Windows.old, how to get rid of?

[Kenny]

Followed the steps here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder
to get rid of it, restarted PC and it's still there!
It's using nearly 15Gb, what happens if I just delete it?

Kenny Cargill

 

[Ken1943]

Followed the steps here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder
to get rid of it, restarted PC and it's still there!
It's using nearly 15Gb, what happens if I just delete it?

Kenny Cargill

I always just delete it. Don't recall having that large amount.


KenW

 

[Unk]

Followed the steps here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder
to get rid of it, restarted PC and it's still there!
It's using nearly 15Gb, what happens if I just delete it?

Kenny Cargill

You can just delete it. Make sure you recover all your documents and pictures, etc. from
your profile in the Windows.old folder before you delete it.

Unk

 

[Paul]

Followed the steps here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder

to get rid of it, restarted PC and it's still there!
It's using nearly 15Gb, what happens if I just delete it?

Kenny Cargill

First, make sure you have a backup of the system, before going further.
Windows 7 has an image backup option that should capture everything
for you. That's in case there are side effects from forcing the
deletion of windows.old . (There might just be a good reason
why it won't delete, you never know.)

http://www.intowindows.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Createsystemimage_thumb.jpg

There is some info here, if you're having problems still. It
uses a combination of "takeown" and "cacls" to whip that
thing into shape, so you can delete it. (There are probably
GUI equivalents, with the ability to set the whole tree.)
Disk Cleanup should be handling those details for you, but
if not, you still have other tools available from a command prompt.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/how-to-delete-a-system-file-in-windows-vista/

Sooner or later, you'd going to have to learn more about TrustedInstaller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL_Hell

"Windows Vista and later use a special TrustedInstaller service to
install operating system files. Other user accounts, including the SYSTEM,
have no access to overwrite core system binaries. Windows 7 expands this
functionality to some critical parts of the Registry."

So stuff you used to be able to do easily, has an extra step now. I
ran into this just yesterday, while trying to edit the Registry.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Kenny]

First, make sure you have a backup of the system, before going further.
Windows 7 has an image backup option that should capture everything
for you. That's in case there are side effects from forcing the
deletion of windows.old . (There might just be a good reason
why it won't delete, you never know.)

http://www.intowindows.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Createsystemimage_thumb.jpg


There is some info here, if you're having problems still. It
uses a combination of "takeown" and "cacls" to whip that
thing into shape, so you can delete it. (There are probably
GUI equivalents, with the ability to set the whole tree.)
Disk Cleanup should be handling those details for you, but
if not, you still have other tools available from a command prompt.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/how-to-delete-a-system-file-in-windows-vista/


Sooner or later, you'd going to have to learn more about TrustedInstaller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLL_Hell

"Windows Vista and later use a special TrustedInstaller service to
install operating system files. Other user accounts, including the SYSTEM,
have no access to overwrite core system binaries. Windows 7 expands this
functionality to some critical parts of the Registry."

So stuff you used to be able to do easily, has an extra step now. I
ran into this just yesterday, while trying to edit the Registry.

HTH,
Paul

Thanks for the replies. When deleting win.old it hung at around 4.5GB,
restarted in Safe Mode and was able to delete it from there.
Incidentally I use Paragon Drive Backup and opening the last saved image
it had saved windows.old as part of the backup.
Will now create a new backup and delete the old so will have recovered
near 30GB HDD space

Kenny

 

[Allen]

Followed the steps here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-do-I-remove-the-Windows-old-folder

to get rid of it, restarted PC and it's still there!
It's using nearly 15Gb, what happens if I just delete it?

Kenny Cargill

I'm glad that I still have my win.old directory. Occasionally I still
find things there that exist nowhere else.
Allen

 

[Nil]

I'm glad that I still have my win.old directory. Occasionally I
still find things there that exist nowhere else.

Like what?

 

[Allen]

Like what?

Look at a directory of win.old and see if you can figure that out for
yourself.

 

[Char Jackson]

Look at a directory of win.old and see if you can figure that out for
yourself.

I thought Nil asked a valid question. I was wondering the same thing
myself.

 

[Nil]

Look at a directory of win.old and see if you can figure that out
for yourself.

It's OK if you don't know the answer to a question. Trying to blow a
smokescreen doesn't make you look any smarter.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

It's OK if you don't know the answer to a question. Trying to blow a
smokescreen doesn't make you look any smarter.

I also agree with Char Jackson's post...

 

[Nil]

I also agree with Char Jackson's post...

Hey, I thought it was a good question, too. I'd still like to know the
answer. I've always kept the WINDOWS.OLD directory around for a while
until I was convinced everything was working as expected, then deleted
it. I never combed its contents in great detail. I've never missed it.
I don't usually do upgrades, though, mostly fresh installs, do I don't
think about it often.

 

[Paul]

Hey, I thought it was a good question, too. I'd still like to know the
answer. I've always kept the WINDOWS.OLD directory around for a while
until I was convinced everything was working as expected, then deleted
it. I never combed its contents in great detail. I've never missed it.
I don't usually do upgrades, though, mostly fresh installs, do I don't
think about it often.

Something I'm a bit more curious about, is how cross-linked Windows.old
is with the "store" in Windows 7. I hope Kenny comes back and comments
on how much space he actually saved, after Windows.old got deleted.
Checking the disk properties before and afterwards, would be fun.
I want to see if it only saves around 400MB or not (just deletes some
file pointers, and not much in the way of data clusters).

Paul

 

[Char Jackson]

Something I'm a bit more curious about, is how cross-linked Windows.old
is with the "store" in Windows 7. I hope Kenny comes back and comments
on how much space he actually saved, after Windows.old got deleted.
Checking the disk properties before and afterwards, would be fun.
I want to see if it only saves around 400MB or not (just deletes some
file pointers, and not much in the way of data clusters).

I wouldn't expect to see any linkage at all. Is that what you expect,
as well?

 

[Nil]

Something I'm a bit more curious about, is how cross-linked
Windows.old is with the "store" in Windows 7.

I've always assumed... none are. I don't recall seeing anything in
\windows.old to be a shortcut or any other kind of 'virtual file.'



I hope Kenny comes

 

[Nil]

Something I'm a bit more curious about, is how cross-linked
Windows.old is with the "store" in Windows 7.

I would have assumed... none. I've never noticed anything in
\windows.old to be a shortcut or other kind of 'virtual file.' I
haven't looked closely lately, so I'd be curious to know, too.