Windows 10: Windows broken after manually removing the windows.old folder

Since I removed the windows.old folder to clean up some disk space, I am running into issues. It was hard to remove the folder in the first place, as I needed to reboot a few times before deleting the folder. It was almost as if the folder was still in use.


Once the folder was gone, I got some error messages, and some programs are gone. The calendar app doesn't start anymore. But the worst is that MS Office is gone. Just gone. I have tried to re-install it, but it always fails about halfway, with an error about file writing permissions. I have tried to install my own Office 2016 version and the 365 version from work. But both give similar problems.


I have also tried all of the solutions on this page but to no avail.



I am not ready to do a clean install yet, as my only real problem is that I cannot install MS Office, but everything else is working just fine.

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

C windows installer folder - Delete?

He can do symbolic link redirection and move the files in it to a different location. *Wink
Better try it out in a virtual of first. Just a suggestion.

Like:
First move everything in c:\windows\installer to d:\installercache
Then delete c:\windows\installer folder
Then type this in command mode as admin
mklink /d c:\windows\installer d:\installercache

Removing those installer files is a bad idea. it might prevent you from updating or uninstalling apps.

 

Removing Windows.old folder

I recently had to reinstall my OS (don't ask). Once I did there were files that I couldn't delete. Basically SecuROM files. Anyway long story short I found this workaround that I wanted to share with my fellow newbs. This will work for any file and works like a charm. Just follow the directions. *Toast :toast:
Note: there is no space between "Administrators: (F)" I just had to but one in because it kept giving me an "unhappy face"

When installing Windows Vista, Windows stores any existing installation of Windows on the install partition inside a hidden folder called windows.old. This folder could take up a large amount of disk space.

Note: Please check the contents of the windows.old folder before deleting it to make sure there are no files stored there that you may wish to keep.

Deleting the window.old folder using the disk cleanup wizard
Click start
Type: disk cleanup
Press enter
Select "Files from all users on this computer"
Follow the rest of the instructions listed on the wizard and select the option to delete the windows.old folder
Deleting the windows.old folder manually
1) Open an elevated command prompt

Click start
Type: cmd
right-click it under programs
click Run As Administrator
2) Take ownership


Change the directory to the windows.old folder (e.g. cd c:\windows.old)
Type: takeown /F . /A /R /D Y > NUL
3) grant yourself permission

Type: icacls . /grant:r Administrators: (F) /T /L /Q
4) Delete everything

Make sure you close any explorer or command windows that are looking at or inside the windows.old folder (except for the command window you are using). If you don't, you will receive an error while performing this step.

Type: cd ..
Type: rmdir /S /Q windows.old