If you have been using Windows 10 for a long time, you have already noticed the Windows.old folder in your system installation drive. If you have upgraded to Windows 11, your system will automatically create Windows.old folder.
This folder has system files of your old Windows OS. Windows system will use this folder to roll back to the previous version. If you don’t want to roll back to Windows 10 or 7, you can safely remove the Windows.old folder. It is completely safe to delete this folder. Another reason to delete Windows.old folder is, to create some space because Windows.old folder uses too much space.
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How to Delete Windows.old folder in Windows 11
Microsoft has introduced a new built-in drive optimization tool with Storage Sense to clean up the folders and files. You can use these steps to manually delete Windows.old folder.
1: How to manually delete the Windows.old folder
You can delete the folder manually to clean some space on your Windows 11. Follow these steps:
Step 1: First open the file explorer window with the Windows + E button on your keyboard.
Step 2: Go to your system installation drive and then find Windows.old folder.
Step 3: Right-click on the Windows.old folder and choose delete. If asked, click on yes. You have administrator access to delete this Windows.old folder.
Once done, the folder will be deleted.
To finish the process, restart your device.
2: Use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete the Windows.old folder
You can use the disk cleanup tool to remove this folder automatically. Follow these steps to use the disk cleanup tool on your Windows 11.
Step 1: Open the start menu with the Windows button on your keyboard. Then type disk cleanup in the start menu.
Step 2: In the disk cleanup tool, click on the Clean up system Files button.
Step 3: It will take some time to scan your computer for unused files.
Step 4: Once done, it will show all the items you can delete to free up space.
Step 5: Note that it is completely safe to delete all these files. You’ll get a prompt to confirm this delete process.
You can also configure Storage Sense to delete these all files automatically in Windows 11.
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Conclusion
If your storage is very low then you should delete Windows old folder on your Windows. The folder is not very important for your system. Windows create Windows old folder to save old system files.
