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Delete Windows.old Files

Delete Windows.old Files

When your machine is upgraded to a newer version of Windows, it leaves behind a C:\Windows.old directory which can be quite large.

windows.old Properties

It contains the backup of the previous Windows version, so if you plan on deleting it you’re saying goodbye to the rollback option.

If do you try delete it, you’ll likely encounter the following…

Windows.old unable to delete
Delete Windows.old try again

Try again please…

We can remove this by running Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup in Windows
Disk Cleanup

Click Clean up system files.

Cleanup System Files Loading

(might take a sec)

Disk Cleanup System Files Previous Windows Version

Select Previous Windows installation(s) and click OK.

Disk Cleanup Confirmation Prompt

You are sure, so click to Delete Files on the above prompt.

As mentioned, if you delete these files you’ll lose the ability to restore back to the previous version of Windows. You’d peer check before going ahead with this in the workplace.

Disk Cleanup Previous Windows Version Delete Warning

It might take a good 5 minutes or so.

Disk Cleanup Happening

When it finishes you should see the Windows.old files disappear and the disk space be freed!

Windows.old Removed

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