Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Slow Build 17074.1002 - Jan. 11 Insider

Wasn't it an old DOS command line ?

CountMike said:

Wasn't it an old DOS command line ?

Yes RMDIR - ReMove DIRectory. RD is the short form. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/.../bb490990.aspx

larc919 said:

I haven't had problems removing windows.old recently as it's been deleted via Disk Cleanup as it should be. But past problems when Disk Cleanup wouldn't delete it haven't been as easily solved. Efforts to delete from within Windows get a report that windows.old doesn't exist. And most of it doesn't. There will just be a file or 2 buried somewhere deep in subfolders, apparently corrupted and keeping windows.old from going away totally. Your command gets rid of it for me in these cases, but only by running Command Prompt outside Windows.

Exactly! (except for running outside of Windows, one can manually remove file locks too)

RD does not work unless you first manually delete the "not found"-file using the DOS (short) name. Then the rest can be removed by using RD and a few switches on windows.old(1 .. n).

slicendice said:

Exactly! (except for running outside of Windows, one can manually remove file locks too)

RD does not work unless you first manually delete the "not found"-file using the DOS (short) name. Then the rest can be removed by using RD and a few switches on windows.old(1 .. n).

I've never had to remove any files RD /S Windows.old in an admin command has always done it for me.

kado897 said:

I've never had to remove any files RD /S Windows.old in an admin command has always done it for me.

I should have saved what remained of windows.old. However, if it means anything was that the subdirectory that was not deleted by Disk Cleanup was c:\windows.old\users.

Like I posted unlocker 1.92 is what I use and it never fails. I a file is in use it requires a reboot to get rid of it but that holds for any OS including Linux. But the discussion begs the question. Disk Cleanup should be deleting windows.old and in many cases it does.

The latest canary Is 17078 compiled last Thursday so there is a good chance we will see either that build or 17079 compile Friday or perhaps 10780. On the other hand today, Monday, is a holiday in the US so that might throw the schedule off. An announcement from the Sphinx should come tomorrow or Weds.
0.0.17078.1000 (rs_prerelease.180111-1437)