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Deleting windows old folder

Sicard
Sicard Posts: 901 Forumite
Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
in Techie Stuff
My windows old folder is about 19gb. I'm assuming it was W8 originally and upgraded to W10. I don't know because I bought it new.

If I deleted it to free up space would I still be able to use the reset utilty that I've used before to reload W10 and still retain all files?

TIA
You know what uranium is, right? It's this thing called nuclear weapons. And other things. Like lots of things are done with uranium. Including some bad things.
Donald Trump, Press Conference, February 16, 2017
«1

Comments

  • debitcardmayhem
    debitcardmayhem Posts: 13,414 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I believe that windows.old folder is from the W10 before the Creator's update...(guess rom your photo thread)
    4.8kWp 12x400W Longhi 9.6 kWh battery Giv-hy 5.0 Inverter, WSW facing Essex . Aint no sunshine ☀️ Octopus gas fixed dec 24 @ 5.74 tracker again+ Octopus Intelligent Flux leccy

    CEC Email energyclub@moneysavingexpert.com
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    The reset util will only install what was current when it was supplied - it usually sits in its own partition. The usefulness evaporates the moment you upgrade to the next version.
  • John_Gray
    John_Gray Posts: 5,847 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    You'd be better off creating a disk image using something like Macrium Reflect Free.

    And if you want to delete old Windows Stuff, I suggest you do it via Disk Clean-up (via the Search field at the bottom left of the screen, for example), also clicking the "Clean-up system files" button. Tick everything you want to remove - I always tick every box!
  • Sicard
    Sicard Posts: 901 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Thanks guys.
    You know what uranium is, right? It's this thing called nuclear weapons. And other things. Like lots of things are done with uranium. Including some bad things.
    Donald Trump, Press Conference, February 16, 2017
  • chunter
    chunter Posts: 2,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Rename it first. See if it makes any difference to your current windows 10.
    Leave it for a couple of weeks. If you're getting no problems, send her to oblivion.
  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    Buzby wrote: »
    The reset util will only install what was current when it was supplied - it usually sits in its own partition. The usefulness evaporates the moment you upgrade to the next version.
    You can create a USB recovery drive and scrap the recovery partition.
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/instantanswers/3a747883-b706-43a5-a286-9e98f886d490/create-a-recovery-drive

    Whole drive imaging is still a handy backup - I use Macrium for that.
  • 50Twuncle
    50Twuncle Posts: 10,763 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Rather than manually deleting Windows.old folder - try Piriform CCleaner and ensure that you tick OLD WINDOWS INSTALLATION - then run it - it will get rid of all of the unwanted bits properly and safely - including from the registry !!
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 2,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    50Twuncle wrote: »
    Rather than manually deleting Windows.old folder - try Piriform CCleaner and ensure that you tick OLD WINDOWS INSTALLATION - then run it - it will get rid of all of the unwanted bits properly and safely - including from the registry !!
    The correct way to remove a Windows.old folder is to use the built in disk cleanup tool and tell it to remove previous Windows installations. They are hard to delete manually.
  • Sicard
    Sicard Posts: 901 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    wongataa wrote: »
    The correct way to remove a Windows.old folder is to use the built in disk cleanup tool and tell it to remove previous Windows installations. They are hard to delete manually.


    That's what I did. Now it's deceased.
    You know what uranium is, right? It's this thing called nuclear weapons. And other things. Like lots of things are done with uranium. Including some bad things.
    Donald Trump, Press Conference, February 16, 2017
  • DoaM
    DoaM Posts: 11,863 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    Sicard wrote: »
    That's what I did. Now it's deceased.

    Hopefully you're referring to the windows.old folder and not the PC. :eek:
This discussion has been closed.
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