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 pauLoz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

No, it will not cause any issues. The Windows.old folder only contains a copy of your previous installation, and has no affect on the current one other than the amount of HDD space it uses.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[pauLoz]

Tnx it helps me very much,more spaces !!! ty again

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[CoRazz]

Thanks ! Now I have 300 GB free !

 

[DonnaB]

Argh! Can't add to your reputation on this thread!

Thank you Brink for going above and beyond the call of duty to provide tutorials such as this (and the many others that I link unsavvy users to) that are very easy to follow for even the totally clueless.

DonnaB

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Donna. I'm glad it could help.

 

[baumgrenze]

Which Files Might I Want to Copy?

Thank you, Brink for this tutorial,

In the preface you include this warning:

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.

Windows.old is a huge directory. TreeSize Free makes it 11.4 Gb and 65,804 files. How do I know if any of these 65,804 files are worth saving?

I tried a quick search, but this is not an easy question for which to formulate a search strategy that will give quick access to any posts that address this question.

thanks,

baumgrenze

 

[Brink]

Hello Baumgrenze,

You would really only need to see if there are any files in any of the user folders (ex: Documents, Music, etc...) from within the Windows.old folder that you may want.

You wouldn't need any of the system files.

 

[baumgrenze]

Have You Ever Seen This in a Failed Install - Local Settings

Thank you Brink for such a prompt reply.

In working through how to delete Windows.old, I looked at Windows.old using ZTree with administrative privileges.

Have you ever seen anything like this mess of sub-folders upon sub-folders under Local Settings? My guess is that this crazy reduplication led to the failed install. I'm not sure this is the full tree. I began hitting an error message when I tried to log each Local Settings folder in a stepwise use of the + key. I guess since MS has gone on to Windows 8, they would have no interest in seeing this, but clearly something very bad happened as the installation routine ran. I thought it might be worth documenting, just for the record.

I managed to use the same DigitalRiver ISO to do a clean install on the SSD the next time I tried.

Thanks,

baumgrenze

See attached images:

 

[Brink]

Yeah, something bad happened there. Luckily, you can just delete the Windows.old folder to get rid of it all.

 

[djbillyd]

Windows.old

Option two knocked it out of the park! Once again, Brink rules!

Thanks a bunch...

 

[DavidTango]

Window old files

Thank you very much. It sure comes in handy. I just right click and
it delete it, without problem.

 

[djbillyd]

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

Nope, that's not true. In the System32 folder, there is the "Macromedia" with "flash" and a couple of other things that will not let you just delete the folder. You can even go to each item in the root folder, and there will be one, or two, item(s) that will not let you delete them, and you can't gain the permissions to do so. The methods described above are the only really clean methods to do this. The "disk cleanup" method is the one I use mostly. The cmd prompt method I'm gonna try the next upgrade that I do.

 

[djbillyd]

You're welcome Tweety.

Shawn

Go Brink! Another one bites the dust!

 

[WIRide]

Thanks a bunch, getting this old computer back and running for my parents. Used method one and worked the first try!

 

[Brink]

Glad it could help WIRide, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[Lawsee]

Great Help

Option One did the job!

 

[Brink]

Glad it could help Lawsee, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[Struggling7]

Great thread but still have problem. Tried all three options and all seem to hang in process. Maybe because I'm not sure how long they should take, computer even went to sleep in one or two (not sure which). Finally tried "Take Ownership" which worked on files and some folders but seem to hang also on folders with large amount of content. Wondering if I'm just inpatient and if anybody has idea how long the process should take in some process. Like maybe "Disk Cleanup" to insert the previous version box in window to allow removal or one of the other option times.

 

[Brink]

Hello Stuggling7, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Normally, it doesn't take long at all for it delete the folder. If you have any disk corruption or folder/file access issues, then it could take longer.

You might let it sit up to 10 minutes at most to see if you have any progress.