Should I Delete the Windows.old Folder After Refreshing Windows?

ussnorway

Windows Forum Team

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• Apr 15, 2018

• #2

Peterr said:

Do I need to delete the Windows.old folder too?

Click to expand...

no you don't need to but you can if you want

• right click the C drive
• select disk clean-up and the extra clean up system files option
• tick previous windows

p.s, the folder itself will be removed by the clean up... that is one way you know that you did not make a mistake

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2025

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Hermitkrab

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• May 14, 2018

• #3

Is there any benefit to deleting Windows Old? Shouldn't that be kept if you wish to reset your computer?

 

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Neemobeer

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• May 14, 2018

• #4

The benefit would be to reclaim space. The Windows.old directory will automatically be removed in 30 days.

 

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Solution

Axel PC

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• May 14, 2018

• #5

@Neemobeer I thought it stayed until you deleted it? Now, will the entire folder be deleted or just the contents and are you notified when it's deleted? Thanks.

 

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Neemobeer

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• May 15, 2018

• #6

The entire Windows.Old directory will be removed.

On Pro and Enterprise versions you can get and set the rollback counter

DISM /Online /Get-OSUninstallWindow

DISM /Online /Set-OSUninstallWindow /Value:<days>

 

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Axel PC

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• May 15, 2018

• #7

Oh wow yeah my .old file is empty.

 

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ussnorway

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• May 16, 2018

• #8

ime the only real benefit is having control of your files {important for some backup software} and yes there could be malware hiding in it but thats not likely

 

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Axel PC

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• May 16, 2018

• #9

I suppose it's not a big deal. It was Windows 7 Pro but I am on Windows 10 Pro now too.

 

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