Windows.old Folder - Delete in Windows 8

How to Delete "Windows.old" Folder in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

If you performed a refresh of Windows 8, upgrade to Windows 8, or a custom install of Windows 8 without formatting the drive for a clean install and selected to install Windows 8 on the same partition of the previous Windows installation, then you may have a C:\Windows.old folder left over in your new installation. The Windows.old folder contains a copy of the previous Windows installation, and can be quite large in size.

If you already had a C:\Windows.old folder in the installation that you performed a refresh, upgrade install, or a custom install on, then it may 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 tutorial 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.

   Warning

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

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

EXAMPLE: Windows.old Folder

OPTION ONE

Delete "Windows.old" Folder using Disk Cleanup

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1. Open Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr).​

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2. If prompted, select the Windows drive, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: You will not see this window unless you have more than one drive or partition on your computer with a drive letter.​

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

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4. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​

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5. Repeat step 2 above.​

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6. Click/tap on the Previous Windows installation(s) box to check it, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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7. Click/tap on Delete Files. (see screenshot below)​

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

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OPTION TWO

Delete "Windows.old" Folder in an Elevated Command Prompt

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1. Open an elevated command prompt.​

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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 of windows.old to also delete it.​

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RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\windows.old​

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3. Close the elevated command prompt.​

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OPTION THREE

Delete "Windows.old" Folder in a 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.

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1. Press the Windows + R keys, then type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Make note of the name and total size of your Windows 8 drive.​

NOTE: You will need to know this in step 3C.​

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2. Using either a Windows 8 installation USB or DVD or system repair disc, boot to a command prompt at boot.​

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3. To Verify the Windows 8 Drive Letter at Boot​

NOTE: The Windows 8 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.​

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A) In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter. (see screenshot below)​

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B) In the command prompt, type list volume and press enter.​

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C) From the listed volumes, look for and verify the drive letter of your Windows 8 drive.​

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D) In the command prompt, type exit and press enter.​

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4. To Delete the "Windows.old" Folder​

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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.​

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RD /S /Q "D:\Windows.old"​

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B) Close the command prompt window.​

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5. Click/tap on the Continue button to restart the computer and continue to Windows 8. (see screenshot below)​

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6. Verify that the Windows.old folder has been deleted.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Boot to the "System Recovery Options" in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Refresh Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Upgrade from Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or XP to Windows 8 or 8.1
• How to Download and Run "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant" or "Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant"
• How to Create or Download an ISO for Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Vince.

 

[besb]

Thanks Brink, I started to delete in explorer and ran into the trusted installer problem.
Was about to edit permissions and realised there were hundreds of files affected.
Stopped did a search found the the tut. Option 1 worked 25GB saved.

 

[whs]

Excellent as usual. Thanks Shawn.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Besb and Wolfgang. Thank you.

 

[Gwilo]

Thanks a lot for that Brink, it saved me a lot of time and quite a bit of valuable space (18GB) I had deleted what Windows would let me delete and was just about to embark of the permissions / ownership route and then I found your tutorial, which is excellently written and very easy to follow, option 1 worked for me.

I'm "playing" with Windows 8 at the moment and I really like it, even though I'm running it on a Laptop with no touch screen, it took me a bit of time to get the tiles sorted out so that they represent what I want them to represent (mostly Office 2010 programmes) now I'm going to look through your tutorials to see if there's an easier way to do it...

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Gwilo, and welcome to Eight Forums.

You might see if this may help with the apps.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4870-start-screen-apps-organize-into-groups.html

 

[Gwilo]

You might see if this may help with the apps.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4870-start-screen-apps-organize-into-groups.html

Yes that did help Brink but I am still struggling a bit to get the tiles in the order that I want them within the different groups but I now know how to create and position new groups and also name the various groups, thanks.

Not wishing to hijack the thread but could you also point me in the right direction for some help with remote desktop connection? I can connect to my office server (SBS 2008) using RDC when I am connected to the LAN but when I am outside the LAN (at home for example) I cannot? I can connect (from home) using W7.

 

[Brink]

No problem. The RDC issue can be posted in the Network & Sharing forum are for the best help with it.

 

[blackman765]

Hey Brink,

I just got a new laptop with Windows 7 on and immediately upgraded to Windows 8 the day I got it. Will deleting the window.old folder affect anything on Windows 8 or should it all have transferred over alright? I'm assuming everything should be ok as I hadn't done anything on Windows 7, but is there any way I can check before deleting windows.old, or if I delete it and find out something isn't working as it should, is there a way to get it back?

 

[Brink]

Hello Blackman, and welcome to Eight Forums.

The Windows.old folder is nothing more than a copy of your previous Windows installation that you upgraded from.

I would recommend to double check inside the Windows.old folder to make sure that there's not any files that you may want to copy back into Windows 8.

If not, then it's not going to hurt Windows 8 at all, and only free up the large amount of HDD space that the Windows.old folder is taking up. Once the Windows.old folder has been deleted, it will be gone for good.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[gbsnplr]

Thank for the tutorial worked great.

 

[Brink]

Glad it could help gbsnpir.

 

[davehider]

I have tried the option to delete the folder through clean up programme so many times and the darn thing still hasn't gone. Can you give me some other options. Not too hot with cmd promt issues?? Any help you can give?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dave, and welcome to Eight Forums

Normally, I would say OPTION THREE in the tutorial to delete it at boot would be best to used in this case, but since you are not comfortable with the command prompt, you could see if using the free program Unlocker may be able to delete it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[56kevins]

Thanks I've just gained 16gb deleting the "windows old" folder. I've only got a 64gb ssd drive so it was much needed. I used the "cleanmgr" method.

 

[xxdjvalexx]

Hello Dave, and welcome to Eight Forums

Normally, I would say OPTION THREE in the tutorial to delete it at boot would be best to used in this case, but since you are not comfortable with the command prompt, you could see if using the free program Unlocker may be able to delete it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi everyone

I'm new to the forum and I have a question. I just upgraded to Windows 8 yesterday and read about the windows old folder. I checked mine and the folder is 56gb in size!!!!! Should I delete it? I'll eventually need the space but I'm worried that if I delete it, a bunch of my programs will no longer work. So, is it safe to remove?

Thanks in advance

 

[Brink]

Hello djvale, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Any program that didn't get carried over into Windows 8 during the upgrade will need to be reinstalled if they are compatible with Windows 8. Programs are not able to run out of the Windows.old folder unless that are standalone exe programs.

If you do not have any files you wish to keep in the Windows.old folder, then it's perfectly safe to delete it to gain back your HDD space. If you do need anything in the Windows.old folder, then you could just copy what you want to another location before deleting the Windows.old folder.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[BlooDLocatoR]

Many Many Thnx for this one Brink I needed it....That windows.old was wasting 30.9GB of my C drive Space.....

 

[Brink]

You're welcome BlooDLocatoR, and welcome to Eight Forums.

 

[ustahl]

Empty Windows.old folder indestructable

I'm getting desperate.
I've upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit to Windows 8 Pro 64-bit. Following advice in this forum and other places, I've been trying as administrator to delete the Windows.old folder without success. I've managed to delete all files within Windows.old and its sub folders, so the folder(s) size is now 0 bytes, but it remains stubbornly 'read only', no matter what. I've also tried 'Unlocker' and 'Eraser' utilities, but they too fail.
Other remnants from the os upgrade like the Windows~BT folder I managed to get rid of, but this stubborn empty Windows.old folder (with empty sub folders) drives me nuts.
OK, since the folder is empty it doesn't waste space on the system drive, so it's rather a matter of cosmetics, but I want to be the boss of my hdd and get rid of that ugly clutter.
What do you suggest?

TIA
-Uffe