How to remove Windows.old: step-by-step instructions

If Windows was updated on the computer or the system drive was not formatted during a clean installation, the Windows.old directory appears in the file system. You can remove it using standard tools or third-party utilities. The folder occupies more than ten gigabytes, so users also have a desire to get rid of it.

I must say that the Windows.old directory should never be deleted if you plan to return to the previous version of the OS. Therefore, it is recommended to leave it for at least a couple of months. During this time, it will be possible to test all the features of the new edition of Windows and evaluate whether it is worth rolling back the changes.

Built-in utility

Windows has a built-in utility that helps to erase an unnecessary directory. Moreover, cleaning the folder with its help is the easiest way to solve this problem. How to delete the Windows.old folder without downloading third-party products?

1. Press Win + R on your computer keyboard.
2. In the field of the opened Run window, enter the cleanmgr command and click OK.
3. Wait for the system cleaning utility to scan the files.
4. Click on the button that says "Clear system files." Agree to grant administrative rights to the application.
5. After completion of all software processes, a new window will appear on the display. It will list all OS files that can be deleted without violating the integrity of the operating system. Find the text “Files of previous Windows installations” or similar in the list and check the box next to it.
6. Left-click on the inscription "OK" and wait for the utility to finish working.

After completing this instruction, the directory or its contents will be deleted. To check the result, open the properties of the Windows.old folder and pay attention to the numbers next to "Size".

Command line

If the previous instruction did not help, you should try to get rid of the folder using the command line. There is absolutely no interface in this tool, and short text commands should be entered to perform any operations. How to remove Windows.old using the command line?

1. Click on the desktop with the right mouse button.
2. From the pop-up menu, choose New> Shortcut.
3. In the "Location" line, enter cmd and click on the "Next" button. Now it remains to specify the desired name for the shortcut. It can be absolutely anything.
4. Right-click on the item you just created and select "As administrator" and answer in the affirmative to the question of the operating system.
5. In the window that opens, enter the command RD C: \ windows.old / S / Q and press the "Enter" key.

Task Scheduler

How to remove Windows.old using Task Scheduler?

1. Expand the Start menu. Find the inscription "Control Panel" in the list and click on it with the left mouse button.
2. Click on the item "Service and system" in the list that opens.
3. Now select "Administration".
4. In the window that opens, double-click on the "Scheduler".
5. To the left of the utility is a task tree. In it, find the job named SetupCleanupTask.
6. Right-click on it to open the context menu and select "Run."

The most reliable way

How to remove Windows.old if none of the above instructions helped?

1. In the "Start" menu, click on the "Reboot" button while holding down the Shift button.
2. In the list that opens, click on the words "Diagnostics".
3. Now go to the "Advanced Options" menu and click on the item with the name "Command Prompt".
4. After rebooting, the text interface will open.
5. Type diskpart and then list volume. These actions will display a list of all existing sections and brief information about them. The main task is to determine which letter corresponds to the system disk, because literals are mixed up in the recovery environment. The easiest way to look at the Size column is to understand the correspondence between letters and sections.
6. Enter exit to close the console utility.
7. Now type RD / S / Q "X: \ Windows.old. X replace with the letter of the system partition.
8. When the command completes, complete the Command Prompt and select Continue Download.

Ccleaner

For inexperienced users, the instructions may seem complicated. To simplify things, you can use a third-party utility called CCleaner. It is absolutely free, and the interface is fully translated into Russian. How to remove Windows.old with CCleaner?

1. Install and run the application.
2. Click on the "Cleaning" link in the main window of the utility.
3. In the left list, uncheck all the boxes, leaving only one - opposite the item Old Installation Windows.
4. If next to the inscription “Other” there is an icon with an exclamation mark in a blue circle, click on it and agree to clear the operating system logs.
5. After that, click on the "Clear" button.

It should be noted that using third-party software is the most unreliable way to delete the Windows.old directory. Such utilities can not always obtain the necessary rights.

After installing the tenth version of the OS, think twice before uninstalling Windows 7. Old will help restore the “seven” if the new edition does not like it or if the computer hardware is not productive enough for the new software.