Can I just delete the Windows.Old folders?

[Rodf 1]

I've been struggling to get Windows 10 installed onto a new SSD I put into my old Dell XPS desktop. I made a bootable USB drive, but it kept going back to the beginning of the process over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. No one told me that you must take the USB drive out. I'm sorry, but I cannot read minds. I didn't know that. Finally, my son found a video on YouTube telling me that. So, at the appropriate time we removed it and FINALLY I was able to complete the process.

 

Now, I've got a HECK of a lot of Windows.Old (x) folders. Can I just get into File Explorer, highlight the bunch and press delete?

[Trig0r 207]

Run the disk cleanup wizard, cleanmgr.exe, make sure you untick the Downloads folder tho if you have anything in there.

Failing that, format, do a fresh install and go from there 

[Rodf 1]

After all the trouble I've gone through just to get it to boot, I'd really rather not format and do a free install.

 

Also running Disk Cleanup, even when I tell it to remove old system files (and it even mentions Windows.Old folders), doesn't remove them. Why is that?

[schoondoggy 868]

Windows disk cleanup tool- Clean up system files- Previous Windows installations:

Instructions in this guide:

https://www.howtogeek.com/223821/what-is-the-windows.old-folder-and-how-do-you-delete-it/

[oj88 130]

Since this is a new drive and a new install, I second reformatting and starting over with a clean slate.

 

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD doesn't take long anyway.

[Rodf 1]

8 hours ago, oj88 said:

Since this is a new drive and a new install, I second reformatting and starting over with a clean slate.

 

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD doesn't take long anyway.

 

True