Windows 10: $windows.~bt folder will not delete and is not deleted by disk cleanup run as administrator.

The $windows.~bt folder has never been a problem but after an inplace upgrade to cure a failed

update this week, the folder and 16 gigs of data would not delete! All the techs are telling me

it is an essential part of the OS. But unless something changed in the terrible march 09, 21 update,
then something happened that the os put hooks into the folder and its subs.

I used a unhook program which took 9 hours and deposited the folders and files into the recycle bin.
I removed the files with a file manager which left 6000 folders created by the recycle bin. These $ folders

were created by the recycle bin to hold the data that was put there. Nothing would remove them.
I used an Aomei backup image to go back to January and we will see if the march and april windows updates

run smoothly.

I had no problem deleting the ~bt folder and subs on my other machine. In fact I think I did it with file manager.

Its been a real labor intensive couple of week. Things have not gone smoothly. Kind of like Russian Roulette
to see if an update will proceed. Microsoft update roulette!

I am not new to computers, my first OS being DOS 5 and I am careful.

Never ever have problems except during updates.

Has anyone experienced these kind of issues or know of changes in the root update files.

I am being told that they are essential and need to remain. That is very different from what

I have come to know and is shared on this forum.



Paul

:)

 

Windows 8 - delete windows folders in another drive

I have the problem (from Windows 8) to delete the folders windows and programs on a secondary disk on which it was 7 .... know how to get full control to delete those folders?

 

What is the $WINDOWS.`BT folder? Is it safe to delete?

Hi Lam

Open the Settings App (gear icon on your Start Menu)

Go to Update and Security - Windows Updates

What update(s) are showing as pending on your system?

if you are seeing a Feature Update like version 1809 or 1903 in that list, then most likely the files being downloaded fro that update are in the $WINDOWS.`BT folder

Otherwise, you can safely delete that folder, run Disk Cleanup twice as explained below, then after that, if that folder still exists, try deleting it manually . .

Before proceeding, if you have any files in your Downloads folder that you need to keep, move those to another folder for long term storage . . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

 

The Windows.old folder will not delete


So I followed these steps:

• I opened my search box.
  
  
• In the search box, type Admin, I right clicked Disk Cleanup and selected run as Administrator.
• In the Disk Cleanup dialog, I clicked Clean up system files.
  
  
• I select the Previous Windows installation(s) check box, and then clicked OK.
  
  
• I then clicked Delete files.
  
  
  the folder is still there.... any ideas what to do now???