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Windows Previous Installation
If you upgraded the computer from a previous version of Windows, Previous Windows Installation(s) will contain files from that installation. To see the files, look in the folder C: Windows.old. If you need any of the files, such as your My Documents folder from Windows XP, copy them to another location before running Disk Cleanup. It was introduced back in Windows Vista, and this folder is automatically created when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another, like from Windows 7 to 10 or when you install major updates like the Anniversary update. This folder contains all the necessary data, files, and other settings of the previous Windows installation.
Did you upgrade your PC to Windows 10? If so, ever wonder what happened to the previous version of the OS? Free download movies. It probably disappeared into the mists of Windows past, right?
Wrong. Your old OS didn't get erased; rather, it's lingering in a system folder called, aptly enough, Windows.old. And depending on the size of that version, it could be hogging a lot of precious space.
First things first: If you think you might want to downgrade from Windows 10 back to the previous version, don't delete that folder.
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Second, unless you're seriously strapped for space on your hard drive, you don't have to do anything: Windows 10 will automatically delete the Windows.old folder one month after you performed your upgrade.
If you'd rather not wait -- if you want to reclaim that storage now -- you can delete the folder immediately, though not in the way you might expect. Indeed, if you simply click the folder and then press the Delete key, Windows will tell you you need permission, yada-yada, etc.
Here's the proper way to delete the Windows.old folder:
Step 1: Click in Windows' search field, type Cleanup, then click Disk Cleanup.
Step 2: Click the 'Clean up system files' button.
Step 3: Wait a bit while Windows scans for files, then scroll down the list until you see 'Previous Windows installation(s).'
Step 4: Check the box next to the entry, then make sure there are no other boxes checked (unless you do indeed want to delete those items). Click OK to start the cleanup.
As you can see from my screenshots, Windows 8 was occupying nearly 25GB of space -- a full 10 percent of my solid-state drive. Needless to say, I was glad to be rid of it and get that space back.
Are you hanging on to Windows.old just in case, or do you think you'll send it to the recycle bin right now?
If you have ever upgraded your Windows installation without formatting, you have probably come across the Windows.old folder which houses all the files from your previous installation. Here’s how to use it to restore your files.
RELATED:What is the Windows.old Folder and How Do You Delete It?
You might be wondering if you can actually remove the Windows.OLD folder, and the answer is that you definitely can — just read our article on the topic for more. Just make sure that you don’t want to revert back to the previous operating system before you do, and that you don’t need any files stored in it (which is pretty unlikely but it’s still best to make sure).
Copy Them Manually
If you wish to restore your files manually you can open up the Computer panel and navigate to the root of your OS drive to access the Windows.old folder.
The bulk of your files will be under:
Windows.oldUsers%Username%
Which is what is left of your original user profile.
To restore your files, enter one of the folders and select all the files and folders contained within it. Now press the shift button on your keyboard and right click on one of the items, then navigate to the “Send to” section of the context menu. You will notice that by holding the shift key we have unlocked a whole bunch of hidden items in the context menu, so you can go ahead and send the files to their matching folder in your current Windows installation.
Use the Wizard
Admittedly restoring all your files via the manual method can be rather tedious. So Microsoft has recently introduced a new troubleshooter, which you can grab from the Windows site, that automatically moves all your files in the Windows.old folder to the corresponding locations within your new Windows installation.
Once downloaded you can launch the wizard and click next.
Cannot Find Previous Windows Installations Delete
From there it’s pretty much all automated, if you had stuff on your desktop you will slowly see the icons appear.
It is seriously as simple as that.
That’s all there is to it.
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