Puzzled with windows.old

I have not upgraded from another version of windows but the windows.old file has somehow been created on the 16th of this month. The apps I was trying were antivirus Avira free and Zone alarm free at around this time. They proved quite difficult to remove but finally succeeded. My question is as windows.old is taking up a lot of space is it safe to delete. I have backed up the laptop but am still hesitant to delete.

Hi, fixtrop, welcome to the ElevenForums

Could be contributed to a Windows Update?

Whenever you upgrade to a new version of Windows (via Windows update) or do an in-place Windows upgrade, the OS creates a Windows.old folder. It contains all your old system files and personal files, and you can use it to revert to the old version of Windows if you want to.

Were there any updates to Windows listed for that date?

fixtrop said:

They proved quite difficult to remove but finally succeeded.

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A well respected tool in here is Revo Uninstaller Free Edition. Make sure you ask it to scan for leftovers and delete whatever it finds.

Pleas run this command by today (04/26) and post a share link:

DISM /Online /Get-OSUninstallWindow

Hi Antspants.
Thanks for quick reply. Have got Revo. Can't quite remember about updates just remember the hassle getting rid of the AV's. The question is is it safe to delete windows.old as not being entirely computer savvy I don't want to delete or corrupt my OS.

fixtrop said:

is is it safe to delete windows.old as not being entirely computer savvy I don't want to delete or corrupt my OS.

Click to expand...

The safest way to delete Windows.old is to run Disk Cleanup, click its 'Clean up system files' button, and select 'Previous Windows installation(s)' to be cleaned up.

fixtrop said:

Hi Antspants.
Thanks for quick reply. Have got Revo. Can't quite remember about updates just remember the hassle getting rid of the AV's. The question is is it safe to delete windows.old as not being entirely computer savvy I don't want to delete or corrupt my OS.

Click to expand...

Hi

1. Open Settings.
2. Select System.
3. Select Storage.
4. Select Cleanup recommendations.
5. Select the Previous Windows installation(s) checkbox.
6. Then select the Clean up button that displays the file size.

Or as Bree mentions, search Windows for Disk Cleanup, open it, have a look around and run when you’re ready.

To delete temporary files:

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup from the list of results.
2. Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK.
3. Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
4. Select OK.

If you need to free up more space, you can also delete system files:

1. In Disk Cleanup, select Clean up system files.
2. Select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
3. Select OK.

From memory, one of the options in there is “Old Windows something something” (sorry, not at my PC)

You can just do both of the above.

If the above command result displays:

Error 1168, Element not found error message then this link may be useful:

antspants said:

Or as Bree mentions, search Windows for Disk Cleanup...

Click to expand...

Yes, Windows provides several way to achieve the same end.

The bottom line for @fixtrop is that it is safest to use Windows own functions to do the clean up, don't just try to delete windows.old yourself.

Bree said:

don't just try to delete windows.old yourself.

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Yes, not a smart move.

Thanks to all on the forum for your help. Just joined and impressed already.

fixtrop said:

Thanks to all on the forum for your help. Just joined and impressed already.

Click to expand...

Yep, wait til you try our Chocolate Cake recipe!!! And I can pull a rabbit out of my hat… again.

Antspants .Like to see that .Issue was an in house upgrade on that day. Will wait to see if MS deletes that file automatic or I'll use one of the delete methods.

antspants said:

Yep, wait til you try our Chocolate Cake recipe!!! And I can pull a rabbit out of my hat… again.

View attachment 94564

Click to expand...

That's not a rabbit.... that's Rocky! As in... "Rocky and Bullwinkle".

fixtrop said:

Will wait to see if MS deletes that file automatic or I'll use one of the delete methods.

Click to expand...

I have a recollection that it does so after 10 days. Check on the 11th day maybe.

antspants said:

I have a recollection that it does so after 10 days. Check on the 11th day maybe.

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Yes, the default is 10 days. You can see how many days you have left, or change this if you wish, the allowed range is 2 to 60 days.

@fixtrop Let me add one thing about using disk cleanup to delete windows.old. It MUST be "run as administrator" before you will see the checkbox to remove old windows installations.

This works on Win 11 as well.

glasskuter said:

@fixtrop Let me add one thing about using disk cleanup to delete windows.old. It MUST be "run as administrator" before you will see the checkbox to remove old windows installations.

Click to expand...

You can tell that you haven't run it as administrator because you will see a 'Clean up system files' button. All is not lost though, if you click on this it will restart as administrator.