Disk cleanup left the Windows.old folder


  1. Posts : 28
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
       #1

    Disk cleanup left the Windows.old folder


    Title. I can't get rid of it. It has survived me doing the disk cleanup twice now as well as reboots (figured it was just stuck visually in the file manager). How can I get rid of it.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 191
    Windows 10 Home 64 bit
       #2

    If you are using the disk cleanup tool in Windows, you have to go to the advanced options and tell it to clean system files and then choose old windows installations. If you use the cleaner in CCleaner and tell it to delete old installations that works too. That option in CCleaner seems to only show when there is a windows.old folder since it is now not present
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 28
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Dch48 said:
    If you are using the disk cleanup tool in Windows, you have to go to the advanced options and tell it to clean system files and then choose old windows installations. If you use the cleaner in CCleaner and tell it to delete old installations that works too. That option in CCleaner seems to only show when there is a windows.old folder since it is now not present
    I'll try ccleaner. Already did the system files with disk cleanup a few times.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 28
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    CCleaner doesn't even report that it exists. It's still sitting there in C:\ though. I've changed it to Hidden so it doesn't bother me for the time being. Would like to dump it though. There are no files, just a couple folders.

    C:\Windows.old\Windows\System32\DriverStore folder is the hold up. It keeps telling me I need administrator to delete it. I've tried manually removing with an elevated command prompt. Still no dice.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,799
    Linux Mint 20.1 Win10Prox64
       #5

    Try cleammgr in extended mode. Open Admin command prompt. Copy and paste the line below and run, check mark everything except Setup Log files. It will ask you for confirmation to delete, answer YES.
    %SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:35 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:35
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 28
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    I'm never comfortable putting things into the command line without understanding them. However I did run that command and it popped up a window. But old installations wasn't even an option to select. I finally just booted a live Lubuntu usb I had and removed it from inside of linux.

    For all it's faults, linux makes some things 100 times easier sometimes. Thanks for the suggestions. Solved now.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 17,838
    Windows 10
       #7

    jmgibson1981 said:
    I'm never comfortable putting things into the command line without understanding them. However I did run that command and it popped up a window. But old installations wasn't even an option to select. I finally just booted a live Lubuntu usb I had and removed it from inside of linux.

    For all it's faults, linux makes some things 100 times easier sometimes. Thanks for the suggestions. Solved now.
    After Disk Cleanup, there shouldn't be anything in the folder(s),
    you could have Taken Ownership of it and deleted it.

    Disk cleanup left the Windows.old folder-000130.png
      My Computer


 

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