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On Windows 10, the Windows.old folder is nothing new. However, in versions prior to Windows 10, you could only see this folder if you upgraded from an older version to Windows 10.
What is the Windows.old folder? Should you delete Windows.old?
What is the Windows.old folder?
The Windows.old folder is created during the process of upgrading Windows versions, starting from Windows Vista. Essentially, the Windows.old folder is where all files and data from the previous Windows installation are stored.
You can use the Windows.old folder to restore the system to the previous Windows version if you don't like the new version. If you're searching for a specific file that wasn't backed up properly during the new Windows installation, you can also dig into the Windows.old folder to find it.
Basically, the Windows.old folder only contains files from the previous Windows system. Among these old system files are the programs you had installed. Settings and files for each user account are also stored here.
The latest version of Windows only keeps the folder in case you want to revert to the previous version or if you need to dig deep and search for a file.
However, you won't have to wait too long - after 1 month, Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder to free up space.
How do you downgrade to a previous version of Windows?
Downgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 7 or 8.1 is quite straightforward.
After installing Windows 10, you can open the Settings app =>select Update & security
You'll see the Get Started button under the Go back to Windows 7 or Go back to Windows 8.1 section, depending on which version of Windows you had installed before upgrading to Windows 10.
Click the Get started button and Windows will use the Windows.old folder to restore your previous version of Windows.
Additionally, on Windows 7, you can also use the Windows.old folder to restore older versions of Windows.
Note that this option is only available for 1 month after upgrading Windows versions. Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder after 1 month to free up disk space. Therefore, you need to consider carefully before making a decision.
What is the Windows.Old folder?
How to use the Windows.old folder to restore personal files?
If you want to restore personal files from your previous Windows installation, you can use the Windows.old folder. Open File Explorer, then navigate to the Windows.old folder located at C:Windows.old and browse your file system.
Your personal files are located at: C:Windows.oldUsersNAME.
How to delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space?
The Windows.old folder occupies a significant amount of disk space. Typically, this folder can take up 12 GB of space or more. It can even reach 20 GB or more - depending on your previous Windows installation.
If you use the traditional File Explorer method to delete the Windows.old folder, you'll receive an error message.
To delete the Windows.old folder, you'll need to rely on the support of the Disk Cleanup tool. On Windows 10, click the Start button, then type Disk cleanup into the Search box on the Start Menu to open the tool.
Alternatively, another method is to open File Explorer, then find and right-click on the C: drive, select Properties =>General tab =>Disk Clean-up .
Click on the Clean up system files button. You'll see the Previous Windows installation(s) option displayed in the list, Disk Cleanup calculates and shows you how much space this file occupies.
Check the box for Previous Windows installation(s) and use Disk Cleanup to thoroughly remove old Windows system files.
Additionally, you can use this tool to delete other unnecessary files taking up significant space on the system drive.
How to delete the Windows.Old folder
Deleting the Windows.old folder doesn't harm the system. If you're satisfied with the current Windows system and don't want to downgrade to a previous version, and you have important files backed up, you can delete the Windows.old folder to free up space.
Windows will automatically remove the Windows.old folder after 1 month of upgrading. All computers upgraded to Windows 10 won't have the Windows.old folder anymore. However, if you want to delete Windows.old on Windows 10, it's not difficult, refer to the method Taimeinphi has instructed on how to delete Windows.old on Windows 10.
Users often notice the appearance of the Windows.old file on drive C and they want to remove Windows.old on that drive because it's a system file, so deleting it isn't like many other regular installation files. The trick to deleting Windows.old on drive C that Mytour has performed will help you easily delete this file.
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