How can I delete windows.old ?

Daniel Royer · 23-02-2008

I had to reinstall Vista Home premium several times on my son's laptop.
Now he's stuck with three folders named "windows.old", "windows.old.000"
and " windows.old.001" which I can't delete.
I tried safe mode: no way. I tried safe mode and command line "dos
commands like del, rd, etc" no way either. All of this as administrator
of course.
Any idea?

Malke · 23-02-2008

1. Click Start
2. Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Click System Tools
5. Pick Disc Cleanup
6. Select Files from all users on this computer
7. Confirm the UAC
8. Select the drive that contains your old installation
9. One of the options will be to delete your old installation. Select it and
let the Disc Cleanup Utility do its thing.

Doug · 23-02-2008

What has worked for me in this sort of situation is as follows:

In the folder's Tools/Folder Options/View/ make sure the radio button is set
to Show hidden files and folders, and that Hide Extensions and Hide
protected operating system files are both unchecked. Right click on the
folder and make it and all its sub-contents READ ONLY. Then REVERSE THAT so
that you are sure that NOTHING in the folder or its subfolders is read only.

Then chip away at the contents of any recalcitrant folders (perhaps by
holding down the shift key to avoid filling up your recycle bin, though do
this with care as there is no way back) and deleting individual files in
batches of about twenty. Eventually you will get rid of them. The most
persistant may hang around until you have rebooted a couple of times.

Make sure that your folder options are as you wish them to be when it's all
over.

But there must be a better way! Doug.