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  1. #1
    DF VIP Member Over Carl's Avatar
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    Weird Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    Just setup 7 ultimate on a laptop then updated to 10 Pro, then removed the ssd, put into my desktop and wiped the main partition and the partition with the BCD so I could do a fresh install, but there was a 500mb recovery partition remaining at the end of the drive.

    Then I setup Win 10 Pro fresh from a USB stick and updated it.

    Somehow I have a windows.old folder that has as user with the same username as I'm currently using on that laptop.

    Anyone got any ideas wtf is going on as a quick google doesn't bring anything up.

  2. #2
    DF VIP Member Bilbo_baggin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    I thought it was the old OS stored in case you decide to restore?

    I have deleted mine however.


    Bilbo.

    Thanks to Bilbo_baggin

    Over Carl (3rd February 2016)  


  3. #3
    DF VIP Member Over Carl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    I thought I deleted the whole partition with the previous OS, and the windows.old has the same username as my new windows install which is why I'm a little confused.

    Just to add to it, I decided to delete the window.old folder and found a found sounds driver files were being accessed by relevant services. Strange thing is after shutting the services and deleting the whole folder and rebooting, laptop started fine and the services I stopped started again without problems.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    Quote Originally Posted by Over Carl View Post
    I thought I deleted the whole partition with the previous OS, and the windows.old has the same username as my new windows install which is why I'm a little confused.

    Just to add to it, I decided to delete the window.old folder and found a found sounds driver files were being accessed by relevant services. Strange thing is after shutting the services and deleting the whole folder and rebooting, laptop started fine and the services I stopped started again without problems.
    No i dont think it does delete the partition, it keeps your drive partitions intact but will do a fresh install of the OS and place your old stuff in Windows.old

    we have ordered a load of new PC's at work from HP, they came with Windows 10 (even tho we asked for 7) however they also had a Windows.old folder so when HP did the Windows 10 upgrade they did it in a very lazy way and didnt clean up after themselves - annoying!
    You know he grew up as a little shitspark from the old shitflint and then he turned into a shitbonfire and driven by the winds of his monumental ignorance he turned into a raging shitfirestorm. If I get to be married to Barb I'll have total control of Sunnyvale and then I can unleash the shitnami tidal wave that will engulf Ricky and extinguish his shitflames forever. And with any luck he'll drown in the undershit of that wave. Shitwaves.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    Do a Disk Cleaup on C: (Right click the Drive/Properties) and Select "Remove Previous Windows Installations" under "Cleanup System Files".

    It will get rid of all stuff associated with the previous install.
    Not sure exactly how you have the .old folder, but the above will clean it for you.

    It's probably just something weird happening with Windows 10 installs.
    Had to do it with all my installs so far. Fresh or not.
    Last edited by DejaVu; 4th February 2016 at 09:51 PM.


  6. #6
    DF VIP Member Over Carl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    Thanks for the replies, but none of these seem to make any sense as I deleted everything except the 500mb recovery partition before I started.

    I think I'm gonna have another bash and see what happens.

  7. #7
    DF VIP Member Over Carl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    I removed that SSD from the laptop earlier, put into another PC and used Acronis Disk Director to remove all partitions.

    Put SSD back in laptop and setup Windows 10 Pro fresh from a USB stick created using the MS tool.

    After the original install I had a windows folder but no windows.old folder.

    Let it update itself and reboot, now I have a windows.old folder and the user in the users folder matches the name I've only used this time for the new/latest fresh install.

    So it looks like there was no confusion on my part - updating Windows 10 from a fresh install can create a windows.old folder.

    Also just checked my main desktop which I know was also setup from fresh, that also has a windows.old folder.
    Last edited by Over Carl; 7th February 2016 at 02:12 AM.

    Thanks to Over Carl

    Mystical_2K (7th February 2016)  


  8. #8
    DF Rookie thenuttyprof's Avatar
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    Default Re: Windows 10 Fresh Install - windows.old???

    The windows.old folder is created everything the operating system gets updated. It's mostly there if there is a problem and you need to rollback. While the computer is updating it will copy essential files etc into windows.old incase of emergency. If your system is running find then just do what people above have suggested and run disk cleanup, click advanced and then click all the little boxes, packed with you could be surprised by how much space can be saved. If you can't find disk cleanup, just start typing disk cleanup on start menu and then search should kick it and offer you the choice of opening it directly.

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