How To Delete Windows Old Folder

What Is the Best Way to Delete Windows Old Folder?

Are you hesitant to delete Windows old folder after Windows upgrade? This post will tell you the purpose of Windows old folder and the best way to delete it.

Are you still confused about what is Windows old folder? Do I need to keep these? If not, what is the best way to delete Windows old folder? Take it easy, this post will tell you all answers.

What Is Windows Old Folder?

Windows old folder, the previous Windows installation, emerges when you upgrade your “Windows Vista or Windows7/8/10” to a new version. Within 30 days, you can downgrade to previous version by this folder. Well, if you don’t want to downgrade, it will be deleted automatically by system 30 days later.

Where is it saved in Windows?

In general, you can find it in C:\Windows.old\System32\config, and there are your personal profile files in C:\Windows.old\System32\Users.

Windows Old Folder In Windows OS

Then you may ask should I delete previous version of windows? This folder usually takes up about 10 GB disk space or more, which depends on how large the previous Windows installation was.

Well, you may wonder whether you can delete it to get more disk space. Of course, you can, provided you are satisfied the new version and don’t want to return to previous version. But you should save the important files in Windows.old in advance.

Now, let’s see the detailed steps to delete Windows.old.

Before You Do

1st: Let Windows Old Folder Appear on Your PC

As a system file, Windows old folder, it’s very possible you have set to hide operation system files. So, you need to unhide Windows old folder on your PC to get the important file at first.

Here we perform this operation in Windows 10.

Open your Windows File Explore, then click View > Options > Change folder and search options one by one to get Folder Options window.
Click View tab. And select “Show hidden files, folders and drives” and uncheck the “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” under the Hidden files and folders.
Show Hidden Files and Folders
After unchecking “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)“, you will receive a warning message that tells you these files are required to start and run Windows, deleting or editing them can make your computer inoperable. Just click Yes to confirm.
How To Delete Windows OLd Folder Step 3
At last, just click Ok on the Folder Options window to save this change.

2nd: Back up The Important Files from Windows.Old

Here, it’s recommended that you backup important files if they are before you delete this folder.

Please go to C:\Windows.old\System32 to find the folder named with your username.
Backing Up Windows Old Folder
Open this folder and copy the important files based on your needs.
Right now, you can delete Windows old folder freely. There are two recommended ways in the following part.

In case you forgot to backup your Windows Old Folder, then you can still recover it by using data recovery methods.

What Is the Best Way to Delete Windows Old Folder?

Method 1: Use Windows Built-in Tool- Disk Cleanup

Note: This operation varies from deleting a normal folder. It’s unable to delete Windows.old folder by simply right clicking. You need permission from system to delete Windows.old. So, you need to get other reliable ways to delete Windows old files.

1. Type Disk Cleanup in the search box of Windows for the best match.
  How To Delete Windows OLd Folder Disk Cleanup
2. In the pop-up window, you will find C: is selected here by default (Since Windows.old is saved to C:). Just click OK to continue. Disk Clean-up will take some time to calculate how much space is able to be released. Please wait patiently.
  How To Delete Windows Old Folder “Drive Selection”
3. Then select Clean up system files and click Ok to continue.
  How To Delete Windows OLd Folder Drive Cleanup
4. After a while, you check “Previous Windows installation(s) scrolling down the list. And click OK to start the cleanup. After finishing all operation, your Windows old folder should be deleted.
  Note: Make sure there are no other boxes checked (unless you do indeed want to delete those items).

Well, if it still fails to delete Windows old folder with Disk Cleanup, you may try using CMD.

Method 2: Use CMD

Some may ask how to delete windows old without disk cleanup?

Here it is.

Type Win lingo + R in the keyboard simultaneously. Then select “Command Prompt (Admin)” and allow it to take control of your PC.
How To Delete Windows OLd Folder using CMD
In the command prompt window, input “RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\windows.old” and hit Enter. Then Windows.old folder will be deleted in Windows 10 successfully.
How To Delete Windows OLd Folder using CMD

After doing these, your C drive obtains more disk space and now your computer should run more smoothly or you can save more files in the system partition.

Also Read: How to Uninstall unwanted Applications From Windows OS