Windows 10: Backup (Win7 version) says can't find windows.old

I'm using the Win7 Backup and Restore on my Win 10 system. Sometime after he big update happened I decided to get rid of the C:\Windows.old\ folder and used Disk Cleanup to do it. It said it did but some parts of the folder remained. IIRC I manually deleted the left over parts. So now there is no Windows.old folder.

However, subsequent backups have reported that some files were skipped and lists C:\Windows.old\ as the skipped file.
I have used system Error Checking facility to check the C disk and it says everything is fine. And Disk Cleanup does not list any previous versions of Windows to clean.

I believe the backups are OK but I don't like the backup saying it didn't complete successfully.

Suggesting on how to make this error go away?

-- Larry

:)

 

backing up windows 10

The backup or image you make will be your Windows 10 files. Might also include the roll back to win7 should you ever need that because that windows.old folder would probably be included in the system image - that you probably want to make.

The backup program was designed for win7 originally.. must be some reason it still says that win7 tidbit, but I don't know why.

 

I had a laptop with windows vista I upgraded to windows 7 and all my files went to windows.old and then when I upgraded from 7 to windows 10 I cannot find the files.

And you have no backup? The Windows.old folder you saw in Win7 had files you should have dragged out to new Win7 folders. When you went from 7 to 10, the Windows.old folder was replaced with Win7 files, not Vista files.

Backup your data on a regular schedule, not after you lose them. I backup every week or two.

 

I wonder if you care to try this.....................
Instead of using Backup and Restore (Windows 7), select File History from Control Panel.
Open File History and use it to do the backup. Will you get the same "skip" message ?

 

I tried File History and it gave no error. I was not surprised since File History only backs up the user's files, no system files.
-- Larry

 

File History has the option called System Image Backup. Just the same one as in Windows 7.
That is to backup system files and the image. Yes ?

 

I created a System Image Backup with Win 7 Backup&Restore. It did not complain about windows.old. I'm not surprised since this is not a file level backup so issues with the directory do not come into play. I think this kind of backup uses the disk structures to find all the used blocks and writes them to the System Image.
-- Larry

 

I had a problem like that some time ago, got error message saying some files were skipped, I checked details for the names of those files, then found those files on the computer and copied them to where backup said they were missed from. After that no more errors.

I've used the windows backup/image for years with no problems, have had to reimage from the backup a few times and all went well.

 

Larrymcg,
4 wesks have past. If no more issue, would you consider problem solved ?
If yes, please mark this thread as Solved.
If not, please elaborate the issue.
Thank you.

 

I just marked the thread Unsolved based on new info. I was wondering where the reference to windows.old might be so I fired up Regedit to search the registry. It found a reference so I did a Find Next to see if there were more. Regedit ran for several minutes without finding anything. The Task Manager showed Regedit using about 25% of the cpu. Finally I clicked Cancel and Windows said regedit had died and restarted regedit. I tried several times and got the same results.

So then I searched for other things in the registry and regedit behaved normally and found multiple instances of the search item.

But it continued to consistently fail with windows.old.

Now I'm a bit worried about the registry but have no clue as to what to do about it.

Suggestions?

-- Larry

 

Windows.old is supposed to be removed by the system automatically after 30 days a new OS version is installed.
If you had the current Windows 10 installed more than 30 days ago, that would be why you could not find windows.old.

adding.................... there is no need to use registry to find windows.old.
It resides within C :drive if it has not been deleted.

 

davidhk, My original post explained how I used DiskCleanup to remove Windows.old but it left some files behind so I manually deleted those. So I fully expected windows.old to be gone. However, Backup&Restore claims on every backup that some files could not be found - specifically windows.old. So there is a lingering reference somewhere. Hence the search of the registry leading to my previous post.
-- Larry

 

Oh. My apology.
I should have re-read your original post to refresh my memory.

I have no answer for you regarding your problem with Backup and Restore.

I am sure someone will come along to help you.
Good luck.

 

It's been a long time with no activity on this thread so I will mark it solved. Or maybe there is another designation like "gave up" ?

So I will just live with the warning from backup/restore.

Cheers,
Larry

 

It's quite possible the Windows.old Folder from Win7 [used for going back to the previous OS] was deleted about 30 days after doing the Upgrade. It's also possible, particularly after doing the Win10 Reset, that the Windows.old Folder was replaced by the Reset, maybe even that an update could do it. Just a few of the variables.