "Change".

10. Select the new owner of the folder in the "Permission Items" form.

11. Click "Change" again.

12. In the dialog "Permission element for ..." in the drop-down list of parameters called "Apply" select the parameter, as in the screenshot.

13. In the "Permissions" field, check "Full Control" in the "Allow" column.

14. Click "OK".

15. In the dialog box " Additional parameters security for ... "check both items and click" Apply ".

16. In the warning window, click "Yes".

Now the Windows.old directory can be deleted with the usual Windows tools: go to the "C:" drive, select the folder and press "Shift + Delete" to permanently delete the folder, confirming your intentions in the dialog box.

If you still have questions on the topic "How can I delete the Windows.old folder after updating the system? ", You can ask them in the comments

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After installing a new version of Windows on the system drive, you can find the Windows.old folder. Sometimes it takes tens to hundreds of GB, while there is no payload from it. This folder contains files and settings from the previous version of Windows, incl. files from the Documents and Settings and Program Files folders. It is not only possible, but also necessary to delete the Windows.old folder. However, this will not work in the usual way. We will tell you about the options for solving the problem.

Preparing to uninstall

Don't forget to copy the files you want from the Windows.old folder, such as documents. It is usually located in the root directory of the C drive. And only after nothing of value is left in it, you can start deleting it.

Removing through Disk Cleanup

This is the simplest and efficient way get rid of the unneeded folder. Open the Start menu and select Computer.

Right-click on the C drive and select Properties. In the "General" tab, click on "Disk Cleanup". Wait for the end of the program analysis.

Check the box "Previous Windows installations". Click "Ok" and wait for the operation to complete.

Helpful: If Windows.old appeared after updating Windows 8 to a new version, it will be automatically removed after 28 days.

Uninstalling via the command line

You will need administrator rights. If they are not there by default, log in as an admin. Press the combination Win + R, enter cmd click "Ok".

In the black cmd window enter “ Rd / s / q C: \ Windows.old”And press“ Enter ”. Or copy the command and click in cmd right mouse button - the command will appear there immediately. After deleting the directory, close command line.

Uninstallation using the Unlocker program

This little free program will allow you to delete any files and folders that, for one reason or another, cannot be deleted in the usual way. It can handle Windows.old as well, if the first two methods did not work. You can download the program

Open the downloaded file, select the version for your system (32 or 64 bits) and run Unlocker.exe... it portable version programs that do not require installation of any disk. Just open the program, select the Windows.old folder and click "OK". Specify the "Delete" command and click "OK". After a while, a message about the success of the operation will appear.

Helpful: How to find out the bit capacity of your system? Open "Start", right-click on "Computer" and select "Properties". In the "System" section, you will see the type of bitness of the computer.

Removal via installation or recovery disc

This method should help if Windows.old removal is blocked due to a running OS for some reason. Insert the installation Windows disk or a system recovery disc and restart your computer. When the window with the choice of language appears, press Shift + F10 to invoke the command line. Type Rd / s / q C: \ Windows.old and press Enter.

From under Windows environment The PE drive C can change its name, for example, to D. So don't be surprised if the command doesn't find the folder right away. Just replace C with D and repeat the operation.

In the future, use disk formatting before installation new windows, to avoid the appearance of huge .old folders and the hassle of deleting them. By the way, if you have repeatedly reinstalled Windows without formatting, there may be several such folders, with the names Windows.old.000, Windows.old.001, etc. Delete them as you would normal .old, remembering to keep the files you need.

Very often, after installing a new operating system, a Windows.old folder appears on the hard disk, which cannot be deleted in the usual way, since the uninstallation rights belong to the administrator of the previous OS.

Often this folder takes up a lot of space, in some cases - tens of gigabytes, because it contains information from the previous operating system. Of course, if you have a modern hard drive with 1 TB of memory installed, then you may not notice the lack of free space. However, if every GB is dear to you, then you will most likely try to get rid of the Windows.old folder.

Why does it appear on the computer? This happens due to the fact that when installing the OS, you do not format HDD... As a result, the new version of "Windows" is installed on the previous one.

There are several ways to delete the Windows.old folder, which you will learn about by reading this article.

Removing with Disk Cleanup

Click on Windows.old with the right mouse button and select "Uninstall". A window will appear with a notification that this cannot be done. To get rid of the folder where the previous Windows installations are located, you can use the "Disk Cleanup" function.

Open "Start" and then click "All Programs". Now go to the "Standard" section, and then to the "System" subsection, where you will find the "Disk Cleanup" item.

You can open it much faster by pressing Win + R and typing in the command cleanmgr. Then select your system hard drive and click OK.

Now you need to wait while the system analyzes how much space can be freed up, but you are interested in how to remove Windows.old from your computer, so check the box opposite the "Previous settings" item.

Confirm your choice by clicking Enter. Cleaning may take some time depending on the size of this folder.

Uninstalling via the command line

There are situations when Windows.old is not removed by the Disk Cleanup utility, or some folders remain that you cannot get rid of. In such cases it is better to use Call it by pressing Win and R at the same time. Then you need to enter cmd.

Note: all actions must be performed while under account administrator.

If you have Windows 7 installed, then enter the command: takeown / F С: Windows.old * / R / А. Wait for it to be processed and enter the following: cacls C: Windows.old *. * / T / grant administrators: F. The final stage is the command: rmdir / S / Q С: Windows.old.

In the "eight" you need to enter only one command: Rd / s / q С: Windows.old. As you can see, in the second case, the whole process will take a little less time.

Now you know if you can uninstall Windows.old and how to do it using the command line.

Deleting a folder manually

If it was not possible to uninstall this folder using the methods described above, then try manual removal. In order to perform this operation, you will need administrator rights.

Right-click on the folder and enter the "Properties" section. Here you need the Security tab and the Advanced button. Now open the "Owner" subsection and click "Change". Highlight the "account" under which you are logged in, and set the checkbox next to the option that allows you to change the owner.

You are interested in the "Permissions" subsection, where you will need to specify the "Full Control" option.

After all the manipulations done, Windows.old can be deleted using the Delete button. Of course, this way will take you a little longer, but it usually does help solve the problem.

Uninstalling using an installation disc

Is it possible to remove Windows.old somehow if none of the above methods helps? You can use the installation disc. Insert it into DVD-ROM and press OS restart.

To call the command line, simultaneously hold down Shift and F10. If you do not know on which disk you have installed the system, then write the diskrapt command. Now you need to enter another one: list volume.

Select the hard drive on which the OS is installed (as a rule, it is large), and enter Exit.

Your further actions depend on what operating system you have installed. You will need to register the last command (for "seven" and "Windows 8" you already know). The final stage is restarting Windows.

Of course, there is one problem here - the user does not always have installation disk so you can apply other methods. In most cases, they will help you get rid of the Windows.old folder.

Conclusion

Now, after reading this article, you can delete the Windows.old folder in any way convenient for you. After that, you will notice that several gigabytes of free space appeared on the hard drive, which you can use to install important applications or interesting games.

If you are a novice user, then, most likely, you are better off using the Disk Cleanup utility, since you do not need to write various commands or log in under an administrator account. In other cases, you can uninstall Windows.old via the command line.

After upgrading and switching to new version Windows 10, the user notices the 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 a 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 delete this folder from your disk.

Usually the Windows.old folder is created by the system after upgrading Windows 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 old version, if for some reason you don't like the new OS. In addition, if you are interested in some specific file in the old OS version, you can always go to the folder in question and find it there.

Windows folder.old has three directories in it:

• 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 search desired file in this directory, do not take too long to search. Usually Windows 10 deletes the folder with Windows.old in just a month in order to free up disk space.

Returning to the previous OS version

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

1. Go to settings, select updates and security, then click on "Recovery" (Recovery).
2. You will see a button to revert to the previous version of the OS.
3. Press one of these keys and Windows will restore old version operating system using files in Windows.old as 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 disk, its size usually starts from 10 gigabytes or more, 20 or more gigabytes is considered a completely normal size. Trying to delete this folder in the standard way (through the explorer), you will receive a message about system error... You can of course try to get around this message by changing the attributes of this directory and its attachments, but, in any case, this is not quite the correct way.

1. The system toolkit will help us to 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 the C drive, 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 "Cleaning system files". You will see the "Previous Windows Installations" item with an indication of how much space they take up. Select this item and delete the files of the previous OS version.
4. This is usually enough for deletion. If this directory has not been deleted for some reason, run the console c administrative rights and type there: rd / s / q c: \ windows.old.

You can visually watch the removal process in the video:

Conclusion

As you can see, it is quite easy to correctly delete the Windows.old directory in question, you just need to use the built-in Windows OS toolkit to clean the disk. In this case, you do not need to try to delete this folder. in a standard way or to play with its attributes - it is better to choose a proven option recommended by specialists.