Windows old

[lostsoul62]

I thought that 57 gigs for my Windows 7 install was a little too big so I found Windows old which is my Vista OS which I have back up. Here is where I don't get it. I have a removable hard drive so when I installed Windows 7, my Vista OS was sitting on the table in a removable case. Now I try and delete Windows old and it says I don't have permission. So how do I get rid of 20 gigs I don't need. Now how could Windows 7 backup my Vista when it wasn't even on the Computer it was on my 2nd drive as a backup?

 

[nate42nd]

I thought that 57 gigs for my Windows 7 install was a little too big so I found Windows old which is my Vista OS which I have back up. Here is where I don't get it. I have a removable hard drive so when I installed Windows 7, my Vista OS was sitting on the table in a removable case. Now I try and delete Windows old and it says I don't have permission. So how do I get rid of 20 gigs I don't need. Now how could Windows 7 backup my Vista when it wasn't even on the Computer it was on my 2nd drive as a backup?

If you run "disk cleanup" I believe it gives you the option to check the box to delete the Windows.old folder.

 

[Zidane24]

I thought that 57 gigs for my Windows 7 install was a little too big so I found Windows old which is my Vista OS which I have back up. Here is where I don't get it. I have a removable hard drive so when I installed Windows 7, my Vista OS was sitting on the table in a removable case. Now I try and delete Windows old and it says I don't have permission. So how do I get rid of 20 gigs I don't need. Now how could Windows 7 backup my Vista when it wasn't even on the Computer it was on my 2nd drive as a backup?

That is a good question...but for starters a good way to get rid of Windows.old is to get yourself a linux live DVD and remove it from the live desktop...if changing your permissions isn't working at all

 

[Mark]

Or you can try this shortcut to get rid of it. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html?ltr=T

 

[Brink]

I thought that 57 gigs for my Windows 7 install was a little too big so I found Windows old which is my Vista OS which I have back up. Here is where I don't get it. I have a removable hard drive so when I installed Windows 7, my Vista OS was sitting on the table in a removable case. Now I try and delete Windows old and it says I don't have permission. So how do I get rid of 20 gigs I don't need. Now how could Windows 7 backup my Vista when it wasn't even on the Computer it was on my 2nd drive as a backup?

Hello Golden,

You can use Disk Cleanup and select the Files discarded by Windows upgrade option to delete the Windows.old folder.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[lostsoul62]

Take owership

The shortcut program didn't work for me and in the clean disk it didn't give me an opion to delete Windows old. I had Windows 7 (32 bit) then I put Windows 7 (64 bit) and now I have 2 program files and I can't delete the 32 bit version

 

[Brink]

I had Windows 7 (32 bit) then I put Windows 7 (64 bit) and now I have 2 program files and I can't delete the 32 bit version

Golden,

Oh, well that is not the same thing at all as the C:\Windows.old folder then.


With the 64-bit Windows 7, you have two Program Files folders by default. This is normal since the 64-bit Windows 7 can run both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.

C:\Program Files = for 64-bit programs to be installed to by default
C:\Program Files (x86) = for 32-bit programs to be installed to by default

 

[lostsoul62]

Clean up System files

At first I didn't go into the system files so I did and it cleaned up the Windows old and now I have 25 gigs more free space in my C drive. Thanks Brink because I was ready to delete the 32 bit progam files.

 

[Brink]

Golden,

I'm happy to hear that you got rid of the Windows.old folder now.