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How To Delete Old Windows Folder In Windows 8

In this tutorial we will guide you step by step on how to delete old Windows folder in Windows 8.Here’s the following procedure.

If you performed an upgrade to Windows 8, refresh of Windows 8, or a custom installation of Windows 8 in the same partition drive of the last Windows installation, then in the new installation you may probably see a Windows.old folder. It contains a copy of previously installed Windows 8, which can be of large size.

If the Windows.old folder already existed in your installation then when you perform an upgrade install, custom install, or a refresh it will be renamed as Windows.old.000 in addition to the Windows.old folder. The most recent last installation will always present in the Windows.old folder.

But the files stored in the Windows.old folder shares a huge size of space, so it is suggested that you must delete this folder after the successful upgrade, refresh, or custom install to Windows 8. Since the Windows.old folder contains the system files of previously installed Windows, therefore the Windows 8 will not allow you to delete this folder by pressing Shift + Del key.

Hence, to delete Windows.old folder, just follow the simple steps given below.

It should be noted here that to perform the steps given in this tutorial you must be login to your Windows 8 as an Administrator.

Method 1: Using Disk Cleanup

1. Open Run box and type cleanmgr in it and then click on OK to open Disk Clean utility.

2. On the screen now appeared, choose and select that Windows drive where the Windows 8 is installed, most probably it would be C: drive.

3. On the next appeared screen click on Clean Up System Files icon.

4. Now the C: drive will be rescanned by the disk cleanup utility, and later add a ‘Previous Windows installation(s)’ option. Check that option and then click on OK option.

5. Now click on the Delete Files option.

6. When the disk cleanup completes, the Windows.old folder in the current Windows 8 installation will be deleted.

Method 2: Delete Windows.old Folder in Command Prompt during Booting

1. Press Windows + R key to open Run box, and type diskpart in it and then press Enter. Here, just make sure that you note down the name and the total size of Windows 8 installation drive as you will further need this information.

2. Open the Command Prompt during booting by using either the Windows 8 installation DVD or USB, or even the system repair disc.

3. Verifying the Windows 8 installation disk at Boot

In Command prompt:

  1. Type diskpart and then press enter.
  2. Type list volume and then press enter.
  3. In the listed volumes, view and verify your Windows 8 installation drive.
  4. Now type exit and then press enter.

4. Delete Windows.old Folder

  1. In Command prompt type:

RD /S /Q “D:\Windows.old”

And then press Enter

2.Close Command prompt window.

5. Now click on the Continue option to restart your computer.

6. Verify that Windows.old folder has been successfully deleted from your Windows 8 installation.

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