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

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• 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

 

[mikedl]

Nice, Brink. Thanks!

I wish I had known that earlier. Still, I accomplished the same thing with SIW2's PE DVD.

But, again, nice tutorial.

 

[Brink]

LOL, you're welcome Mike. You still got there, and that's what counts.

 

[Bill2]

Nice, Brink. Thanks!

I wish I had known that earlier. Still, I accomplished the same thing with SIW2's PE DVD.

But, again, nice tutorial.

Why did you have to use PE? Wouldnt let you delete windows.old?

 

[Brink]

Hello Bill,

It's just like it was in Windows 7 after a repair install. If the Windows.old folder is not empty due to the refresh, it will eventual give you the ole "Try again... Access Denied" type message if tried to be manually deleted. Using Disk Cleanup is one of the easiest ways to delete it.

Windows.old Folder - Delete - Windows 7 Forums

 

[Dave76]

Nice tut, thanks

 

[Brink]

Thank you Dave.

 

[vrosa]

If I had seen that before it would have saved some time trying to workarround it... Anyway I was able to delete the .old folder from inside Windows 7 after taking ownership and adding new permissions.

Thanks Brink

 

[Brink]

Hello Vladimir,

Sorry to hear that to took the long way around, but you still got there.

 

[foxjazz]

this is just stupid. I don't want to clean up all my previous installs. Just one of them.
It's frustrating that this is so difficult with the new OS.
I guess that's why apple is king.

 

[Brink]

this is just stupid. I don't want to clean up all my previous installs. Just one of them.
It's frustrating that this is so difficult with the new OS.
I guess that's why apple is king.

Hello Foxjazz,

What's so stupid about it?? You could just as easily use one of the other options to delete the specific Windows.old folder that you would like to delete instead. :huh:


Usually if you have a previous installation that already contained a Windows.old folder, you will then have say a Windows.old1 folder for the oldest copy, and a Windows.old for the most recent previous installation.

 

[Avalon]

Thanks for this. I just noticed that a few files were left-over from my previous installation - didn't even see them... but now they are gone!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Alexis.

 

[1foxracing]

Nice write up as always Mr Brink!

 

[Brink]

Thank you Mark.

 

[SIW2]

I just did a refresh.

I already had windows.old.

There is not another windows.old anywhere to be seen.

 

[Brink]

Hello Simon,

Thank you. Did you also check to see if it may have been hidden?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, I always have everything visible - I often forget that not everyone does.

 

[Brink]

Ok. I just did two refreshes back to back again, and it didn't rename the existing Windows.old folder to Windows.old.000 like it did in W8 DP. Maybe since it was just created. I'll test again when it's a few days old. I updated the tutorial to say "may" instead for refresh though.

 

[Vince53]

Thank you, Brink. When I arrived at the Clean-up program, I found a few hundred megabytes of waisted space in addition to the Windows.old folder.