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

 

[Tweety]

Thank you! I now have 13gb of free space added to my hard drive.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Tweety.

Shawn

 

[Professional]

wooow nice tutorial,tnx admin.

 

[Zidane24]

I might be mistakened but I believe that the Windows.old folder has no additional permissions applied to it...you should be able to just delte the folder like any other

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Profesional.

 

[Brink]

I might be mistakened but I believe that the Windows.old folder has no additional permissions applied to it...you should be able to just delte the folder like any other

Hi Chris,

Other than having to approve the deletion for a few system files in that folder, I had no problems with just right clicking on it and deleting it. There have been quite a few people that have reported not to be able to do so though.

 

[Zidane24]

Hi Chris,

Other than having to approve the deletion for a few system files in that folder, I had no problems with just right clicking on it and deleting it. There have been quite a few people that have reported not to be able to do so though.

That is strange...Shawn what is your normal setting for UAC...just a theory but if UAC is set to max and then an install is placed on the older one...maybe UAC permissions keep in place.

 

[Brink]

I have my UAC set to max.

 

[Zidane24]

I have my UAC set to max.

there goes that theory...I have no clue why others have issues with this

 

[Brink]

Me either.

 

[jdtayloruk]

Hi, something very similar has worked for me with vista, somehow vista ended up on my old d: which has become my c: for some reason and as such I had vista on my other partiton which was the old one, renaming it windows.old using the unlocker facility to do this, the disk cleanup tool then let me clear it up, but this has at least cleared up almost 8gb or so of data.

 

[mrSER05]

i noticed that when i clicked on a shortcut to a program in the windows.old folder, the program still ran. Does deleting the folder actually uninstall those programs? i was afraid that if i deleted the folder, the programs would still be installed, only without the rest of it's components. i've always thought that to properly uninstall a program and all of its components, you had to go through control panel. i'm sorry if this is confusing...

 

[Brink]

Hello Mr.Sero5, and welcome to Seven Forums.

While you may still be able to run some programs that are in the C:\Windows.old folder from a shortcut targeting it in that location, the program is not actually installed on your computer. It will not be included in the list of installed programs in Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

The C:\Windows.old folder is just a backup of your previous installation for Windows to be able to recover it incase there was a failure during your current installation. After you have copied any personal files from the C:\Windows.old folder back into your main user folders, then it would be best to reinstall the programs you want to have them run properly and delete the C:\Windows.old folder from within Disk Cleanup. Deleting the C:\Windows.old folder will remove all programs and files in it from your computer to regain that space back on your hard drive.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[gamepoint]

thanx for sharing...i can save a lot of space now!

 

[cclloyd9785]

I just clicked the folder then used the Shift+ Delete key to quickly delete it.

Hmm... will this work too?

 

[Brink]

Hello Lloyd,

Yes, that may work as well, but using Disk Cleanup is just the normal method to use.

 

[Mike89]

Well I deleted everything in the windowsold folder doing everything here but still can't delete the folder itself. This is what I have left.

C:\WindowsOld\Documents and Settings\My Name\Application Data\SecuROM\UserData

Trying to delete any one of those folders gives a "cannot find the item" error. Basically windows is saying nothing is there when I'm looking right at it. Beats me on what is going to be able to get rid of this short of a clean install.

 

[Brink]

Hello Mike,

Did you try to use Disk Cleanup to delete the Windows.old folder as described in the tutorial on the first page??

 

[Mike89]

As I said, I did everything posted.