When you update or fix your system, a folder named "Windows.old" is created. It can take up to 20 GB of disk space and cannot be removed normally. What exactly is it and how can you get rid of it?
If you're new to this system feature, it can come in handy, especially if you don't have a large disk. After large Windows 10 updates (called by MS cumulative update) - like the last 1809 we wrote about - the system creates a Windows.old directory on the C drive with old files. For owners of large disks, this is not a problem worth paying attention to, but when our computer is equipped with an SSD disk of only 128 or 64GB (and some intelSticks have even 32GB), occupying a 10GB archive with old files seems like a waste. Anyone who has already tried to manually delete the Windows.old directory has found out that it cannot be completely removed.
How Can You Recover Data from Windows.old Folder
It would be pretty easy to recover files after reinstalling Windows or recover files after Windows update if Windows.old folder does exist on the computer. But, what if this folder has been deleted mistakenly or lost suddenly? Please don’t worry too much since you still have a chance to restore your files from the Windows.old folder.
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3 Steps to Restore Windows.old on Windows 10
In this part, I’ll mainly focus on how to restore programs from Windows.old on Windows 10 in this part.
The first step: select an appropriate option.
After downloading and installing MiniTool data recovery software, you need to launch it to start the recovery.
So, you’ll see the following main interface, which includes 4 options in the left-hand panel. Now, you need to decide which is most suitable for your Windows.old program files missing case.
For all I know, you should select “This PC” and choose certain drive to recover missing Windows.old files. Besides, “Hard Disk Drive” can also be selected if you’d like to perform a full scan on the entire disk (this helps to recover more files).
The second step: scan the target drive.
After clicking on the certain option in the previous step, you’ll need to select the target drive which contains the Windows.old folder from the right-hand panel. Then, click on the “Scan” button to detect missing files. At this time, you ought to select drive C: to scan since the Windows.old folder is saved here by default.
Please highlight the C: drive from the list and then click on the “Scan” button in the lower right corner of the software interface. Then, wait for the full scan patiently (there’re often a lot of files in the system partition).
The third step: pick out needed files & folder.
During the scan, the software will load the scan results for you automatically. You can browse the results now or wait for the completion of the full scan and then take a look at all the found files.
If you discover needed Windows.old files, you ought to check them and press “Save” button immediately.
If you fail to find the files you need from the listed partitions, you ought to click to check the More Lost Files; then, check the needed files if you can find any and click on the “Save” button.
Finally, you should select a destination for the checked files after clicking on the “Save” button (you can’t select the original drive as the destination out of security considerations). Then, click on the “OK” to confirm your selection. When all files have been recovered and saved to the destination, another window will pop up to inform you that the Windows.old restore is completed officially.
That’s all I want to talk about how to recover deleted Windows.old folder and how to restore programs from Windows.old. In addition, I still think it is necessary to discuss more on Windows.old folder, including the location of it, how to show Windows.old folder when it is hidden and how to delete this folder properly when necessary.
Why Do You Need to Restore Deleted Windows.old Folder
You may easily find people caring about how to restore Windows.old files when surfing the internet. Yet, many of you don’t know why they want to retrieve files from the Windows.old folder. To figure this out, you must have a good understanding of how Windows.old folder is generated and what does it contain.
Reasons for You to Restore Windows.old File
With this Windows.old folder, you can roll back to your old system anytime you want when you are not fond of the new system/OS upgrade or when you find problems in it. You can copy files you need from the Windows.old folder and paste them to replace those files in the new system to solve the problem.
However, there is a question arising: what if the useful files in Windows.old folder are deleted by mistake or lost somehow? Definitely, you will need to recover files from Windows.old under such circumstances. In order to help you reach your goal, I recommend MiniTool Power Data Recovery in the previous part and tells you how to do the recovery exactly. You should follow the tutorial carefully.
Important Things to Know about Windows.old Folder
Why Windows.old Folder Is Here
In general, there are mainly two reasons to explain why “Windows.old” folder is still kept in the new system after reinstalling or upgrading.
The first one is that it provides a convenient and safe way for you to go back to the previous system.
While the second one is that it is able to help you recover your personal files from the Windows.old folder easily & quickly.
As for how to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you installed Windows 10, this post tells all. Please read it carefully when a downgrade is needed.
Since this folder does matter and it gets so much attention, I feel like talking more about it. Please select the part that you are interested in to read and skip what you find boring.
Where Is Windows.old Folder in Windows 10
People will choose to do a system reinstall when:
The speed of computer gets slower and slower.
The system crashes frequently.
The system runs into an error that can’t be fixed.
In addition, people are willing to install the update to their computer every time when Microsoft releases a new update.
After you have done all of those operations, you’ll have a “Windows.old” folder on your computer; and it is often kept in the computer’s system partition (usually C: drive) unless you have moved it to another place or the computer have been attacked by virus & the folder got moved/deleted. (I have shown the way to help you retrieve your files from Windows.old effectively)
Except these, there’s a special case in which the “Windows.old” folder does exist on the computer, but it is invisible to you. Now, let’s see how to work this out.
How to Show Hidden Windows.old Folder in Windows 10
Sometimes, you’ll fail to see the “Windows.old” folder on your computer with a new system/update. In this case, it’s probably the Windows.old folder is lost. But there’s another possibility – it’s just hidden by the system, like the “$WINDOWS.~BT” folder.
If this happens then, you won’t get access to it. But the good news is that you can actually access the hidden folder after showing it by changing the Folder Options.
Please allow me to tell you how to unhide “Windows.old” folder.
Step 1: find “This PC” icon from your desktop of Win10. Then, double click on it or right click on it & choose “Open” to see the interface.
Step 2: find your system partition (usually Local Disk C:) in this interface. Then, double click on it or right click on it & choose “Open” to access.
https://www.minitool.com/lib/system-partition.html
Step 3: click on “View” from the menu bar. Afterward, please click on the “Options” from the submenu and choose “Change folder and search options” from the drop-down list.
Step 4:
Leave “General” tab and shift to “View”.
Find “Files and Folders” option under “Advanced settings” area.
Then, locate “Hidden files and folders” option and check “Show hidden files, folders, and drives”, instead of “Don’t show hidden files, folders, or drives”.
At last, click on the “OK” button at the bottom of the “Folder Options” window.
Step 5: Now, you’re able to see the “Windows.old” folder in the system partition if it is really gone because of hidden.
Step 6:
The last but not the least step is to right click on the “old” folder and choose “Properties” from the context menu you see.
After that, you’ll be brought to the “General” tab, in which you should uncheck “Hidden” from the “Attributes” area and click on the “OK” button at the bottom.
In the end, you should click on the “OK” button in the “Confirm Attribute Changes” window to confirm changes.
Bottom Line
After reading this article, you must have a better understanding of “Windows.old” folder: what it is, why do you need to recover data from Windows.old folder, how to restore deleted Window.old folder, how to restore Windows.old files if this folder is disappeared/corrupted due to other reasons, the location of Windows.old folder and how to show it if it is hidden.
What I want to emphasize most by talking about these things is please be sure to stay calm so as to choose the most suitable way to solve the problems you have encountered properly.
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