MourningStar said:

^
simple enough - a few questions.

I notice that the contents of the windows.old folder show contents of 'Local Disk (C:)', and not the 'Windows' folder. This folder can be saved to an external device before the system nukes it, yes? Since this folder is primarily the host of most/all programs, does copying them to the new (C:) means they will work as before? If not, what's the point?

-thx

Hello Marc,

In my experience, any attempts to rename, move, or modify the Windows.old folder usually renders it unable to be used to go back to the previous Windows.

You will still be able to use any individual files from the copy though.

MourningStar said:

^
Hi Shawn - thx for your reply. Specifically, what is the impact if say, using your image examples, replace 'Program Files (x86)' with the one from the Windows.old.

I never tried for a system folder, but could be a lot of permission/access issues if just copied and replaced.

I would recommend to create a system image before testing it.

MyPhoto said:

Great tutorials here , thanks.

I understand moving things like Documents or Photos folders out of Windows .old but what about programs? I was always under the impression their folders couldn't just be copied but that the programs would have to be completely reinstalled in order to work. Is this not correct?

I didn't see Programs addressed in the tutorial so though I better ask.

Keep up the good work.

Hello MyPhoto, and welcome.

Usually, programs will have to be reinstalled.

Afterwards, you could test if copying the program's folders back may restore its data and settings, but it doesn't always work well.