How do I delete a backup copy of windows 8?

[Jonathan Sifleet]

Basically when I replace my motherboard I could boot up windows 8, but it would crash instantly (this was two weeks ago), I fixed it by "refreshing" my OS, however it kept all my files and such but it backed up program files, program files (86), windows and programdata, onto a folder in my desktop, everything works fine now, except I'm going to get another SSD, because I've had to sell the PC in my signature, and Im trying to gauge the size I need using tree size (free), and its really difficult to gauge how much I need with this folder which is taking up alot of space. Whenever I try to delete it, it says that I need permission, I asked my friend and he says windows 8 protects any folder with a working windows 8 copy inside, and I really want to delete that folder anyway, because I've only got about 3 gb's left of space on my HDD.

 

[Emerald]

have you tried Safe Mode?

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

have you tried Safe Mode?

Yes, same problem.

http://i.imgur.com/EHIY3EA.png

 

[3DnTechNut]

Whenever I try to delete it, it says that I need permission, I asked my friend and he says windows 8 protects any folder with a working windows 8 copy inside, and I really want to delete that folder anyway, because I've only got about 3 gb's left of space on my HDD.

What is the name and path of the Folder you want to delete? Have you tried to use Windows PowerShell to delete it?

1. In the search area on the right side of the screen search for "Windows PowerShell".

2. When it pops up on the right, right click on the icon and a bar pops up on the bottom of the screen, select "Run As Administrator" and the application will open in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

3. At the prompt type the path of your Desktop where the folder is located preceded by the "cd" (change directory command). It should look something like: "PS C:\windows\system32> cd C:\Users\Jonathan\Desktop".

4. Then at the new prompt "PS C:\Users\Jonathan\Desktop" (substitute what it actually is) type: Remove-Item "C:\Users\Jonathan\Desktop\[name of folder with old Windows Files]\*" (actually type the double quotation marks around the path after the Remove-Item command) and press enter.

5. It should enter a default "Y" at the prompt, hit enter again to accept the yes command.

If the path and command were entered correctly the folders contents should be gone.

You may wish to create a temporary set of test folders and documents on your drive and test the procedure first to get the syntax correct

I had to do a similar procedure yesterday to delete the partitions from my old hard drive after I upgraded my laptop with a msata SSD and it would not let me delete the partition and reformat the entire drive because it still had windows on it.

I hope this works. PowerShell takes a little getting used to.

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

That doesn't work either.

http://ft.trillian.im/c11c2db0a60201d0c0965b41679ac0a51d2b7f70/6jerjzkNKXbK1xAqNZAPQlX7uV3VG.jpg

http://ft.trillian.im/c11c2db0a60201d0c0965b41679ac0a51d2b7f70/6jerL3fD7GKOIvaIdEnZhbZQ3T6DY.jpg

(For some reason I can't get the full editor to show)

 

[Dharamvir]

windows backs up previously installed copy in folder named windows.old. To delete this folder do as follows:

1. open start menu by clicking start button (in windows 7)or by pointing to the bottom left corner of the desktop and left click (in windows 8) or by simply pressing windows button on the keyboard (both).
2. In the search bar type disk clean.
3. In settings click on free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
4. A disk clean window pops up. Select C: drive and click OK.
5. A new window opens after windows scans drive C. Select clean up system files
.
6. Again windows scans drive C and open new window. Select windows.old by putting a tick mark against it and click OK.
7. A confirmation window asks if you want to delete these files permanently. click OK and Congratulations! you have removed the windows.old folder successfully

 

[Jonathan Sifleet]

windows backs up previously installed copy in folder named windows.old. To delete this folder do as follows:

1. open start menu by clicking start button (in windows 7)or by pointing to the bottom left corner of the desktop and left click (in windows 8) or by simply pressing windows button on the keyboard (both).
2. In the search bar type disk clean.
3. In settings click on free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
4. A disk clean window pops up. Select C: drive and click OK.
5. A new window opens after windows scans drive C. Select clean up system files
.
6. Again windows scans drive C and open new window. Select windows.old by putting a tick mark against it and click OK.
7. A confirmation window asks if you want to delete these files permanently. click OK and Congratulations! you have removed the windows.old folder successfully

Thanks, that worked, can't believe I didn't think of that, well I did I tried it earlier, but I think it was because the windows.old had a capital.

 

[3DnTechNut]

windows backs up previously installed copy in folder named windows.old. To delete this folder do as follows:

1. open start menu by clicking start button (in windows 7)or by pointing to the bottom left corner of the desktop and left click (in windows 8) or by simply pressing windows button on the keyboard (both).
2. In the search bar type disk clean.
3. In settings click on free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
4. A disk clean window pops up. Select C: drive and click OK.
5. A new window opens after windows scans drive C. Select clean up system files
.
6. Again windows scans drive C and open new window. Select windows.old by putting a tick mark against it and click OK.
7. A confirmation window asks if you want to delete these files permanently. click OK and Congratulations! you have removed the windows.old folder successfully

Thanks, that worked, can't believe I didn't think of that, well I did I tried it earlier, but I think it was because the windows.old had a capital.

Glad you got it solved. I noticed in the picture of your attempt with Windows PowerShell you had a start quote and no end quote. You either need both or none. The reason to enclose the path in quotes is incase your path contains spaces.

 

[3DnTechNut]

windows backs up previously installed copy in folder named windows.old. To delete this folder do as follows:

1. open start menu by clicking start button (in windows 7)or by pointing to the bottom left corner of the desktop and left click (in windows 8) or by simply pressing windows button on the keyboard (both).
2. In the search bar type disk clean.
3. In settings click on free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
4. A disk clean window pops up. Select C: drive and click OK.
5. A new window opens after windows scans drive C. Select clean up system files
.
6. Again windows scans drive C and open new window. Select windows.old by putting a tick mark against it and click OK.
7. A confirmation window asks if you want to delete these files permanently. click OK and Congratulations! you have removed the windows.old folder successfully

Thanks, that worked, can't believe I didn't think of that, well I did I tried it earlier, but I think it was because the windows.old had a capital.

Glad you got it solved.

Disk Clean, forgot about that simple solution for deleting the backup copy, I just did that a few months ago on my old laptop, lol.

I noticed in the picture of your attempt with Windows PowerShell you had a start quote and no end quote. You either need both or none. The reason to enclose the path in quotes is incase your path contains spaces.