Read about what data is stored in the Windows.old folder and how to recover it from there. How to delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space. Updated Windows 7 or 8 to new Windows 10? Has a Windows.old folder appeared on your computer and is it taking up a lot of space? You can delete it, but not in the same way as you delete regular folders.

The Windows.old folder is not new to Windows 10. But before Windows 10, this folder could be seen if you purchased a new version of Windows and installed it by updating the previous version.

Content:

What is the Windows.old folder?

This folder appears when you upgrade from one version of Windows to a newer version, starting with Windows Vista. The Windows.old folder contains all the files and data from the previous version of Windows that was installed before the upgrade. It can be used to revert (roll back) to a previous version of Windows, in case a new version won't do. To recover data after Windows reinstallation.

If you need to find a special file that was not copied correctly when Windows update, you can also rummage through the Windows.old folder and find it.

Essentially, the Windows.old folder contains old version Windows. Starting with system Windows files before installed programs, from user account settings to simple files, all here. The new version of Windows keeps this information in case you want to go back to the old version of Windows or if you need to find a file.

But, don't hesitate too long. Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space after a month.

How to return to a previous version of Windows?

From Windows 10, going back to Windows 7 or 8.1 is very easy. After installing Windows 10, you can simply open the Settings application, select Update & Security, and click Recovery. In this section we will see the option Return to Windows 7 or 8.1, depending on which version of Windows you upgraded from.

After we click the “Start” button, Windows will restore the previous version of the operating system using the Windows.old folder as a source.

Before Windows 10, this could also be done. Here, for example, are instructions from the official Microsoft website on how to restore Windows 7 to a previous version of Windows using the Windows.old folder. With Windows 10 everything is much simpler.

But again, as noted in Windows settings, this feature is only available for a month after upgrading to Windows 10. After a month, Windows will automatically delete the Windows.old folder in order to free up disk space. So you have a month to decide whether you want to continue using the new version of the system or not and evaluate whether all the files you need were copied correctly.

How to recover individual files from the Windows.old folder

If you need to restore separate files from an old Windows installation, they can be restored from the Windows.old folder. To do this, you just need to open the Windows.old folder in File Explorer: C:\Windows.old. Your personal files will be located in the C:\Windows.old\Users\USERNAME folder.

But keep in mind that even on the official Microsoft website it is indicated that, if desired, you can restore all files or (Attention!) some of them from the Windows.old folder. To prevent loss Microsoft data We strongly recommend that you back up your files and settings to external drive before you restore, restore, update, or reinstall Windows.

That is, there is a risk of data loss when updating Windows and/or returning from Windows 10 to the previous version. Moreover, recovery of data lost in this way using standard using Windows, Microsoft does not provide it.

In such a case, the only option for data recovery may be third-party software. In case when updating or Windows recovery If any data or files are missing, regardless of their type or extension, scan drive C: using Hetman Partition Recovery from Hetman Software, and restore them to a convenient location or storage medium.

How to delete the Windows.old folder to free up disk space

The Windows.old folder can take up quite a lot of disk space. At best it will be 12 GB. But its volume can reach 20 GB or even more. It all depends on the size of your previous version of Windows.

Try to delete the Windows.old folder in the same way as any other folder, and you will receive an error message. You can work around the error message by changing the permissions of the Windows.old folder. But this is the wrong way to delete this folder.

To delete the Windows.old folder, you can use Windows tool Disk Cleanup or another manufacturer's program. On Windows 10, open the Start menu, search for Disk Cleanup and launch the application. Also this application can be opened by right-clicking in the “This PC” folder on drive C, and selecting “Properties” from the pop-up menu, then clicking the “Disk Cleanup” button.

Click the “Clear” button system files" “Previous versions of Windows” will also appear in the list of files to delete, and Disk Cleanup will show how much space these files take up. Select this option and click Clean up disk, the old version of Windows will be removed. This function can also be used to clean system disk and from other unnecessary files.

By deleting the Windows.old folder you do not risk anything. If you are satisfied with the new version of Windows and have no desire to return to the old version of the operating system, and are also sure that all the files you need have been copied from the Windows.old folder, you can safely delete it.

Windows will still automatically delete the Windows.old folder a month after the update. All computers that have upgraded to Windows 10 will still be able to use the space occupied by the Windows.old folder, even if their users are unaware of the folder and are unaware of its existence or the ability to use Disk Cleanup.

Good afternoon!. Not long ago we discussed a clean installation of Windows 10 1803 and an upgrade to it from previous versions. Unfortunately, innovations and updates may not always please the end user and do not always work without failures and complaints. In such situations, the average user may want to return the previous version of Windows 10 and stay on it until future times. Today we will look at the return procedure and methods so that nothing breaks for you.

What is reverting to a previous version?

We see another window with a mockery from Microsoft:

Thanks for testing this build. We will install the next preview build run when it is available. It sounds like a threat.

Let's begin the Windows 10 rollback procedure. Your system will reboot to return to the previous version.

You will see a black screen where you will see that the previous version of Windows is being restored. After several reboots you will get the same system. In my case, this is Windows 10 Pro 1709. Now I think you understand the fastest method of how to return the previous version after updating, but as I wrote above, it is not the only one, let’s move on to the second.

2 Method to downgrade Windows 10

In this method, Microsoft suggests using system recovery tools, which you can find either on the installation media or use the built-in ones. To get into them, do this.

Pinch and don't release the Shift button , right-click on the start button, from the context menu select "Shut down or log off - Reboot". But the trick here is that a reboot will be performed followed by downloading recovery and diagnostic utilities, which will help you easily return to the previous version of Windows 10.

The “Select Actions” window will open, in which you need to select the “Troubleshooting” item. We get to the “Diagnostics” window, it consists of two items:

• Restore the computer to its original state. You will be able to keep or delete your files and then reinstall Windows.
• Extra options

We are interested in the item "Advanced parameters"

Well, we are trying to return the previous version through the appropriate item.

The “Return to the previous version of Windows 10” window will open, select account user, if you have forgotten your password, it is unfortunate.

Specify the password and click continue.

You will be reminded again that all your files will be saved, let's say let's go and launch a return to the previous version of Windows 10.

Preparations for the rollback procedure will begin, upon completion of which the master will need to be rebooted. As you can see, returning the system to the previous version of Windows 10 is a very simple matter, if you just didn’t waste 10 days. As soon as

As you can see, the procedure itself is very simple, the main thing is never to rush to install new versions, it is better to always wait at least a couple of weeks, thanks to this you can avoid getting into a bad situation and avoid the loss of your data or the system itself..

The File History utility in Windows gets its name from its ability to restore older versions of a file. This feature is part of all programs Reserve copy, although it is often called "Restore". Although the idea is the same: you remove the old version of the file from the backup archive. The File History feature simplifies this process and working with files in general.

In order to return the old version of a file from a backup disk, you need to follow these steps.

• If need to replace current version new: select "Recover" and then "Replace file in target application." The current file is replaced with the backup copy.
• In order to save both the current version and the restored one backup copy, you must click “Restore” and select “Restore to”. Select the target folder for the recovered file.
• To view an archived copy: Click Open. The file has not been recovered, but you can view its contents to see if it contains the information you need.

4. Then click close Properties window when done. If there are no previous versions, you will see the message "There are no previous versions available after step 2. This means that the file is new and was not copied, that the file has not changed, or that the backup this file does not exist. The File History utility is not a replacement for recovering a file from the Recycle Bin; if you delete a file, you need to restore it from the Recycle Bin.

File History only works with files in the folders you selected when setting up the utility.

Video: How to recover an unsaved or damaged Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document

If again from installed/reinstalled Windows 7 The computer is delivered (yours or someone else's :P) and then you realize that you are either too lazy to reinstall all the programs that were used before and manually transfer personal files back C:\(If you store them there) or the miss system we used before, you'll probably be happy to know that you can go back to old operating system(previously installed) using the Windows.ols folder ( programs, settings and documents that will be restored to system folders Where are they from? age before reinstallation).

Attention! Before implementing the ones written in this guide, make sure that there is a folder named Windows.old on the system partition and there is enough free space. It is also advisable to take a backup of the Windows.old folder before making any changes to it.

What is needed to reintegrate Windows.old into a newly installed system:

• Windows 7 DVD installation
• 10 free minutes
• Courage: D

What steps should be followed:

1. After you have reinstalled the operating system and decided that you prefer the previously installed version, enter again DVD installation into the DVD disc and let the computer restart. When the option appears on the monitor, press any key boot from DVD

2. In the installation menu, click on Computer repair, Select version Windows OS you wanted to fix/restore ( System Recovery Options), Press Next Then open Command line.

3. Type the following commands at the command prompt (one at a time) and give enter after each (these commands will rename system folders to restore folders in Windows.old)

Ren Windows Windows.new

ren "Program Files" "Program files.New"

Ren "Users" "Users.New"

Ren "My Documents" "Documents and Settings.New"

* If, after running one or more of these commands, you receive the message "The system cannot find specified file", just move on to the next command (ren "Users" is valid for Windows Sight yes Windows 7, Ren "Documents and Settings" is valid for Windows 2000 and Windows XP)

4. To move a folder Windows.old in system folders, you must enter in command line the following set of commands (everything is fine and all at the time):

/yc:\windows.old\windows move C:\

move /y "C:\Windows.old\Program Files" C:\

move /y "C:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings" C:\(this command is valid if the Windows thing you want to restore is stacked XP or 2000 )

/yc:\windows.old\users move C:\(really, if Windows is what you want to restore, that's all Windows 7 or Windows perspective)

5. After you have moved the content Windows.old in system folders, you need to restore and boot sector Windows version previously installed.

A). Windows XP or Windows 2000. Enter the following command at the command prompt

D:\Boot\Bootsect/nt52 c:(Where D:\ this is a DVD disc, DVD If the device has a different letter, replace that with the letter D)

and then restore the files boot.ini using the following command (all in cmd):

Attrib -r -s -h boot.ini.saved

Ren "boot.ini.saved" "boot.ini"

Attrib boot.ini + s + H + R

b). If the Windows version is previously installed Windows 7 or Windows perspective. Enter the following command ( for these operating systems it is not required to restore the boot.ini file)

D:\Boot\Bootsect/nt60 c:(Where D: this is a DVD)

6). Then close Command Prompt and restart your computer. Windows the one that boots will be the one previously installed Windows version 7.

Previous file versionsand folders are a very useful tool and are created using shadow copies, provided that for Local disk, on which the files are located, System Protection is enabled and restore points are created accordingly. There are also many more conditions that dictate the creation and storage of Previous versions of files on your computer, unfortunately many people do not know about them. To avoid losing your data on your computer one day, read our article.

Note: The previous versions of files tool also exists in the new operating system. Windows system 8, but called differently - " "

If you enable System Protection for a Local Disk, then Previous versions of files will automatically begin to be created as soon as you disable System Protection for of this disk, then the creation of previous versions of files on it will immediately stop. That is, we can say that Previous versions of files are directly related to recovery points, one might say more, they are part of them. How to enable System Protection to create restore points for any Local disk Start->Control Panel->System and Security->System->System Protection or you can read here. You will also be interested in articles on this topic and

Previous file versions

System Protection is automatically enabled for the drive on which Windows 7 is installed; if you want to use the Previous Versions of Files tool on other drives, then System Protection must also be enabled for them.

• Note: This tool is best used to recover accidentally deleted or unsuccessfully edited files. For fairly serious archiving of computer data, the Previous Versions of Files tool will most likely not be suitable; here it is better to use Archiving Computer Data or.

As I already noticed Previous file versions are closely related to recovery points. If, after creating a recovery point, you changed any files, for example, deleted a document from any folder, then it will naturally be available in previous versions of this folder, let’s, for example, delete the DVD Maker folder from the Program Files folder.

To return our deleted folder to us using the tool Previous file versions click on the folder Program Files right-click and select Restore previous version from the drop-down menu.

The Program Files Properties window appears, the Previous Files Versions tab, which contains yesterday's version of the Program Files folder,

we go into it by double-clicking the left mouse and see the Previous version of the deleted DVD Maker folder, copy it and paste it into place in the Program Files folder, that’s all, as if we had never deleted anything.

Previous versions of files can be opened and therefore viewed, copied, and also restored. Be careful with the button Restore it can be used to overwrite a file.

Why are previous versions of files not created?

1. Previous versions of files will not be created for files on any Local Disk if you have System Protection turned off for it
2. If your file has not been modified, then Previous versions of files will not be available for it.
3. Previous versions of files are not created on disks formatted in file systems FAT and FAT32. These file systems do not support the functionality of creating shadow copies containing information about system and user files.
4. When using two on your computer operating systems, for example Windows XP and Windows 7, when you start an older Windows XP, all restore points created by Windows 7 will be deleted and that means Previous versions of files will be deleted the next time booting Windows 7 you won't find either.
5. Many cleaning programs hard drives and the registry delete recovery points, you need to configure these utilities manually by entering the System Volume Information folder (containing recovery points) in the exceptions.
6. If you use a laptop, then the creation of recovery points will not be performed when the power is turned off.

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