SOLVED Anybody else have a new Windows.old Folder?

[Saltgrass]

A Windows.old folder was created on two of my systems on 4/30 and that folder seems to have been removed, as expected. But I now see a new Windows.old folder dated 5/12 which seems to contain some drivers with some being audio.

Did we have a stealth driver update today, 5/12? Will this new Windows.old folder go away on it own?

My current build version is 17134.48 which was done on the 8th.

I see there is another thread about audio problems, I wonder if this is related.

Thanks..

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Saltgrass,

I don't have one showing in CCleaner?. I have version 17134.48 also (18.03).

 

[Saltgrass]

@Wolfie, so your original Windows.old folder is gone and was not replaced?

I just checked my third system and it is showing the folder from 5/12 also .. different set of drivers in the FileRepository folder. I have one more system which wasn't running yesterday so I will check it later to see what happens. I know on the 9th or 10th I checked the first Windows.old folder, dated 4/30 with all the archived data, and it was still present.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Bif]

Haven't had one since the initial July 2015 update..deleted it and have never seen another.

 

[Saltgrass]

Haven't had one since the initial July 2015 update..deleted it and have never seen another.

This cannot happen when upgrading builds, unless you have something deleting it or there is some way to chose if you don't want to keep your old stuff.

 

[Trouble]

Yep.... I got one too.

Not sure why or where it came from. I know we got an flash update a couple days ago, but they don't usually generate a Windows.OLD folder.

 

[Saltgrass]

It might be if the folder could not be deleted then it re-dated it. It may have even happened in the past but I did not notice it before.

My other system is still showing the 4/30 folder with all the normal folders inside. I will watch it to see what and when something happens. No systems have had the same undeleted files so it may not be due to an update.

It is funny that Microsoft has always denied the Windows.old folders were not being completely deleted and I see remnants left all the time.

 

[Saltgrass]

I just saw the last system change over to a 5/13 folder date. This one has some of my User folders still showing so it is just the undeleted Windows.old folder with a different date.

Now I need to go through and finish removing them. I still don't understand why permissions are set in such a way the normal process cannot remove all the contents.

I just removed the Windows.old folder from my 4 systems. On of them, which had some User\AppData files was a pain and I had to bring in Ubuntu to remove it.

I know there is probably some utility which will do this easily, but no fun that way.

 

[Trouble]

I usually leave them for a day or two on a normally running system and then I use cleanmgr.exe to get rid of them.
That usually does it but in the rare instance where there are some remnants left, for what ever reason I just ….
Disable inheritance, Take ownership and cascade that down to all subcontainers and files and then grant my user account explicit full permissions cascading that down to all subcontainers and files.
That'll usually do it.
I can only remember one instance in recent memory where I had to employ Linux to get rid of some persistent buggers.
I keep a thumb drive with Mint MATE handy for just such an occasion

 

[Bif]

This cannot happen when upgrading builds

I have only deleted the one Windows.old folder (once) after the initial launch of 10..but I do have a "Windows10upgrade" folder.. but still no Windows.old folder in its contents.
Here's a snip..
If I'm understanding your comment.

 

[Saltgrass]

That usually does it but in the rare instance where there are some remnants left, for what ever reason I just ….
Disable inheritance, Take ownership and cascade that down to all subcontainers and files and then grant my user account explicit full permissions cascading that down to all subcontainers and files.
That'll usually do it.

I did that pretty much on three of the machines, but one had something concerning Cortana stuck in the Users, AppData, Packages or some such and it would not let me even see the security settings on that folder. Changing the ones above it did no good. But at least maybe now, I have been able to remove some corrupted component that had been on my system for a while.

@Bif, the folder is removed after 10 days which maybe what was happening on the 12th. Perhaps another folder is taking the place of this one but since the Windows 10 Upgrade folder shows 2017, unless you have newer files inside, probably not one used for the rollback archive.

You do have several folders I do not have. I assume you have space on your drive for an archive of your system to be created?

 

[Bif]

since the Windows 10 Upgrade folder shows 2017, unless you have newer files inside, probably not one used for the rollback archive.

I have space yes, as for an archive..I'm afraid that is beyond my knowledge and technical ability (I think?). Now with you bringing to my attention the date on this Windows 10 upgrade folder I have, is this folder then safe to delete? as its 19 gigs and change in size..

 

[Saltgrass]

is this folder then safe to delete?

You need to decide yourself. If you have no recent files then you should be able to remove it.

I remember a couple of Build upgrades ago I also saw a WindowsUpgrade type folder but I see no signs of one now on any of my systems.

@Trouble, I realized Ubuntu did not actually delete the folders but put them in a hidden trash bin. I booted to the install media and used the rmdir /s command to remove. But this makes two systems with the exact same Cortana package which would not delete.

I also just got one of those unknown drive letters put on the old Recovery Tools partition. I checked the partition and noticed the attributes had been changed.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Saltgrass,

I seem to remember deleting my .old folder using CCleaner!.

 

[Saltgrass]

I seem to remember deleting my .old folder using CCleaner!.

That is just no fun, Wolfie.. I take these situations to become more familiar with the permissions and how they work and can be manipulated.

I did accomplish something important. By leaving an old, partial Windows.old folder on a system while it was upgrading, I will no longer worry about it since the install went fine and just left the files there in place.

 

[herpderp]

Had this happen to 2 of my systems. On one of them I had to move a .dll file from the windows.old to the new windows folder so a program would work. I want to delete the old folder like I have in the past but i'm afraid I might need something from it. Also just kind of curious to know why they do this..