Windows 10: Windows.old cleanup recovery-amount mystery

I decided to commit to the Windows 10 upgrade and get rid of the Windows.old folder, which was very large. After I ran the System Files Cleanup option in Disk Cleanup, it reported that I could gain over 18GB by proceeding. So I did, and the Windows.old folder disappeared. However, my free space increased by only about 3GB. I am totally bewildered by this result. I would really appreciate it if someone could provide some insight.

One of my guesses is that Windows 10 was using some of the files in Windows.old, and that, before deleting the files it does not need, it copied the ones it does need over into the Windows folder. Another guess is that the Windows folder was compressed and that is no longer. It is now about 11GB. My vague memory is that it was about 7GB before.

I took a look around with Windirstat, and I could not see anything strange.

This little notebook only has 27.8GB of available on-board flash for bulk memory, of which only 5.3GB remain free. I can account for about 3GB of stuff I have installed; but I was hoping for a bit more head room. I have installed a 32GB SD card; but I would prefer not to have to use that to install programs. (I expect to use it for media files.)

:)

 

Need to revert from Win10 to Win7 without Windows.old folder

it's been a long time since my Dell PC was upgraded from win7 to win10, so I think I can't do a rollback, and the windows.old folder is gone. Will I need to get the Win7 image on a disk from Dell and do a complete reinstall?

There is a mystery drive D on the machine (that I can't access) which might be a recovery partition or recovery media?

 

Windows 10 Disk cleanup is not removing Windows.old

Hello Karthicka,

I am having a hard time finding a solution in Windows 10 for this problem; I upgraded to Windows 10 approximately 8 days ago.

When I open the Disk Cleanup app (by the means you describe or through the other interfaces), my Disk Cleanup's interface shows no options whatsoever related to older versions of Windows, nor is there any checkbox option that amounts to anywhere near as
much data as my the "Windows.old" folder in my "OS (C" disk (which is a ~16.7G folder).

In other words, my Disk Cleanup application seems to be unaware or unable to detect the "Windows.old" folder.

Is there any way I can delete it without using Disk Cleanup?

 

Clean Reinstall Windows 10 using the compact OS option. That will make it take a lot less space. The compact OS is upgradeable between builds as well. I am running it now on my main PC that has a SSD.

 

Can you explain how to do that, please?

 

That "little notebook" sounds like the Dell Venue 8 Win8.1 Tablet I got several months ago [Upgraded to Win10], came with 32GB internal storage and less than half was available for added programs and data storage. It does have a slot for a MicroSD card and yesterday I received a 64GB card and works fine. The 64GB card is formatted as exFAT instead of FAT32 or NTFS [Windows has issues with over 32GB and FAT32 formatting although can use it if done by other means].

 

You don't have to guess about it, since you can click on "My System Specs". What you will see there is HP Stream 11 X360. It is different in important ways. It has an 11" screen. It has a keyboard with a touchpad pointing device in addition to a touch screen. It will function in pure tablet mode, but I almost always have the keyboard available. Its bulk memory is only eMMC as opposed to SSD. Its list price is comparable. I regard it as quite a bargain. (I got it even cheaper very slightly used on eBay.)

I'm still hoping someone can help explain the discrepancy between the expected bulk memory recovery and the actual result.

 

Regarding the compact OS option,

I found the answer to that here at Ten Forums:
Compact OS - Compress or Uncompress Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

Well, that will compress or uncompress the already installed Windows 10.

How do you set the compact OS option during a clean install?

 

Are you sure the windows.old folder was actually deleted? I read even after using disk cleanup and CCleaner some people were reporting the windows.old folder would not delete. Someone posted a way to delete windows.old folder through the command prompt but I can't find it. That's how I deleted it on my computer. I read after 30 days it will delete with no problem.

 

Fairly sure. Windirstat was able to account for all the memory in usage, and I could not see any large block that could be attributed to Windows.old.

 

I have a hp stream 14 with 32gb emmc just upgraded to win 10 home (free upgrade) bought for travelling/watching
media etc just building up to doing a fresh install/repair to clear some space. have looked at windows old files and disk
management at system reserved partitions trying to decide best way to go. anybody know how small can the footprint be
with a compressed fresh install? would also like to know if you can run some software from usb stick/micro sd card if there's
not enough free hard drive space