Windows.old quick way to delete

Found an interesting and quick way to get rid of the straggling Windows.old after you've already done Disk Cleanup. If you try to delete it manually after taking ownership of the folder/contents ( Windows 10 Forums ) and you get an "in use" error, try this. Use Autoruns (Great little program to have in your toolbox Autoruns for Windows), look for the driver. It's probably the Intel audio display driver. Un-check it and close Autoruns. Re-boot. Now delete the folder Windows.old. Go back and re-check the driver in Autoruns. Re-boot. The OS will pick up the correct one in "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\IntcDAud.sys".

I just use Macrium Reflect winpe to do it, or even a live linux drive.

cereberus said:

I just use Macrium Reflect winpe to do it, or even a live linux drive.

True, but few have a live linux drive, or would install MR just for that. Autoruns has many uses. But you are correct, it will work. Thanks.

I just had a small battle trying to get rid of a nvidia driver contained in a 35 MB windows.old folder and nothing would let me delete it, it said the same thing, file is in use.

After installing the latest nvidia driver it then allowed me to delete the windows.old folder :)

AddRAM said:

I just had a small battle trying to get rid of a nvidia driver contained in a 35 MB windows.old folder and nothing would let me delete it, it said the same thing, file is in use.

After installing the latest nvidia driver it then allowed me to delete the windows.old folder :)

@AddRAM ... Thanks. In essence, that process did the same thing. The Nvidia driver was updated forcing Windows to let go of the old one in Windows.old. Could be, probably are, other variations just like this one. That's why the trick of completely uninstalling the device associated with the "straggler" driver and rebooting to re-install works.

TC

f14tomcat said:

True, but few have a live linux drive, or would install MR just for that. Autoruns has many uses. But you are correct, it will work. Thanks.

MR is the first thing I ever install, and then I make a dual boot entry so I can boot from it in winpe mode without even a usb drive or dvd.

Run msconfig & change to Safe Boot & you can delete Windows.old.
It's always some driver, i.e. audio or video, & is a known bug. It has been reported many times to MS via the Insider Hub.

Safe Boot doesn't load the drivers, so the folder can be deleted.

Comp Cmndo said:

Run msconfig & change to Safe Boot & you can delete Windows.old.
It's always some driver, i.e. audio or video, & is a known bug. It has been reported many times to MS via the Insider Hub.

Safe Boot doesn't load the drivers, so the folder can be deleted.

Shawn has a nice tutorial for adding Safe Mode Boot Options to the Desktop Context menu. Very handy.


Safe Mode - Add to Desktop Context Menu in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Still not fixed in Build 14955.
Could not delete in safe mode, even after taking ownership.
Booted back to normal mode & used Unlocker to delete