Windows 10: W10 stashed TEMP folders inside windows.old - how to proceed?

Dear Tenforums,

As I was doing some defragging i noticed that several of my most fragmented files were stashed away in the windows.old folder. I thought this folder was for recovering old installation and personal files? ain't that the thought of said folder?

Moving on, as I want to clear up some disk space and up until now never had any use (atleast that i know of? enlighten me if u want) the windows.old folder; i figured i'd delete it; or atleast delete some of the "big files" that came up during my defraging, as some were old install files and movies etc.

I then noticed after streaming a netflix movie earlier today (before defragging) that it was actually stored inside the TEMP folder INSIDE the windows.old folder, instead of the "new" temp folders placed outside windows.old.
I then proceeded to "run" --> TEMP and %TEMP% and noticed these folders were pretty bare in terms of content.
Thus, although i might be wrong, it appears as my windows have put/prefer to use the TEMP FOLDERS inside the windows.old folder, rather than in the temp folders in my "new" windows folder etc.

This thus makes me a bit scared to delete/cleanup files and/or the whole windows.old folder.
How shall i proceed? will deleting/cleaning it up screw something over in terms of me "loosing out on my temp folder" etc. etc.

thanks!

edit: spelling bee champion + if this post is misplaced! please move it

:)

 

Windows.Old keeps reappearing in each drive of the system even after delete and keeps increasing in size

Exactly Same Problem , these temp files are come back automatically after restart no matter how many times you delete it even my antivirus detect these files as virus (Webroot Antivirus) but still after delete by antivirus it comes back and runs on background
you can even see it on task manager. it happend only after windows update

All windows.old folder can only be deleted when you stop that background process , after stopping , you will see that now windows.old folders are empty automatically, there is no files inside.

 

Sudden 17 GB Free Space on OS's Partition.

Have you recently upgraded to W10, via Insider program or by another means, is so, when you upgraded windows created a file named "windows.old' this folder enabled you to revert back to your previous OS if you so desired, after 10 days or later, this folder
is automatically deleted. the size of 'windows.old' could well have be 10gb.

This is what I suspect has happened.

 

I believe windows will be old as Windows.old folder to store temp for first 30 days.. until your Rollback period expires (30 days)..
if you delete windows.old folder.. nothing bad will happen just ... you wont be able to revert back to old windows version.

 

thanks for the response manish!
well im almost 100% sure i've had w10 for about 3-4 months now..atleast!
is there a way to check my rollback timer?
if not, is there any other reason why its selecting temp folder?
what will happen to temp files if I delete the windows.old folder...will they "magically" just start being put in the "new" temp folders?

 

No rollback period is Over.
U can go to settings >> update and security >> Recovery to check if Rollback Option is still available.
I still believe windows.old folder should have been deleted by now.. automatically (happened in my case).
I still believe nothing bad should happen if you delete windows.old folder.
to be on a safer side... Create a system restore point or check if one is already there before deleting.

 

It depends. If you've received the anniversary upgrade a Windows.old folder will have been created then- but apparently it's a 10 day period for the anniversary upgrade after which it should vanish.

You shouldn't regard the Windows.old as a backup for personal items. These are transferred to your current files and folders.

How To Delete Windows.old Folder In Windows 10

 

thanks manish *Smile

ty for the response!

Ah, i never knew or thought windows.old had anything to do with the anniversary update. I guess that explains why "windows is using windows.old temp folder" instead of my new one, as the the one i have been using has been stashed into .old due to anniversary.

So if manish above here is right, then ur saying my windows.old folder will dissapear within 10 days? what "functionality" do i really loose out on when either I myself delete it or windows automatically does so in 10 days?reverting back to "pre-anniversary upgrade"? if my rollback period is ended, i dont see what else *Cool

 

Think more generally. Windows.old and $Windows.~BT are created whenever the mechanism of a Windows installation is applied on top of an existing Windows OS. Thus any upgrade or any in-place upgrade repair.

These are only used if you roll back. It is not used by your current OS- certainly shouldn't be.

The Anniversary upgrade, if you have received it, was launched on Aug 2nd. Its delivery was phased.

 

Well thats the issue, it appears my OS is using the temp folder inside windows.old, rather than the temp folders located elsewhere.
thus is why i'm scared of touching the folder, as that would mean windows lost its temp folder. I have a feeling w10 ain't going to magically figure out "aah, lets use the actual temp folders located outside windows.old now". But maybe im wrong?

 

It should be deleted automatically 10 days after the anniversary upgrade.

 

Launch Command Prompt
type set

Where do the variables TEMP and TMP point
set
.
.
PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public
SESSIONNAME=Console
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\Windows
TEMP=C:\Users\Dad\AppData\Local\Temp
TMP=C:\Users\Dad\AppData\Local\Temp
.
.
If you see anything in your list that points to C:\windows.old
Please post that information.

 

If you see anything in your list that points to C:\windows.old
Please post that information. thank you for the response! atleast this nifty trick helped me figure ou it ain't pointing to windows.old. So thanks!
So i guess the stored temp-netflix files was just due to netflix and chilling while also upgrading anniversary edition then?

So, i conclude that i most likely don't have anything to worry about...the folder will dissapear in 10 days time like dalchina said and i can go about my merry way?

thanks for the responses guys!

 

I'm almost 100% certain that there is no issue. The only way to be 100% certain is to see if Netflix is somehow writing to a folder that doesn't normally exist in Windows.

Watch something on Netflix and afterwards, look at the windows.old ... temp folder - if there are files from the time you watched the show, then Netflix is using the wrong folder - it's doubtful.

For that warm and fuzzy feeling %TEMP% is a place to hold ... wait for it ... temporary files.
They are not important, an app or Windows will create new temporary files if needed.
I periodically clean out %TEMP% with cCleaner and/or TFC and I usually delete windows.old shortly after the upgrate.

Yep ... you can go about your merry way and not worry about this *Biggrin

Your welcome,

Bill
.

 

Ill keep a lookout then. If it is as you guys say and that the windows.old folder will be removed anyway after my 10 day period after the anniv. update i guess windows WILL HAVE TO find a way itself, so i guess ill just stick around and see what mr. windows does himself and maybe it will prove to be solved by him, rather than me *Smile

Thank you all for your answers. Now if i could only figure out my BSOD *Sad maybe i should just switch to a mac! lol.