Windows 10: Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10

Problem is back now after TH2 upgrade, only file left is IntcDAud.sys. Which I think isnt that safe at all, when it's a link to a file in sysfolders?

 

I tired everything to get rid of the windows.old file and everything in this thread but what got rid of it was unlocker portable v1.9 at next system boot, first attempt faild

thanks for the guide

 

Thanks, Brink, option three did the trick. I was getting crazy because option one didn't delete anything. With option two, I got a message that access was denied, even though I set folder permissions to current admin user. Option three worked fine; I rebooted and the Windows.old folder was gone, freeing up some good 2+ GB.

By the way, I downloaded the new Windows 10 10586 build ISO with Media Creation Toool and I will use it to upgrade without losing my personal files or installed programs. When the upgrade is done, will Windows.old folder show up again? If so, I'll just employ option three to delete it again. Thank you so much, Brink!

 

I'm glad it could help pcwizard7 and ksio89. *Smile

 

Actually booting into safe mode, taking ownership of windows.old and all subs and then right-clicking delete worked for me every time. Even for the nasty Intel driver that remains after a cleanup. I heard it's a permission issue not that the file is actually still being used like reported by windows explorer.

 

Thank you Brink! Option 3 (boot to command prompt) worked on 2 computers but did not work on a 3rd computer. RMDIR /S C:\Windows.old accessed the system reserved partition rather than the C: partition and therefore could not find the Windows.old folder. How do I correct this? I do not want to delete the system reserved partition and risk corrupting the boot process.

 

Just running Disk Cleanup on C-drive should remove the windows.old folder. Start it up, then choose System files, and then check all the options....then run it.....not that hard. *Smile

 

I can't say about deleting the full Windows.old folder using the applet Unlocker because I deleted mine by using Windows 10' "Disk Cleanup" located in "Windows Adminstrative Tools" Sub-Folder but a few remaining files that "Disk Cleanup" couldn't get rid of could be easily deleted using Unlocker during the next boot.

 

I ran cleanmgr initially. It did NOT remove the windows.old folder. Insufficient permissions...access denied...etc. Method 3 posted by Brink(boot to command prompt) did work on other computers that had been upgraded to Windows 10 but not this one for the reason I noted in the original post. (cmd accesses "system reserved" partition rather than C partition)

UPDATE: I was able to delete this folder from within Windows using unlocker 1.9.2 *Biggrin
The question of how to make a command prompt at boot find the C partition rather than the system reserved partition is a matter for another day.

 

Agreed, you might see if using the free program Unlocker may be able to delete the Windows.old folder.

 

Option 1 worked for me.

 

There seems to be nothing new being reported over here now as all avenues have been discovered and used.

 

I used option one and worked great, thank you Shawn - (Hugs) *Smile

 

I could not delete two files from the Windows.old folder even after trying all the possible ways, including two unlocking applets and other programs like CCleaner. I always got the notice that the folder or the file was corrupted and unreadable. I made a checkdisk and then could delete it by just pressing the delete button and it was cone like any personal file after asking for permission.

 

Easiest thing to do is to create a bootable live linux drive on dvd or cd eg puppy linux, and use its file manager to delete the files.