How to delete the Windows.old folder from the system disk

Very often, after installing a new operating system, the Windows.old folder appears on the hard disk, which can not be deleted normally because the rights to uninstall belong to the administrator of the previous OS.

Often this folder takes up a lot of space, in some cases - tens of gigabytes, because it contains information from the previous OSes. Of course, if you have a modern hard drive with a memory capacity of 1 TB, then you may not notice a lack of free space. However, if each GB is expensive for you, then you will most likely try to get rid of the Windows.old folder.

Why does it appear on the computer? This is due to the fact that when installing the OS, you do not format the hard drive. As a result, the new version of "Windows" is installed on the previous one.

You can delete the Windows.old folder in several ways, which you will learn about by reading this article.

Uninstall using the Disk Cleanup feature

Right-click Windows.old and select "Delete." A window will appear with the notification that it is impossible to do this. To get rid of the folder where the previous Windows settings are, you can use the "Disk Cleanup" function.

Open "Start", then click "All Programs". Now go to the "Standard" section, and then to the "Service" subsection where you will find the "Disk Cleanup" item.

Much faster can be opened by pressing Win + R and typing the cleanmgr command. Then select the system hard drive and click OK.

Now you will need to wait for the system to analyze how much space you can free, but you are interested in how to remove Windows.old from your computer, so check the box next to "Previous settings."

Confirm your choice by clicking Enter. Depending on the size of this folder, cleaning will take some time.

Uninstalling through the command line

There are situations when Windows.old is not deleted by the "Disk Cleanup" utility, or there are some folders that can not be disposed of. In such cases, it is better to use the command line. You can call it by simultaneously pressing Win and R. Then you need to enter cmd.

Note: all actions must be performed under the administrator account.

If you have the Windows 7 operating system installed, enter the command: takeown / F C: Windows.old * / R / A. Wait until it is processed, and enter the following: cacls C: Windows.old *. * / T / grant administrators: F. The final step is the command: rmdir / S / Q C: Windows.old.

In the G8 you only need to enter one command: Rd / s / q C: Windows.old. As you can see, in the second case the whole process will take a little less time.

Now you know if you can uninstall Windows.old and how to do it using the command line.

Deleting a folder manually

If you can not uninstall this folder using the methods described above, then try manual deletion. In order to perform this operation, you will need administrator rights.

Right click on the folder and enter the "Properties" section. Here you need the "Security" tab and the "Advanced" button. Now open the "Owner" subsection and click "Edit". Highlight the "account" under which you logged in, and install the checkbox next to the option to replace the owner.

You are interested in the "Permissions" subsection, where you need to specify the "Full access" option.

After all the done manipulations Windows.old can be deleted using the Delete button. Of course, this method takes you a little longer, but, as a rule, it really helps to solve the problem.

Uninstall using the installation disc

Is it possible to remove Windows.old still somehow, if none of the above methods works? You can use the installation disc. Insert it into the DVD-ROM and click Restart OS.

To call the command line, hold down Shift and F10 at the same time. If you do not know on which disk you have installed the system, then issue the diskrapt command. Now you need to enter one more: list volume.

Select the hard drive on which the OS is installed (as a rule, it has a large size), and enter Exit.

Your further actions depend on what operating system you have installed. You will need to register the last command (for the "seven" and "Windows 8" you already know). The final step is to restart Windows.

Of course, here there is one problem - not always the user has an installation disk, so you can apply other methods. In most cases, they help get rid of the Windows.old folder.

Conclusion

Now, after reading this article, you can delete the Windows.old folder in any convenient way for you. After that you will notice that on the hard drive appeared a few gigabytes of free space, which you can use to install important applications or interesting games.

If you are a novice user, then, most likely, you better use the utility "Disk Cleanup", as it does not need to register various commands or log in as an administrator. In other cases, you can uninstall Windows.old via the command line.