How to delete C:\Windows.old(1) folder

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  1. Posts : 97
    Windows 10
       #11

    All I did was right click on C:, choose Disk Cleanup, Clean disk once, then do it again, this time choose "clean up system files" and it will give you an option to clean and delete the windows.old
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  2. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Thread Starter
       #12

    I'll give the chkdsk /f c: a try which is scheduled to happen at the next reboot and see what happens. I also had unlocker delete the file on the next reboot.

    When I right click on C:. there is no Disk Cleanup, I always have to search for Disk Cleanup using Cortana to open it.
    Last edited by Almighty1; 22 Oct 2015 at 00:00.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 325
    Windows 10 Pro
       #13

    The easiest way is to make a live Linux Mint CD or USB and just permanently delete it from that.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 97
    Windows 10
       #14

    Almighty1 said:
    I'll give the chkdsk /f c: a try which is scheduled to happen at the next reboot and see what happens.

    When I right click on C:. there is no Disk Cleanup, I always have to search for Disk Cleanup using Cortana to open it.
    Right click on C: and select PROPERTIES... then choose Disk Cleanup, Clean disk once, then do it again, this time choose "clean up system files" and it will give you an option to clean and delete the windows.old
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Thread Starter
       #15

    Yeremyah said:
    Right click on C: and select PROPERTIES... then choose Disk Cleanup, Clean disk once, then do it again, this time choose "clean up system files" and it will give you an option to clean and delete the windows.old
    Already done that and did it again using your way, there is nothing to delete the windows.old even after it's been renamed as windows.old now. It did work on the original windows.old, just not the windows.old(1) that got renamed windows.old after windows.old was already gone.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Thread Starter
       #16

    Tried both chkdsk /f c: and unlocker and it didn't work.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 97
    Windows 10
       #17

    Have you tried booting a Linux CDROM (Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse, Knoppix...), click the Windows drive and enter CLI and delete the folder that way?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Thread Starter
       #18

    Not yet since in Linux or FreeBSD, it's probably just rm -rf Windows.old(1) but I managed to do it another way...

    The original folder structure was as follows:

    Under C:\Windows.old(1)
    Users -> Vince -> AppData -> Local -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Temporary Internet Files -> Virtualized -> C -> Users -> Vince -> AppData -> Roaming -> Dropbox -> shellext -> I

    I deleted the I but shellext said it no longer exists at the location so I basically moved Virtualized to the top so it's under Windows.old(1) and then deleted everything else successfully. Then in Virtualized, I had to move the Users to the top under Windows.old(1) and then it would delete. Then I deleted C then Virtualized and then C:\Windows.old(1). Not sure why it didn't work any other way.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 17
    Windows 10 64
       #19

    Almighty1 said:
    Not yet since in Linux or FreeBSD, it's probably just rm -rf Windows.old(1) but I managed to do it another way...
    The original folder structure was as follows:
    Under C:\Windows.old(1)
    Users -> Vince -> AppData -> Local -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Temporary Internet Files -> Virtualized -> C -> Users -> Vince -> AppData -> Roaming -> Dropbox -> shellext -> I
    I deleted the I but shellext said it no longer exists at the location so I basically moved Virtualized to the top so it's under Windows.old(1) and then deleted everything else successfully. Then in Virtualized, I had to move the Users to the top under Windows.old(1) and then it would delete. Then I deleted C then Virtualized and then C:\Windows.old(1). Not sure why it didn't work any other way.
    I had *almost* the same situation - just no "I" under "Shellext". The error message I have on trying to remove Shellext is "This is no longer located in [full path to Dropbox]. Verify the location and try again". Yeah, verified, there it is... except it just won't delete.

    I was able to move DropBox all the way up to the root and delete Windows.old(1) but of course Dropbox remains unremovable.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 56,825
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       #20

    FYI correct command is:

    RD /q /s windows.old (or windows.old(1), etc.)
      My Computers


 

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