Remove windows.old

[Ray Dawson]

I've just used a Vista upgrade disc to upgrade a Windows XP Pro computer
to Vista Home Premium.

I used the option for a fresh install of Windows and as well as the
Windows folder on the hard drive, it also has a folder Windows.old
containing all the old XP OS and programmes.

Is it OK to just delete that folder to regain the disc space?

Also, when the computer boots up now there is a flash of text on screen as
some sort of boot file is executed, just before it starts to load Vista.

Where is this file and can it be altered or removed so that the computer
goes straight from the BIOS screen to the Vista loading screen?

Many thanks for any help.

Ray D

 

[Charlie42]

I used the option for a fresh install of Windows and as well as the
Windows folder on the hard drive, it also has a folder Windows.old
containing all the old XP OS and programmes.

Is it OK to just delete that folder to regain the disc space?

As long as you have retrieved all the files and folders you intend to keep,
it is not a problem. Deleting it will not affect your current OS. However,
it will wipe out the possibility of rolling back to your legacy OS.

Also, when the computer boots up now there is a flash of text on screen as
some sort of boot file is executed, just before it starts to load Vista.

Are you talking about the BIOS splash screen? That is supposed to be there.
Provide us with some additional information, and someone may be able to help
you.

Charlie42

 

[alexB]

I can answer the first question. Yes, you can remove windows.old to regain
space. Make sure that you do not have any useful programs left in there from
XP. This folder will be removed wholesale and no copy will be forwarded to
Recycle.

You will have difficulty simply deleting it unless you established yourself
as an administrator. These are instructions. I have at least 8 Vista
installation to my credit and I removed those folders with no problem. Once
I had to install Vista on top of a previous Vista in turn installed over XP.
There were windows.old and windows.old.old in the partition.

You are not the administrator and will never be. Administrator is an object.

You can temporarily give yourselves rights to perform some operations as if
you were Administrator, yes. Your power still will be limited. Actually you
do not need more than that.

In order to do what you want you will have to open "Local Users And Groups"
GUI (either typing lusrmgr.msc in Windows\system32\ -- do not forget to open
Command Prompt as "run as Administrator" - take a notice!!!) or if you have
Home or Home Premium you should go thru Control panel> System and
Maintenance>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Local Users and Groups.
Open up thumbnail Groups, open up Group "Administrators" (nb: it is plural)
and you will see the object "administrator" in there. Add yourselves to this
group. Close the GUI.

You may have a somewhat easier life from now on but it may not be enough.
You may also need to establish yourselves as a person who has the right to
write into certain folders if you want. Go to that folder, left
click>>Properties>>Security tab>>Edit>>Add>>type in your name>>Close that
window, Check checkbox "Full Control">>Apply>>OK.

You may also need to delete Inheritance. Click Advanced. That will give you
an option to uncheck a checkbox and the onwership rights of other objects
will be terminated.
Now you will have the right to do what you want in this folder and ALL its
subfolders. You will never be denied any access. You should exercise this
power judiciously and on a limited basis.

 

[Ray Dawson]

Are you talking about the BIOS splash screen? That is supposed to be
there. Provide us with some additional information, and someone may be
able to help you.

No, it's after the two BIOS screens.

On my other machine with a fresh install of Vista, and on this machine
when it had XP installed, after the second BIOS screen which finishes with
'Boot from Hard dics', it goes direct to the Windows loading screen with
the green bar on it.

On this machine with Vista installed over XP, there is a quich flash of a
few lines of text scrolling up the screen betwen that second BIOS screen
(after the boot from HD message) and the Windows loading screen.

It's too fast to read, but looks like some sort of boot file being
executed.

Does the Vista upgrade, rather than the Vista clean install, have a boot
file to possibly enable a dual boot?

Cheers,

Ray D

 

[xiowan]

Hello "Ray Dawson":
I have seen serveral posts that suggest the easiest way to delete
"windows old" is to type disk cleanup in the "Start Search" box, hit enter,
ok administrative rights, select all users, click ok, and after it scans for
clean up options it will display a window that will contain files which can
be deleted. This should include windows old. Just clear any boxes in this
window you don't want to delete and put a check in Windows old and hit ok and
you're done. If you don't need the space right away, you might want to keep
windows old in case you want to re-install due to hardware or software probs
with Vista.

xiowan..........in tucson

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello,
Isn't there an option in cleanmg.exe( Disk Cleanup) to remove "Previous
Windows installation(s)"?
I get that option in Disk Cleanup, when I have an old version of Windows on
the same volume.
Description in cleanmgr is:
Files from a previous Windows installation. Files and folders that may
conflict with the installation of Windows have been moved to folders named
Windows.old. You can access data from previous Windows installations in
this folder.

The box is not checked by default, but it shows with 16 plus gig of
recovery space if I would select this.
It may be easier if that option exists
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|> From: "alexB" <[email protected]>
|> References: <[email protected]>
|> In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
|> Subject: Re: Remove windows.old
|> Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 14:45:49 -0500
|> Lines: 62
|> MIME-Version: 1.0
|> Content-Type: text/plain;
|> format=flowed;
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|> X-Newsreader: Microsoft Windows Mail 6.0.6000.16480
|> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.0.6000.16545
|> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
|> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
|> NNTP-Posting-Host: 70-88-97-142-busname-michigan.hfc.comcastbusiness.net
70.88.97.142
|> Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP01.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl
|> Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:265361
|> X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
|>
|> I can answer the first question. Yes, you can remove windows.old to
regain
|> space. Make sure that you do not have any useful programs left in there
from
|> XP. This folder will be removed wholesale and no copy will be forwarded
to
|> Recycle.
|>
|> You will have difficulty simply deleting it unless you established
yourself
|> as an administrator. These are instructions. I have at least 8 Vista
|> installation to my credit and I removed those folders with no problem.
Once
|> I had to install Vista on top of a previous Vista in turn installed over
XP.
|> There were windows.old and windows.old.old in the partition.
|>
|> You are not the administrator and will never be. Administrator is an
object.
|>
|> You can temporarily give yourselves rights to perform some operations as
if
|> you were Administrator, yes. Your power still will be limited. Actually
you
|> do not need more than that.
|>
|> In order to do what you want you will have to open "Local Users And
Groups"
|> GUI (either typing lusrmgr.msc in Windows\system32\ -- do not forget to
open
|> Command Prompt as "run as Administrator" - take a notice!!!) or if you
have
|> Home or Home Premium you should go thru Control panel> System and
|> Maintenance>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Local Users and
Groups.
|> Open up thumbnail Groups, open up Group "Administrators" (nb: it is
plural)
|> and you will see the object "administrator" in there. Add yourselves to
this
|> group. Close the GUI.
|>
|> You may have a somewhat easier life from now on but it may not be
enough.
|> You may also need to establish yourselves as a person who has the right
to
|> write into certain folders if you want. Go to that folder, left
|> click>>Properties>>Security tab>>Edit>>Add>>type in your name>>Close
that
|> window, Check checkbox "Full Control">>Apply>>OK.
|>
|> You may also need to delete Inheritance. Click Advanced. That will give
you
|> an option to uncheck a checkbox and the onwership rights of other
objects
|> will be terminated.
|> Now you will have the right to do what you want in this folder and ALL
its
|> subfolders. You will never be denied any access. You should exercise
this
|> power judiciously and on a limited basis.
|>
|>
|> |> >
|> > I've just used a Vista upgrade disc to upgrade a Windows XP Pro
computer
|> > to Vista Home Premium.
|> >
|> > I used the option for a fresh install of Windows and as well as the
|> > Windows folder on the hard drive, it also has a folder Windows.old
|> > containing all the old XP OS and programmes.
|> >
|> > Is it OK to just delete that folder to regain the disc space?
|> >
|> > Also, when the computer boots up now there is a flash of text on
screen as
|> > some sort of boot file is executed, just before it starts to load
Vista.
|> >
|> > Where is this file and can it be altered or removed so that the
computer
|> > goes straight from the BIOS screen to the Vista loading screen?
|> >
|> > Many thanks for any help.
|> >
|> > Ray D
|>
|>

 

[Charlie42]

On this machine with Vista installed over XP, there is a quich flash of a
few lines of text scrolling up the screen betwen that second BIOS screen
(after the boot from HD message) and the Windows loading screen.

It's too fast to read, but looks like some sort of boot file being
executed.

Does the Vista upgrade, rather than the Vista clean install, have a boot
file to possibly enable a dual boot?

All Vista systems, upgrades or fresh installs, have a boot manager that can
also handle multiple OS installs, but I do not think what you are seeing has
anything to do with dual booting. In that case you would have been prompted
with a set of options to choose from.

From your description, I can not really see that there is anything wrong
with your installation, you are just briefly seeing some output from the
boot up that is not usually displayed on the screen. I could be wrong of
course, but if you experience nothing more than a puzzling piece of text,
you can just ignore it. If there is anything wrong, you should be able to
find information about it in the Event Viewer (Control Panel > System and
Maintenance > Administrative Tools, you need to run as administrator).

Charlie42

 

[Ray Dawson]

Many thanks for all the answers. I'll keep windows.old until I definitely
don't need it and ignore the text on screen.

Cheers,

Ray D

All Vista systems, upgrades or fresh installs, have a boot manager that can
also handle multiple OS installs, but I do not think what you are seeing has
anything to do with dual booting. In that case you would have been prompted
with a set of options to choose from.

From your description, I can not really see that there is anything wrong

with your installation, you are just briefly seeing some output from the