Windows 10: How to remove old unused files from windows10 (upgraded from Windows7)

Hi TenForums Team!!!
i have Dell Inpiron 3420 Laptop. Windows7 Home Basic was my built-in OS. Now i have upgraded it to Windows10 Home Edition. Now i have left less space in my C-drive. So i want to delete unused files, folders from C-drive. please guide me. and i also want to backup my windows10 too.

:)

 

old video card removed & uninstalled. Old video card still recognized

I uninstalled & removed my old video card preventing me from upgrading to Windows10. Mounted & installed software for windows10 compatible new video card. I then uninstalled Windows10 driver & ran Windows7 update for video card. Windows 10 upgrade still
recognizes only old video card even though it was removed from comp & Program uninstalled. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

windows and windows.old

In my new windows10 laptop, my old computer's windows7 back up files have saved.

windows7 back up files is occupying about 13GB space.

suggest me how to delete window folder (windows7) and keep my window.old (windows10).

 

There is a Windows_old folder on your C:, you can delete this - but then you have no option for 30 days to roll back to your Windows 7. Basically, after these 30 days a task is run to delete precisely this folder.

EDIT: You can always make a clean install of your Windows 7, should you want to go back.

 

what will happen if I delete "window_old" folder now ? Screen shot also attached of C-drive.

 

Short answer is Disk Cleanup. You should NOT simply delete windows.old.

However, what I like to do is clean install.
Just download microsoft's official upgrade tool: Windows 10
Plug in your USB, run it, and select 'Create USB for other PC', or something similar, wait for usb to be created, boot from usb and do a clean install.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. Do this after you successfully upgraded once, 'cause once a machine is activated on Windows 10 it'll stay activated after the clean install too, but if it wasn't activated before it won't activate with the clean install. And when you're required to enter keys, just skip (you'll be prompted 2 times).
To check if your windows is activated, do 'slmgr /xpr' in cmd.

 

Good info and saving this to keep.. Thanks for all... Cliff M.

 

It got edited for additional info. Don't miss it. (your quote doesn't have the edit)

 

with clean install i will lost my registerd/activated windows. Actually, i have upgraded my Windows 7 Home Basic to Windows 10 Home Edition. this windows 10 is activated as my windows 7 was. so my question is if i tried a clean install my windows will be activated or not ?? sorry for my weak english.

 

Yes, if you clean install after your Windows 10 was once activated, it will be activated after the clean install too. Sorry if I wasn't clear the first time. Again. If you do a clean install on a machine that had Windows 10 activated on it, it will activate itself after the installation.

Now if you're wondering 'how', Microsoft takes the IDs of the machine's components and uses them to calculate a hash value. That's why Windows 10 is a 'hardware bound' upgrade. It'll work on that machine, it may not work if you change some parts of it. Now if you're using a laptop, you'll simply stay activated.

Windows 10 is an upgrade 'for the lifetime of the machine'. So if you do a clean install you won't lose your license.

 

Thank you Marron for your good behavior and support. i will mark as solved if it worked for me. and one more thing would you please guide me if i did a clean install with "windows 10 PRO" instead of "windows 10 HOME Edition" would it be activated or not as home edition was ?

 

If the version installed doesn't match with the version activated, it will not activate. If you have the Home Edition, you need to install the Home Edition. For more information about how the upgrade works you can check here:
Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums
Or more specially this part:

 

Marron, I tried to do an in place repair. It failed due to the Modern Host problem. After the failed attempt I rebooted my machine forgetting to remove the USB drive. so the machine booted into the Windows install screen. I tried to carry on to see where it would take me. Even though I had successfully upgraded from W7 and am fully activated, per the settings panel, the install process asked me for the W10 key off my email receipt or the box. Of course, I don't have either. I couldn't continue with the install without the key. Any ideas?

 

The chart is handy to have but making it even handier would have been including the footnotes, 2, 3, 4 and 5, must be some impact on those items.

 

Yeah. There is a skip button (down on the left, I think). When you are prompted to enter the key, just skip. But instead of 'skip', there may be a 'do this later'.

Now if you booted from the USB and don't want that, you can exit the installation by pressing Escape a number of times. Or simiply press the 'X' button on that window, and you'll be asked if you want to cancel the installation. Your machine should reboot normally. Now I don't really know what the 'repairs' are, or how the work, so I can't help there. Every time I had a major problem I did a clean install. It's so easy now with Windows 10 that I don't even bother to fix stuff (but can't really think of something that broke either). It takes 30 - 60 minutes to have everything up and running.