Windows.old Folder - Delete

How to Delete the Windows.old Folder in Windows 7​

   Information

If you performed repair install, upgrade install, or a custom install without formatting the drive for a clean install and selected to install Windows 7 on the same partition of the previous Windows installation, then you may have a C:\Windows.old folder left over in your new installation.

If you already had a C:\Windows.old folder in the installation that you performed a repair install, upgrade install, or a custom install on, then it would be renamed to say C:\Windows.old.000 (older previous installation) in addition to the C:\Windows.old folder. The most recent previous installation will always be in the C:\Windows.old folder.

This will show you how to delete the Windows.old folder(s) generated during the installation to free up the hard drive space that the Windows.old folder(s) takes.

   Note

The C:\Windows.old folder contains folders and files from the previous Windows installation. Be sure to copy any files or data that you may still want to keep to another location before deleting this folder.

   Tip

For how to

restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder, see: How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder

   Warning

Be sure to copy any files that you want out of the Windows.old folder before you delete it. Once deleted, they are gone.

You must logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

EXAMPLE: Windows.old Folder
NOTE: Notice how much space this folder uses.

OPTION ONE

Delete "Windows.old" Folder Using Disk Cleanup

1. Open Disk Cleanup.
2. If prompted, select the Windows 7 C: drive, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You will only see this if you have more than one HDD or partition with a drive letter.

3. Click on the Clean up system files button. (see screenshot below)

4. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

5. Repeat step 2 above.

6. Check the Previous Windows installations box, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

7. Click on Delete Files. (see screenshot below)

8. When Disk Cleanup finishes, the C:\Windows.old folder(s) will be deleted.

OPTION TWO

Delete "Windows.old" Folder Using Elevated Command Prompt

1. Open a Elevated command prompt.

2. In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you had another say windows.old.000 folder that you also wanted to delete, then you could repeat this command substituting that name instead to also delete it.
RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\windows.old


3. Close the command prompt.

OPTION THREE

Delete "Windows.old" Folder Using Command Prompt at Boot

NOTE: This would be a good option to do if OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO was unable to delete your C:\Windows.old folder.
1. Open the Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc), and make note of the name (ex: none) and total size (ex: 126 GB) of your Windows 7 drive. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You will need to know this in step 3C.

2. Using either you Windows 7 installation DVD or system repair disc, boot to a command prompt at boot (click on link for how).

3. To Verify the Windows 7 Drive Letter at Boot
NOTE: The Windows 7 drive letter may not always be C: at boot like it is while Windows is started, so be sure to verify it's drive letter before doing the command in step 4 for it to work.
A) In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter. (see screenshot below)

B) In the command prompt, type list volume and press enter. (see screenshot below)

C) From the listed volumes, look for and verify the drive letter (ex: D: ) of your Windows 7 drive (ex: 126 GB w/ no name). (see screenshot below)

D) In the command prompt, type exit and press enter. (see screenshot below)

4. To Delete the "Windows.old" Folder
A) In the command prompt, type the command below and press enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Be sure to substitute D in the command below with the actual drive letter of your Windows 7 drive as displayed from step 3 above instead. If you had another say windows.old.000 folder that you also want to delete, then you could repeat this command substituting that name instead of Windows.old to also delete it.
RD /S /Q "D:\Windows.old"
B) Close the command prompt window.

5. Click on the Restart button to restart the computer and start Windows 7, and to verify that the Windows.old folder has been deleted.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Restore your Windows.old Folder into a New Installation
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Delete a Folder from the Command Prompt
• How to Free Up and Recover Hard Drive Space in Windows 7

 

[Brink]

Hello ElJefe, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Take ownership and "Allow" your user account "Full Control" of the C:\Windows.old folder to see if you may be able to delete it afterwards.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ElJefe]

I tried taking ownership of it and nothing. Then I tried removing the read-only checkmark and a weird message came up. I've also tried renaming it, moving it, cmd removing it, Tune-up Shredder-ing it, using disk cleanup. Nothing has worked.

 

[fabricius]

Lmao, beat this people. 170GB left in windows.old.

I think I have the record, haha?

 

[Brink]

I tried taking ownership of it and nothing. Then I tried removing the read-only checkmark and a weird message came up. I've also tried renaming it, moving it, cmd removing it, Tune-up Shredder-ing it, using disk cleanup. Nothing has worked.

ElJefe,

See if you may be able to delete the C:\Windows.old folder from a command prompt at boot.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55721-folder-delete-command-prompt.html

You can use this command below:

RD /S /Q "C:\Windows.old"

 

[Model101]

Great post, thanks!

I just got 44GB back!

@fabricius - I think you do have the record lol

 

[ElJefe]

Deleting from command prompt at boot worked. Thanks very much Brink

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome ElJefe. I'm happy to hear that you got it deleted.

 

[Mike89]

Just use Unlocker 1.9.0. Does the trick.

 

[MilesAhead]

Just use Unlocker 1.9.0. Does the trick.

That's cheating. Way too easy.

 

[ARKphoenix]

Outstanding, really nice tutorial it helped me out alot.

I'd re-installed Windows twice this year and i've been stuck with these Windows.old folders with no idea how to shift them. Thanks to this tut its now possible and has left me with 135gb of free space.

Thanks!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Ark, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[cpu11]

Thanks Brink bro... i had deleted my windowsold folder by taking the ownership of that folder...
btw, what do those RD ,S and Q mean? :-/What do they stand for?

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome CPU. Here you go mate.

RD= Remove Directory

 

[cpu11]

You're most welcome CPU. Here you go mate.

RD= Remove Directory

View attachment 127785

thanks for the prompt reply mate... nice explanation too...

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[iJackr]

So does this just delete the windows.old folder? Or does it delete AppData, Users and Program Files from previous too?

 

[Brink]

Hello Jack, and welcome to Seven Forums.

This will only delete the C:\Windows.old folder and all of it's contents.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[karlsnooks]

Shawn,
I don't have one to experiment with, but I thought one could:
1. log on as an administrator
2. run cmd.exe as administrator
3. delete window.old and all underneath with /s and /f options.

Or must one log in using the built-in administrator account for this to work?
karl

 

[Brink]

Hello Karl,

The DEL command is for deleting files in folders and not the folder itself, while the RD command is for deleting folders and it's contents. Unfortunately, RD only has the /S and /Q switches and not the /F switch like DEL to force it.

If OPTION ONE doesn't work, then it may be due to some "in use" or permissions issue.

If it's a "in use" issue, then it would have to be deleted at boot to avoid that issue.

If it's not a "in use" issue, then yes it may be able to be deleted with the RD command in a elevated command prompt inside Windows 7. You could be logged in as any administrator to do this. It doesn't have to be the built-in Administrator.

I only added the option to do it at boot instead of in a elevated command prompt inside Windows 7 since it should work at boot in all situations.

I'll go ahead and had that option with the command below though. Thank you.

rd /s /q %systemdrive%\windows.old

 

[karlsnooks]

Shawn,
Thanks. I had meant to say RD rather than delete, which as you pointed out doesn't have the force option.

My real question was whether I could simply by logging in under an administrative account, running cmd as administrator, get rid of windows.old using RD. If I had one on this laptop, I'd try myself. Just didn't know whether this wasn't a feasibility.