Solved: Can’t Remove Windows.old Folder in Windows 10

Something You Need to Know About Windows.old Folder

Before you start deleting Windows.old folder on your PC, here is something that we think you should know about this folder.

What Is Windows.old?В

Windows.old folder is generated by the Windows operating system when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another. The Windows.old folder isn’t something new with Windows 10, which starts with Windows Vista.

The Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from your previous Windows installation, including Windows system files, user accounts’ settings, User Profile, and User Folder files, etc.

You can apply it to restore Windows to the previous version if you don’t like the new version. You can also dig into the Windows.old folder to find a specific file that wasn’t properly copied to your new Windows installation.В

Where is the Windows.old Folder?В

So you may wonder where is the Windows.old folder saved on the computer and how to delete it right? Usually, Windows.old folder is saved in C: drive under the Windows folder after Windows system upgrade as shown below:

It takes up a huge space as nearly the same size as your C: drive before the Windows upgrade. This explains why so many people notice that their C drive gets full quickly after a Windows update.

Is It Safe to Delete Windows.old Folder?

So is it safe to delete the Windows.old folder? Yes. If you decide to stay with the new Windows system and all your files are safe on the new OS, you can delete it from your PC so as to free up the disk space.

Why Can’t I Remove Windows.old Folder?

According to the Microsoft Windows forum and some tech forums, users complain that they can’t remove Windows.old folder as Windows reports that the file not found or target is not a valid file or directory.В

Why is that? Here are two main reasons that explain why you can’t delete Windows.old folder directly from your C: drive:

1. The Windows.old folder has been removed by Windows OS

In order to save disk space, Windows Operating System is designed to delete the Windows.old folder automatically after you upgrade:

• On Windows 10, Windows.old folder gets deleted automatically in 10 days after Windows upgrade.
• On Windows 8.1/8, Windows.old gets deleted automatically in 28 days after Windows upgrade.
• On Windows 7 and older OS, Windows.old will be removed automatically in 30 days after OS update.

2. Delete Windows.old needs administrator permission

Although Windows.old folder is accessible for you to check and view the saved files. But it requires administrator permission from the System to make changes to this folder. Therefore, if you don’t have permission, you can’t directly delete Windows.old from C: drive.

How to Delete Windows.old Folder — 3 Methods

Applies to: Resolve «Can’t delete Windows.old folder» issue with three effective methods, no data loss.

Before You Start — Preparations

#1. Create Backup of Windows.old Folder

Before taking the steps below to delete the Windows.old folder, you can create a backup of the Windows.old in case that you may want to perform a system restore or restore a single file from the folder.

You can either copy Windows.old folder to an external hard drive orВ to back Windows.old folder withВ EaseUSВ free backup softwareВ in only three simple steps as listed below:

• Launch EaseUS Todo Backup Free, then choose» File Backup».
• Choose the important files/data or system and then select a backup destination.
• Click «Proceed» to start the backup process.

#2. Gain Administrator Permission from System

The other important thing to make sure that you can delete Windows.old folder successfully is to check whether you are logging in to Windows OS as administrator.

If you have several user accounts on your computer, switch to login your computer with your administrator account:

Step 1.В Click the Windows icon and click your username at the top.

Step 2.В Select Administrator on the list, click to switch to it.

Step 3.В Sign in with the password of your administrator account.

Method 1. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 UsingВ Use Disk Cleanup

Windows.old folder cannot just directly delete by hitting the delete key and you may try to use the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows to remove this folder from your PC:

• Press Windows + E, click This PC.
• Right-click the drive with Windows installation and click Properties.
• Click Disk Cleanup and select Clean up the system.
• Select the Previous Windows Installation(s) option to delete Windows.old folder.
• You can also choose to delete other installation files including Windows upgrade log files and Temporary Windows installation files etc.
• Click OK and select Delete Files on the pop-up dialog to confirm the deletion.
• Click Yes.

Method 2. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Using Temporary File Settings

The other method that you can try is to use Windows Temporary File Settings to remove the Windows.old folder on your PC. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Open Settings by typing settingsВ in the Search, then click on it.

Step 2. Select System > Storage > This PC and then scroll down the list and choose Temporary files.

Step 3. Under Remove temporary files, check Previous Windows Installation then choose to «Remove files».

Then Windows.old folder will be deleted in Windows 10 without any obstacles.В

Method 3. Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 Using Storage Sense Settings

Windows 10 Storage Sense settings can also help you remove Windows.old folder on your PC. Follow the steps to delete it now:

Step 1. Open Settings by right-clicking the Windows icon and select «Settings».

Step 2. Go to System, click «Storage», then click «Change how we free up space automatically» under Storage Sense.

Step 3. Check «Delete the previous version of Windows» and click «Clean now».

Once you complete the steps, the Windows.old folder will no longer exist on your computer.

Here is a quick tutorial that has SOLVED ‘can’t delete Windows.old’ error in Windows 10. Scroll down to check the #complete solutions#В with detailed guidelines.

Video source:В YouTube; Created by Sele Training.

2 Bonus Tips: Extend System Drive After Deleting Windows.old

Besides deleting Windows.old folder using the above 3 methods, you can also try other methods to extend system C drive space. If this is what you want, try the following 2 quick tips to gain space and extend your C drive immediately:

#1. Extend C Drive using Free Partition Manager Software

Free partition manager software provided by EaseUS software can efficiently extend the system C drive with its Resize/Move feature.В

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Free up unallocated space for C drive.

If there is noВ unallocated space on the system disk, right-click on a partition next to the C: drive and select «Resize/Move».
Drag left panel of the partition to shrink and leave unallocated space behind the system C: drive and click «OK».

Step 2: Increase C drive space.

1. Right-click on C: drive and select «Resize/Move».

2. Drag the system partition end into unallocated space so to add space to C: drive.

Step 3: Keep all changes to extend C: drive

Click the «Execute Operation» and click «Apply» to keep all changes so to extend the system C: drive.

#2. Clean Up Large File on System DriveВ

Step 1. оњљ DOWNLOAD and install EaseUS Tools M. Select «System Cleanup» on the main screen.

Step 2. Select the type of junk files you want to scan and click «Analyze».

Step 3. Identify and select useless files and click «Clean up» to remove those files from your PC or laptop.

Conclusion and Windows.old FAQS

On this page, we explained what is Windows.old folder, what you can do with Windows.old folder, the default location of this folder, and offered three practical methods to help you fix «can’t remove Windows.old folder» issue on Windows 10.

These methods also can be applied to delete this folder on other older Windows operating systems, like Windows 8.1/8/7, etc. Here, we also collected some top concerned questions and left brief answers to help you out. If you are having the same concerns, check and find the answers:

1. How do I manually delete Windows.old?

Based on the provided methods on this page, you will need to first log in to your computer as an administrator.

And then you can use Windows Temporary file settings, Windows disk cleanup, or Windows Storage Sense settings to manually delete Windows.old folder from your computer. For a detailed guide, refer to the detailed steps listed in Method 1, Method 2, and Method 3.В

2. How do I restore system from Windows.old?

To restore system from the Windows.old folder, you can navigate to Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Then click «Get started» under «Go back to Windows 7» or «Go back to Windows8.1».

Note that this option is only available for 10 days or 1 month after you upgrade.

3. How do I restore files from Windows.old?

There are three ways to get back the Windows.old folder. You can manually or automatically recover the Windows.old folder. Or restore files from Windows.old folder using EaseUS file recovery software in just three steps.

For a detailed guide,В you may refer to Windows.old Restore for a guide.

4. Will deleting Windows.old cause problems?

Usually, deleting Windows.old folder or files on your computer will not do any damage on your PC.

But if the Windows update failed to keep all your files or you lost files after the Windows update, you can try to bring the lost files from your Windows old by rolling back to the previous version of Windows.

Cannot delete files, folders or icons in Windows 10 [Solved]

• If you can’t delete files, folders, and icons in Windows 10, the problem is pretty hard to pinpoint.
• In this article, you will learn how to force delete a folder in Windows 10 and many more.
• When you’re not allowed to delete a folder, a possible solution is just to restart your system.
• Another fix for this annoying issue is to use a third-party tool to solve the problem.

1. Download Restoro PC Repair Tool that comes with Patented Technologies (patent available here).
2. Click Start Scan to find Windows issues that could be causing PC problems.
3. Click Repair All to fix issues affecting your computer’s security and performance

• Restoro has been downloaded by 0 readers this month.

One of the problems users are noticing in Windows 10 is that they’re unable to delete some files or folders. And if you’re facing the same issue, we’ll show you a few solutions to this problem.

We frequently remove files from our PCs, but sometimes you cannot delete a folder, file, or icon in Windows 10.

This can be an annoying problem, and speaking of file removal, many Windows 10 users reported the following issues:

• How to delete a folder that won’t delete
  • Sometimes you might encounter a folder that you’re unable to delete.
  • This can be a big problem, but you should be able to fix it using one of our solutions.
• Can’t delete folder in use
  • In some cases, you might get a message that the folder you’re trying to delete is in use.
  • To fix the problem, you need to close all applications that might be using this directory.
  • We covered a similar problem in our File in use error article, so be sure to check it out for more information.
• Cannot delete file access denied
  • This error message can appear if you don’t have the necessary privileges to delete a certain file or folder.
  • Simply change your security permissions and you’ll be able to delete the file.
• Can’t delete folder open in another program
  • By default, Windows prevents you from deleting files that are currently used by other applications.
  • To fix this error, make sure that other applications aren’t using that file.
• Can’t delete files with long names
  • Windows can’t work well with files that exceed a certain character limit.
  • If that’s the problem, the best solution is to rename the problematic file
  • We explained how to do that in our The filename or extension is too long article, so be sure to check it out for more information.
• Can’t delete files need permission
  • This is just a variation of this error, but in most cases, you can fix it simply by changing your security permissions.
• Force delete folder windows 10
  • These solutions act by overwriting any protocols so that the data is forcefully deleted.

How can I delete files, folders or icons on Windows 10?

1. Reboot your system

Sometimes, all you need to do is to restart your machine and the problem will be gone.

Unresponsiveness doesn’t just happen in this case, for example, a lot of people reported that they’re unable to open the start menu sometimes, but when they restart their computer, everything works fine.

But if restarting your PC didn’t solve the problem, you can try one of the following solutions.

2. Use a dedicated third-party cleaner

1. The third-party software recommended by us can unlock and remove locked files from your PC. You can choose specific files, file types, and folders to be included in Cleaner operations.
2. To include files and folders in the cleaning process, you must select the Custom Files and Folders check the box on the list of options screen.
3. You can then add separate Include statements (as many as necessary) by following these steps each time:
   • Click the Options icon from the left sidebar.
   • Hit the Include button.
   • Add a new include statement by clicking Add.
   • Complete details in the Include dialog box.

IObit Uninstaller

3. Delete the file/folder using Command Prompt

1. Go to Search and type cmd.
2. Click on Run as administrator to open Command Prompt with full permissions.
3. In the Command Prompt, enter del, followed by the path of the folder or file you want to delete, and press Enter (for example del c:\users\JohnDoe\Desktop\text.txt).

4. Check your antivirus

Antivirus software is a necessity, and many antivirus tools have a useful feature that can protect your files. Thanks to this feature, malicious applications and users won’t be able to delete your files.

Even though this feature is useful, it can also prevent you from removing certain files.

To fix this problem, you need to check your antivirus settings and see if this feature is enabled. If so, disable it for the files that you want to delete and check if that solves the issue.

If you can’t find this feature, you can remove your antivirus and check if that helps.

If removing the antivirus solves the problem, you should consider switching to a different antivirus solution. There are many great tools available, but you should always choose the best.

⇒ Get Bitdefender

5. Change the Ownership of the file/folder

1. Right-click on the file you want to delete and choose Properties.
2. Under Security tab, click the Advanced button.
3. The Advanced Security Settings window will appear, and you’ll spot Owner.
4. In some cases, SYSTEM is listed as the owner, and in some it is TrustedInstaller, click on Change option, next to the name of Owner.
5. Enter the username you want to become the owner of the file, press Check Names to make sure if it’s okay, and press OK.
6. You’ll notice that the name of the Owner has changed, and you’ll also notice a checkbox called Replace owner on subcontainers and objects, check that checkbox and click Apply.
7. Close Windows Security Properties (Windows will require a restart).
8. Open the Properties again, by right-clicking on the file, click on Security, and then on Advanced.
9. Under Permission tab, check Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object.
10. After that, click Edit.
11. In Permission Entry window check Full Control and hit OK.
12. Try to delete the file/folder again.

If you need further guidance on how to take full ownership of a file or folder, check out this comprehensive guide.