How to delete the Windows.old folder on Windows 10

Have you upgraded to Windows 10 or installed a newly built Insider? Then use this guide to get rid of the Windows.old folder, which is just wasting gigabytes of space in your computer’s hard drive.

Every time you upgrade your computer from an old version of Windows to Windows 10 without formatting the hard disk first. Or when you install a new trial of Windows Insider View, the setup wizard saves a copy of the Internal pre-version of “Windows .old” on your computer.

This replica is a self-defense mechanism in case something goes wrong during the installation process. If something terrible happens, the operating system can use the backup to rollback any changes automatically. In the case of Windows 10, you can also choose to revert to a previous version of the system. Executive During the first month, if you don’t like it.

If everything is working as expected after upgrading to Windows 10, you probably don’t need these files as they will waste precious hard disk space. In this Windows 10 guide, we will walk you through the steps to delete the Windows.old folder and other files that may take up more than 15 GB of storage space on your computer.

How to delete the Windows.old folder on Windows 10

The Windows.old folder is located on the hard drive where the operating system is currently installed (usually drive C :). However, you cannot press the delete key and make it go away. It would be best if you used the Disk Cleanup tool.

1. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + E   to open File Explorer.
2. From the left pane, click This PC.
3. Under Devices and drives, right-click the drive with Windows 10 installed, and click Properties.

   

4. Click the Disk Cleanup button.

   

5. Click the Cleanup system button.

   

6. Select the Previous Windows Installation (s) option to delete the Windows.old folder. You can also choose to delete other installation related files, including Windows upgrade log files and Temporary Windows installation files, which can also take up many gigabytes of storage space.

   

7. Click OK.
8. Click Delete Files on the pop-up dialog to confirm the deletion.
9. On the Disk Cleanup warning, click Yes to complete the process.

While saving a previous setting is a useful method to restore problems, the Windows.old folder and other related installation files will be wasted if the installation is complete. Valuable storage space on your computer. Even more on mobile devices with limited memory, such as select surface models and low-end PCs.

Note that you can delete the Windows.old folder and related files from your computer. However, you should also note that after removing these files, you will no longer be able to revert to an earlier version of Windows 10 using recovery options. After deleting the Windows.old folder, the only way to go back is to perform a clean install system.