Windows 10: CANNOT DELETE windows.old (DiskCleanup and cmd.exe methods dont work)

Discus and support CANNOT DELETE windows.old (DiskCleanup and cmd.exe methods dont work) in Windows 10 Performance & Maintenance to solve the problem; I was stupid and manually tried to delete windows.old. Didn't work. So then I decided to see how to properly do it. Well apparently by manually trying... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Performance & Maintenance' started by AndySween, Nov 2, 2017.

  1. ANDYSWEEN
    AndySween Win User

    CANNOT DELETE windows.old (DiskCleanup and cmd.exe methods dont work)


    I was stupid and manually tried to delete windows.old. Didn't work. So then I decided to see how to properly do it. Well apparently by manually trying to delete the files, when I tried to use diskcleanup and look for the "Previous Windows Installation" check box does not show up anywhere. I assume its because I'm an idiot and tried to delete windows.old myself manually. Hmph!!! After all that I tried doing the cmd.exe method. It ran but all files said, "Access Denied". So am I completely screwed? Do I need to completely reinstall windows now to fix this or is there some way to do this still? It takes up about 27 gigs of space so I would really like to free that up. Thank you for any advice.

    :)
     
    AndySween, Nov 2, 2017
    #1
  2. RUBERT MUMPS
    Rubert Mumps Win User

    Disk Cleanup is not removing Windows.old

    Having joyfully installed Windows 10 Anniversary, I uninstalled Windows10upgrade no problem. Then going to Disk Cleanup to remove Windows.old, I unchecked everything in there apart from (forgot what it's called now) previous windows installment. I did that
    twice but the Windows.old is still there in my directory.

    The Windows.old directory was and is showing 0 bytes. But when I checked it in Diskcleanup, there was 5.52 MB (maybe Gigs) showing.

    I just now ran Diskcleanup again, and now the "previous Windows installment" (remember, I'm calling it this because I forgot the actual name of it) is not showing in there at all now. It's totally gone but still the Windows.old directory is still here in
    File Explorer.

    What should I do with this Windows.old directory? Should I delete it and if doing so, is it going to cause my computer to go awry? Should I go back into Diskcleanup and clean everything out of there also? And why was Diskcleanup showing over 5 mb (or gigs)?

    I've removed Windows.old on two other computers with Diskcleanup and no problem. But on this machine, for some strange reason, this folder does not want to go. Your advice as what to do with this will be appreciated. Thanks.
     
    Rubert Mumps, Nov 2, 2017
    #2
  3. TRUONG LOAN
    Truong Loan Win User
    I want to delete the Windows.old folder, how?

    I'm on the C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe type this command yes delete be no ?

    RD /S /Q %SystemDrive%\windows.old
     
    Truong Loan, Nov 2, 2017
    #3
  4. EAGLE51
    Eagle51 Win User

    CANNOT DELETE windows.old (DiskCleanup and cmd.exe methods dont work)

    Eagle51, Nov 2, 2017
    #4
  5. BREE
    Bree New Member
    Note that Option Two in that tutorial is your 'cmd.exe method' - it says it must be an elevated command prompt. Did you try in a normal command prompt?
     
    Bree, Nov 2, 2017
    #5
  6. ADDRAM
    AddRAM Win User
    There may be a driver in there that windows is still using, let it go 10 days and see if windows deletes it on its own.

    But any live Linux version should let you go in and delete it.
     
    AddRAM, Nov 2, 2017
    #6
  7. FREEBOOTER
    FreeBooter Win User
    How you tried deleting Windows.old folder from Safe Mode.
     
    FreeBooter, Apr 5, 2018
    #7
Thema:

CANNOT DELETE windows.old (DiskCleanup and cmd.exe methods dont work)

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