Mess in File History

I just promoted my old Window 10 laptop to our Backup (File History) repository. Had a lot of problems with sharing and made a few mistakes I’d like to be able to correct.

The first mistake was adding the Backup folder in the root of the C: drive, no I don’t know how I did that, but it’s there. There’s also a Backup2 folder there under Networks on that computer. Looking at the Directory of C:\ in the command prompt there is no Backup2 folder.

So after I discovered the mistake I made a new Backup folder in the D: drive (the larger of the 2 hard drives). I manage to get File History setup and running to the Backup folder on the D: drive of the old Windows 10 laptop.

Now, using Windows Explorer I look at the original C:\Backup folder, it contains the exact same information as the D:\Backup folder. Unless I look at it through the command prompt where is shows as empty. I tried to delete C:\backups in the command prompt but it didn’t get removed.

File History in Windows stores backups on a designated external drive or network location. By default, when it does this it should create a top level folder named "FileHistory" Is this what it did?
You could try starting over or try to remove the backup on C?


Stop using File History

• Open Backup Settings: Press Windows + I to open Settings. Navigate to Update & Security and select Backup from the left-hand menu.
• Access More Options: Under the Back up using File History section, click More options.
• Stop using this drive: Click on the "Stop using this drive" option.
• Delete the File History folder: Navigate to the backup drive and delete the folder named "FileHistory".

Start over if you can’t simply remove the backup instance that is on “C”

antspants said:

File History in Windows stores backups on a designated external drive or network location. By default, when it does this it should create a top level folder named "FileHistory" Is this what it did?

Click to expand...

There is no Folder named FileHistory in the D:\Backups folder, and all the files from %userprofile% from my Windows drive are there with the FH data appended to the file name.

antspants said:

You could try starting over or try to remove the backup on C?

Click to expand...

I've tried everything I could think of to delete C:\Backup to no avail.

Well it should be the correct way to stop using C and removing the task


As for deleting the folder, perhaps you need to do this, elevated?

The fact you can’t remove the backup folder tells me that it may still be in use? If not and If it’s really stubborn and you can’t delete the folder..

I hate showing my ignorance. CWindows) is the root, no problem deleting the Backup folder using Windows Explorer even though I couldn't delete it in an Administrator: Command Prompt.

Now the shared folder have quit sharing so I'm almost back to square on.

I have it disabled so I don't know anything.
But what happens if you disable File History ?
In Windows terminal (Power shell) as admin

Get-ScheduledTask "File History (maintenance mode)" | Disable-ScheduledTask
[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory", "Disabled", 0x01)
Restart-Computer