Windows 10: Cant delete windows old folder

I have a 20GB file on my desktop called windows old. It won’tlet me delete manually. I have tried disc clean up, clean system files but thePrevious Windows installation(s) does not appear. The location is C:\Users\Newsmall laptop\Desktop. The file was created on 30 ‎October ‎2016, ‏‎05:19:47which was about the time I brought the lap top.

:)

 

Can't delete old Skydrive folder full of placeholders

I have a Windows 10 computer upgraded from 8.1. I have two "Onedrive" folders. One is actually my current Onedrive folder which syncs with no issues. However, my second folder is actually my old "Skydrive" folder which is full of the "placeholder" files
with the blue sync arrows on them. No matter what I try, I can't get rid of the old Skydrive/Onedrive folder. Nothing I do in the registry, permissions, ownership... ANYTHING,,, will get rid of the old, unsyncing placeholder files from the original Windows
8.1 installation. How do I remove this folder?

 

Can't delete old Skydrive folder full of placeholders

Hi,

A possible reason why you are unable to delete the folder is because the folder looks like it's syncing. I suggest you attempt to
delete the folder from File Explorer
and check if you can delete the folder afterward. Another option is to perform a
reset on OneDrive. Be aware that resetting OneDrive re-syncs all your OneDrive files, which could take some time depending on how many files you’re syncing.

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run window.

2. In the Run Window enter the following: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

3. Click OK. The OneDrive system tray icon on the desktop should
disappear and re-appear after a minute or two.

4. If the OneDrive system tray icon does not re-appear after a few minutes, do the following. In the
Run window Enter: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe

Let us know if that resolves your issue.

Regards.

 

You could try booting into safe mode & deleting it from there.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but it didn't work. I got the message that I need permission to carry out this action as in normal mode.

 

I assume that you have access to an Admin account? If so try opening Explorer.exe as admin [right click on the file in windows folder - run as administrator] and try to delete the file from there. If this does not work, try logging in as the hidden administrator Administrator account - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 and then deleting from the file manager

 

I would guess Previous Windows Installations doesn't appear because the Windows.old folder is in a different place. Normally it is at C:\Windows.old can you move it there ?
Strange that your Windows.old folder is on the Desktop, did you buy this laptop new and update to Windows 10 or did you buy it 2nd hand already updated

Windows.old Folder - Delete in Windows 10

Good luck *Smile

 

Thanks for your reply. The lap top was new and came with a 120 GB SSD C drive and a 1 TB hard drive. I did ask a friend to move the my documents folder over to the d drive to save space which may have caused the problem ( I am not very technical ). When I right click on the folder I am not give the option to move the file.
If I drag the file to a new location it doesn't delete the original which of course still cant be deleted.

 

You need to take ownership of the folder and contents first. It is currently "owned" by TrustedInstaller". Follow this tutorial for adding the take ownership option to your right click context menu. Then take ownership of the folder and delete it.

Take Ownership - Add to Context Menu in Windows 10

 

Yes, follow this advice. I had a similar problem which was due to a residual driver file left behind in window.old for some reason. I had to change permissions as above to remove it.

 

Sometimes taking ownership does not work, sometimes enabling the built in Admin account does not work, sometimes Disk Cleanup does not work.

But booting to a live Linux version always works, I had the same issue once and that`s how I solved it *Smile

As stated by Steve, there could be a driver in the Windows.old folder that the system is still using, and that`s why it may not let you delete the folder, makes sense.

 

You should start disc clean up with the right mouse button: run as administrator.

 

I had a similar problem a while back with a dangling driver "In Use", it was still pointing to the the driver in C:\Windows.old\System32\Drivers. An audio driver, I believe. I used Autoruns (Sysinternals) to disable the driver from loading. Rebooted. After taking ownership, deleted folder. Enabled driver in Autoruns. Rebooted. System picked up and loaded the driver from system32/drivers in C:\Windows. All happy.

 

Have you tried to use Unlocker?
Download Unlocker - MajorGeeks

 

That's what I do, works 100% of the time, you can do anything then