Windows.old Windows 10 info

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

Hello everyone, how are you? I'm in a bind and I hope someone can help me. You see, I updated my Windows PC 8 days ago and as you know, a folder called windows.old was generated that seems to be automatically deleted after 10 days. My PC won't turn on right now because it doesn't recognize the hard drive. I have no idea what happened, but the green component is hot, so it's still active. However, I still don't know what the problem is. My PC only turned on two days after the update, so I wondered if, hypothetically speaking, I would figure it out in a few months. Would the Windows.old folder still be there? With time to transfer it to a USB stick or would you turn it on and it would be permanently deleted?

MachineLanguage · Oct 1, 2025

Hello. I do not believe I will be the one to solve your computer issues but I'm sure it would help if you can provide more info.
You say your "pc won't turn on right now". Then you state "or would you turn it on ". This is a bit confusing.
What is the "green component" you speak of?
More details will get someone's attention that might be able to help you.

MachineLanguage · Oct 1, 2025

Most posts are in English

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

MachineLanguage said:
Most posts are in English

Well, the easiest thing is to take it to a technical service, but I don't have enough money. My question is about the windowns.old folder, since it is deleted after 10 days. If I only use it for two days and "in a few months, when I can afford it, maybe I can use it thanks to technical support", would the Windowns.old folder still exist or was it already deleted?

MachineLanguage · Oct 1, 2025

Don't know as I have never kept the windows.old folder more than a couple of weeks.

Bree · Oct 1, 2025

Matsuoka said:
My question is about the windowns.old folder, since it is deleted after 10 days.

If the 10 days haven't passed yet you can extend this to 60 days. You can extend again before the 60 days has passed.

See and Set Number of Days Go Back to Previous Version of Windows in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to see and set the number of days after an upgrade you are still able to go back to a previous version of Windows in Windows 11. Windows 11 gives you the ability to uninstall and go back (roll back) to a previous version of Windows. When you upgrade to Windows...

www.elevenforum.com

Spunk · Oct 1, 2025

Matsuoka said:
My PC won't turn on right now because it doesn't recognize the hard drive.

If your HDD is not being recognized, but the green component electronic board on the bottom of the drive is warm, then it is getting power but either the Data cable has become unplugged, or the drive may have failed.

This has nothing to do with the C:\:Windows.old folder. That folder is created after a major update with all your user files and programs. This gives you 10 days to copy those files over to your C:\Users\UserName folder if they are not there, but most files should be there after an update. If the 10 days have expired than the contents of that folder are deleted. Unless you made an Image of your computer after the update, you will not be able to access this C:\Windows.old folder with the contents in it after 10 days.

This has nothing to do with your computer not booting.
Check and reseat the data cable from your drive to the motherboard. Try a different cable and another SATA port on the motherboard.

You can also remove the drive and attach it to a working computer with a USB Adapter or Enclosure. The drive may not boot the computer but the drive may be accessible enough to copy the files off of it. You than can run Diagnostics on the drive to check its health. like DiskGenius and or Crystal Disk Info, both available in my signature. View the SMART Info, if it is anything less than GOOD, it needs to be replaced.

glasskuter · Oct 1, 2025

I would not count on the windows.old folder being there past 10 days. I have to speculate here as you have not give any details about your computer specs.
We have no idea of what you are working with. What error code are you getting?

Matsuoka said:
My PC won't turn on right now because it doesn't recognize the hard drive. I have no idea what happened, but the green component is hot, so it's still active. However, I still don't know what the problem is. My PC only turned on two days after the update,

Not sure what you mean by "green component."
Assuming your no-boot is drive related, If your hard drive worked after you upgraded but now is no longer recognized, it's one of 2 things. You drive has crashed OR your BCD is corrupted. Chances are it is defective so your question about windows.old is probably moot anyway. When a drive goes, everything goes with it. This is why we stress over and over here the importance of backing up one's data. The only exception would be if a user is syncing his personal data to Onedrive. In that case, even if a drive crashes, the data is still safely stored in Onedrive.

If you go into bios, is the drive recognized there? If it is, You could attempt to boot to any live Linux distro to see if you can copy the data to external media. However, If the drive is not readable not even this method can recover your files. If you can not get into bios, that's a sign of bigger issues.

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

Bree said:
Si aún no han transcurrido los 10 días, puede extenderlo a 60 días. Puede volver a extenderlo antes de que transcurran los 60 días.

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/ver-y...rsión-anterior-de-windows-en-windows-11.1801/

Lo sé, pero si no enciendo la PC, ¿el tiempo se pausa o sigue transcurriendo durante los 10 días?

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

Spunk said:
Si su HDD no es reconocido, pero la placa electrónica del componente verde en la parte inferior de la unidad está caliente, entonces está recibiendo energía pero el cable de datos se ha desconectado o la unidad puede haber fallado.

Esto no tiene nada que ver con la carpeta C: \ Windows.old . Esta carpeta se crea tras una actualización importante con todos los archivos y programas de usuario. Esto le da 10 días para copiar esos archivos a la carpeta C:\Users\UserName si no están allí, pero la mayoría de los archivos deberían estar allí después de una actualización. Si transcurren los 10 días, se eliminará el contenido de esa carpeta. A menos que haya creado una imagen de su ordenador después de la actualización, no podrá acceder a esta carpeta C:\Windows.old con su contenido después de 10 días.

Esto no tiene nada que ver con que tu computadora no arranque.
Revisa y vuelve a conectar el cable de datos de la unidad a la placa base. Prueba con otro cable y otro puerto SATA en la placa base.

También puede extraer la unidad y conectarla a una computadora que funcione con un adaptador USB o una carcasa. Es posible que la unidad no arranque la computadora, pero podría ser lo suficientemente accesible como para copiar los archivos. Luego, puede ejecutar diagnósticos en la unidad para comprobar su estado, como DiskGenius o Crystal Disk Info, ambos disponibles en mi firma. Consulte la información SMART ; si no está en buen estado, debe reemplazarse.

Muchas gracias, me ha sido útil su información. Sin embargo, tengo una duda más. ¿El tiempo pasa durante esos 10 días incluso con la PC apagada? ¿O solo reacciona al encenderla?

Bree · Oct 1, 2025

Matsuoka said:
I know, but if I don't turn on the PC, does the time pause or continue to pass during the 10 days?

The time still passes whether the PC is turned on or not.

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

glasskuter said:
I would not count on the windows.old folder being there past 10 days. I have to speculate here as you have not give any details about your computer specs.
We have no idea of what you are working with. What error code are you getting?

Not sure what you mean by "green component."
Assuming your no-boot is drive related, If your hard drive worked after you upgraded but now is no longer recognized, it's one of 2 things. You drive has crashed OR your BCD is corrupted. Chances are it is defective so your question about windows.old is probably moot anyway. When a drive goes, everything goes with it. This is why we stress over and over here the importance of backing up one's data. The only exception would be if a user is syncing his personal data to Onedrive. In that case, even if a drive crashes, the data is still safely stored in Onedrive.

If you go into bios, is the drive recognized there? If it is, You could attempt to boot to any live Linux distro to see if you can copy the data to external media. However, If the drive is not readable not even this method can recover your files. If you can not get into bios, that's a sign of bigger issues.

does not recognize the drive in the BIOS

Matsuoka · Oct 1, 2025

Bree said:
The time still passes whether the PC is turned on or not.

I have a question about how Windows deletes the files if it is not connected, how does it realize that 10 days have passed?

glasskuter · Oct 1, 2025

You're focusing on windows.old. The big picture is worse that whether windows.old is present or not. If your drive has crashed, No data on the drive (including windows.old) can be read. Windows can not be seen. The fact that bios does not see the drive to be present is a good indication that the drive is defective. I asked for the error message you get when you try to boot up

I don't know what kind of drive you have.
If it is a sata drive, check your sata connections on both ends of the cable to make sure it hasn't become loose. Check it's power connection to make sure it's getting good power.
If it's an nvme drive about all you can do is reseat it. Try setting your bios to default to see if the drive is detected
If neither of those make a difference, you will have to use process of elimination by swap testing components.. The most logical one to start with is the drive. Install another drive to see if bios detects it OR put your drive into another system. If it's not detected there you know the drive is bad.

All you have told us is you have an Alpha PC. Is it in warranty.

Windows.old Windows 10 info

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