How to Delete "Windows.old" Folder in Windows 8 and 8.1 ​

Information Information refresh of Windows 8, upgrade to Windows 8, or a custom install of Windows 8 without formatting the drive for a clean install and selected to install Windows 8 on the same partition of the previous Windows installation, then you may have a C:\Windows.old folder left over in your new installation. The Windows.old folder contains a copy of the previous Windows installation, and can be quite large in size.



If you already had a C:\Windows.old folder in the installation that you performed a refresh, upgrade install, or a custom install on, then it may be renamed to say C:\Windows.old.000 (older previous installation) in addition to the C:\Windows.old folder. The most recent previous installation will always be in the C:\Windows.old folder.



This tutorial will show you how to delete the Windows.old folder(s) generated during the installation to free up the hard drive space that the Windows.old folder(s) takes.



If you performed aof Windows 8,, or a custom install of Windows 8 without formatting the drive for aand selected to install Windows 8 on the same partition of the previous Windows installation, then you may have afolder left over in your new installation. The Windows.old folder contains a copy of the previous Windows installation, and can be quite large in size.If you already had afolder in the installation that you performed a refresh, upgrade install, or a custom install on, then it may be renamed to say(older previous installation) in addition to thefolder. The most recent previous installation will always be in thefolder.This tutorial will show you how to delete thefolder(s) generated during the installation to free up the hard drive space that thefolder(s) takes.

Warning Warning Be sure to copy any files that you may want out of the Windows.old folder before you delete it. Once deleted, they are gone.



You must be an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.





EXAMPLE:

OPTION ONE OPTION ONE Delete "Windows.old" Folder using Disk Cleanup Delete "Windows.old" Folder using Disk Cleanup

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2. If prompted, select the Windows drive, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: You will not see this window unless you have more than one drive or partition on your computer with a drive letter.​

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3. Click/tap on the Clean up system files button. (see screenshot below)​

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4. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​ If prompted by, then click/tap on.​

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5. Repeat step 2 above.​

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6. Click/tap on the Previous Windows installation(s) box to check it, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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7. Click/tap on Delete Files. (see screenshot below)​

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8. When Disk Cleanup finishes, the C:\Windows.old folder will be deleted.​

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OPTION TWO OPTION TWO Delete "Windows.old" Folder in an Elevated Command Prompt Delete "Windows.old" Folder in an Elevated Command Prompt

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1. Open an elevated command prompt.​ Open an.​

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2. In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: If you had another say windows.old.000 folder that you also wanted to delete, then you could repeat this command substituting that name instead of windows.old to also delete it.​

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RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\ windows.old ​

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3. Close the elevated command prompt.​

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OPTION THREE OPTION THREE Delete "Windows.old" Folder in a Command Prompt at Boot Delete "Windows.old" Folder in a Command Prompt at Boot

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1. Press the Windows + R keys, then type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Make note of the name and total size of your Windows 8 drive.​

NOTE: You will need to know this in step 3C.​

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3. To Verify the Windows 8 Drive Letter at Boot ​

NOTE: The Windows 8 drive letter may not always be C: at boot like it is while Windows is started, so be sure to verify it's drive letter before doing the command in step 4 for it to work.​

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A) In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter. (see screenshot below)​

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B) In the command prompt, type list volume and press enter.​

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C) From the listed volumes, look for and verify the drive letter of your Windows 8 drive.​

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D) In the command prompt, type exit and press enter.​

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4. To Delete the "Windows.old" Folder ​

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A) In the command prompt, type the command below and press enter. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: Be sure to substitute D in the command below with the actual drive letter of your Windows 7 drive as displayed from step 3 above instead. If you had another say windows.old.000 folder that you also want to delete, then you could repeat this command substituting that name instead of Windows.old to also delete it.​

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RD /S /Q " D :\Windows.old"​

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B) Close the command prompt window.​

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5. Click/tap on the Continue button to restart the computer and continue to Windows 8. (see screenshot below)​

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6. Verify that the Windows.old folder has been deleted.​

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That's it,Shawn