Windows 10: Unable to remove Window.old

That should do the job
Add take ownership and take ownership of it and delete it
or change owner
cmd can work too!
You can try to log in to the hidden admin account too

 

My route to system files not deleting was different but the end result was I had Windows.old and a few other folders that would not delete. I also had some other (unconnected) files which I temporarily moved elsewhere, then I reformatted disc. That got rid of the troublesome files.

 

Well people, thank you for the responses. Before those responses came rolling in like 4 barrels of rainwater, I forged ahead like a herd of angry fire ants and took the CCleaner route and Windows.old flew the coup.
I did use Tree-size Tree and am seeing things I never saw before. There is a Folder there that I cannot see in in File Explorer and that is called Recovery-bin. I was surprised to see that in addition to Recycle-bin but this thing called Recovery-bin is huge. I never knew it existed before but am wondering what to do with it. I thought I read somewhere that a program called Undelete creates that and I did have that program on here for a while. I see it was created January 6 2015. I am wondering, can I just delete it from within Tree-size tree or should I leave it. Have you happy folk ever dealt with this before and what advice would you give.

 

And then again, there is silence. Was it something I said, like the CCleaner thing? Like, how many times does this happen on forums? Seriously, if I have offended someone or everyone, do let me know or let all know.

 

Way to go Steve! Thank you very much!

 

I tried every method I found and eventually I succeeded deleting it with Mini Windows XP (on Hiren's CD).

 

I finally had to call support. She tried this and that and no way would it work. Finally this gal created a temporary User Account, moved the Folder over there and drove three spears right through it. In other words, she killed the thing. Or in other words again, she deleted it, removed the temporary User Account and all is well. She said the Folder or File was corrupt. It isn't now though. It's a gone corrupt file.