Windows 10: How do I delete old Windows folders???

Okay this is a hard question because I have been trying to do this for a while. I have two old Windows folders - 40 gig of wasted space. Here's what I have done: 1. renamed them 2. tried many times to delete them (or some of them). 3. removed "trusted installer" as the owner and gave it to me 4. placed my user id and "users" as the only two that could do anything with the folders and given both all functions. The result is that Windows says I have to get permission from me to delete the folders. Suggestions please?

:)

 

how do i delete an old corrupt Administrative account?

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how do i delete an old corrupt Administrative account?

how do i delete an old corrupt Administrative account?

someone from microsoft switched over my regular administrative account to OWNER now i have 3 administrative accounts 2 good and 1 bad--

i think i should delete the corrupt as she tried to use it and when it could not be fixed (I warned her several times) it almost shut me down-i cannot figure out how to change back from OWNER to the administrative account i was using (I see no difference)
but as it is working I can leave it this way I guess, but I feel I should get rid of the corrupt Administrative account before someone tries to touch it again-pls help

Moved From: Windows / Windows 10 / Windows settings

 

Clean up under Admin tools.

 

Folders with the name 'Windows.old' are created by the system when you upgrade from one version of windows to a new one. These are used to hold your original system files should you wish to roll back to your previous version. the major Windows 10 updates (the Fall Update last November and now the Anniversary Update) are actually a full install of the revised OS and also create Windows.old folders.

These should have been automatically deleted when the 30-day (or 10-day for the AU) roll-back period expired. If this hasn't happened or you want to delete them earlier than that, then use Windows' built-in Disk Clean-Up app. Either run it as Administrator or run it normally then click the 'Clean up system files' button. NB: if you have renamed these folders, put back their original names first or it may not find them.

 

This doesn't always work. Sometimes the computer is still using files in the Windows.old subfolders, and it will not delete them if they are in use. So I've had to resort to good old command line delete with Windows shutdown. Then when you restart, Windows finds some replacements for those deleted files.

Bob Frost

 

Windows old is removed automatically after a month. I thought?

 

Windows old should be removed automatically (BTW: for the AU that's now just 10 days) but (particularly for the original 10240) I've seen cases where that failed to take place. A manual Disk Clean-Up was needed to remove mine last July.

 

I don't believe that is the case if the new Windows10 is still using some files in the Windows.old subfolders. In my case twice, only shutting down windows and using the command line delete on those files, solved the problem for me. I don't think Disk Clean can remove files that are still in use. Not sure why Windows was still using one or two of the files in Windows.old, but only the unused files were removed in my cases.)

bob Frost

 

Yes it is still the case with Windows 10. Nothing has changed in cleaning out under System Cleanup in the Cleanup utility.

 

CCleaner also has an option for remove Old Windows Installation ......in the Advance Section , which has worked for me in the Past.

KB

 

Why on earth would windows still be using files in the windows.old folder? (no, don't answer that, I'm just expressing amazement that something so obviously stupid should be allowed to occur). It might help explain why @nIGHTmAYOR and @TairikuOkami are having so much trouble in this thread, though.
Residual windows.old folder despite everything that comes to mind

 

Try option 2 and 3 in this tutorial Windows.old Folder - Delete in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

If you read the subsequent 13 pages of replies in that tutorial you will find a small number of people reported the same problem as here - some files cannot be deleted by the methods in the tutorial because they are in use. See post #120 where the offered solution was to disable a particular device in Device Manager and post #124 that confirmed that this worked, here:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...tml#post793493

 

So, your solution is don't even try?