Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed

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  1. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
       #1

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed


    Hi,

    I hope folks can help with this one.

    After a failed HDD and purchase of a new drive, I then did a clean install of Windows 10 from a disk image - except it failed part-way through throwing up an error.

    I tried again and it again failed part-way through.

    I tried for a third time with a different disk and the installation failed again (albeit at a different point)

    I tried for a fourth time with an image on a USB stick - and SUCCESS!

    However, in addition to a Windows folder in C: drive, I now also have folders called Windows.old (10.1Gb), Windows.old.000 (7.40Gb) and Windows.old.001 (13.2Gb).

    I logged into the Administrator account and tried to delete these folders - but I get an error message that SYSTEM needs to give permission (how can I get SYSTEM to give permission?).

    I tried opening an elevated command prompt to use the RMDIR and DELTREE DOS commands.

    The DELTREE command says " 'deltree' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch command" and RMDIR gives the message "The directory is not empty".

    Question is, how can I get rid of these folders which are useless and occupying 30.7Gb of my new HDD space?

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed-cannot-delete-directory.jpg

    Cheers

    Art
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 42,737
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    If it's a true clean install, you wouldn't have a folder (or folders) like that, so I wonder just exactly what you did.

    Did you format the disk after a failed attempt?

    Suggest you also post a screenshot of Disk Management showing your partitions.
    Type
    Disk Management
    in Cortana's search bar
    or
    Windows key + R, type diskmgmt.msc

    You can't delete those folders directly like that - they are protected.

    Try
    How to delete the Windows.old folder from Windows 10 - CNET
    (I searched for
    how to delete windows.old
    )

    Now you'll have to check if the others are deleted - if not you can delete them from a command prompt outside Windows (e.g. via SHIFT + click Restart and navigate thru the prompts. Drive letters will be different, so be careful.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    dalchina said:
    If it's a true clean install, you wouldn't have a folder (or folders) like that, so I wonder just exactly what you did.

    Did you format the disk after a failed attempt?
    Hi Dalchina,

    Nope - I did exactly as I said in the OP. Tried three times to install Windows 10 onto a brand-new HDD from two different disk images (both obtained from Microsoft) and these failed in different places (like 74%, 40% etc). I had an image (again from Microsoft) on a USB stick which I tried and the install succeeded.

    At each failed install I got a message similar to "Windows couldn't complete the setup process and no changes were made to your computer (or) these files will be removed" (can't remember the exact message), so I thought that any install debris would be removed.

    It was only when the fourth attempt went through without a problem that I noticed that there were these folders from the failed installs.

    Below is a screenshot of Disk management:

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed-disk-management.jpg

    dalchina said:
    Try: How to delete the Windows.old folder from Windows 10 - CNET
    (I searched for how to delete windows.old)

    Now you'll have to check if the others are deleted - if not you can delete them from a command prompt outside Windows (e.g. via SHIFT + click Restart and navigate thru the prompts. Drive letters will be different, so be careful.
    Will give this a shot, thank you

    Regards

    Art
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Okay,

    Just followed the link that you gave and the CNET article suggests that Disk Cleanup should show 'Previous Windows Installation(s)'.

    As you can see from the image below, it doesn't.

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed-disk-cleanup.jpg

    Will try deletion outside of Windows. I have a DOS 6.22 CD which I will boot from and see if I can delete the folders from there.

    Will report back later.

    Regards

    Art
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #5

    ArtDent said:
    ...Disk Cleanup should show 'Previous Windows Installation(s)'.

    As you can see from the image below, it doesn't.

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed-disk-cleanup.jpg
    @ArtDent
    As I can also see from the screen shot, you didn't spot the bit in the article that says:
    Step 2: Click the "Clean up system files" button.
    If you had, there would a second tab 'More options' and the 'clean up system files' button wouldn't still be showing. Without doing that you can't clean up 'Previous Windows Installation(s)' because they are classed as 'System files',
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 1,621
    Windows 10 Home
       #6

    Would you mind telling me exactly what were, where from, those Microsoft images? I'd like to learn, a similar thing happened to me awhile back, with W8. Perhaps, together, we can ensure a probability that this type of failure will not happen to us again.
    Last edited by RolandJS; 17 Sep 2016 at 08:24.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #7

    RolandJS said:
    Would you mind telling me exactly what were, where from, those Microsoft images?
    All the images in this thread are screenshots grabbed from our own computers. They are what was really happening on our PCs when we took the actions we were talking about.
    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/6...dows-10-a.html

    If you are asking how to run the disk clean-up, the easiest way is to type 'disk clean-up' in the Cortana Search box next to Start.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #8

    ArtDent said:
    I logged into the Administrator account and tried to delete these folders - but I get an error message that SYSTEM needs to give permission (how can I get SYSTEM to give permission?)
    You can take ownership, grant authority and then delete.
    Code:
    takeown  /f  "C:\Windows.old.000" /r
    icacls       "C:\Windows.old.000" /grant "%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%":(F) /t
    rmdir        "C:\Windows.old.000" /s /q
    Note leave "%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%" as it is - don't try to substitute it with your name - the system will do that.

    ArtDent said:
    RMDIR gives the message "The directory is not empty".
    You need the /s switch to delete the contents as well as in the example above. You can check the options with rmdir /?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 28
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Bree said:
    @ArtDent
    As I can also see from the screen shot, you didn't spot the bit in the article that says:

    Clean Install of Win 10 - how to remove installation files that failed-step-2.jpg

    If you had, there would a second tab 'More options' and the 'clean up system files' button wouldn't still be showing. Without doing that you can't clean up 'Previous Windows Installation(s)' because they are classed as 'System files',
    Yep - missed that!!

    Trying that now...

    @Ix07

    Thanks, will try the 'Disk Cleanup' method first and it that doesn't work resort to DOS commands outside of Windows.

    @Roland

    If you mean the Windows 10 images I used...

    They were downloaded directly from Microsoft. Two of them, (one of the disk images and the USB image) were created by the 'Media Creation Tool' and then burned/transferred to DVD/USB.

    One of the images is labelled 'ESD' which I believe stands for 'Electronic Software Distribution'.

    This link may be of some help. It has download links for all ESD files currently available through the Windows Update infrastructure.

    http://ms-vnext.net/Win10esds/

    Art
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,621
    Windows 10 Home
       #10

    Thanks Art! Those were the images I was asking about. I was wondering if the process of downloading, writing to the hard-drive, creating the DVDs somewhere somehow had a few "hiccups" -- thus leading to the failures you mentioned in the opening.
      My Computer


 

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