Question I can't delete the old Windows OS folder ?

[hars]

Hi,

I recently got a new hard disk with Windows 10 installed and am still using the old hard disk for storage which previously ran Windows 7.

When I try to delete the Windows 7 program files, I get a message: Folder access denied - Need permission to make changes to this folder. I tried to change the folder settings by giving full control to modify it but was unable to do so.

Not sure if I am missing a step here but I need help to delete the old OS files because it is using up a lot of space in the disk.

Thanks.

 

[Math Geek]

your best bet is to back-up the data and do a quick format to rid the drive of everything. then you can do as you wish.

you're running into permission problems from win 7. kind of like putting a bitlocker drive into another pc and it refusing to allow you access.

sometimes you can take ownership of the folders to remove the issue. 50/50 if it will work or not. here's a quick tutorial of how to try it

How to Take Ownership of Files and Folders in Windows

If you've ever been denied access to a file or folder in Windows, chances are you need to take ownership of them with your user account.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[hars]

your best bet is to back-up the data and do a quick format to rid the drive of everything. then you can do as you wish.

you're running into permission problems from win 7. kind of like putting a bitlocker drive into another pc and it refusing to allow you access.

sometimes you can take ownership of the folders to remove the issue. 50/50 if it will work or not. here's a quick tutorial of how to try it

How to Take Ownership of Files and Folders in Windows

If you've ever been denied access to a file or folder in Windows, chances are you need to take ownership of them with your user account.

www.howtogeek.com

I tried this but it did not work. Maybe I must have not done it properly, so will try again.

Also, what if I delete the old Windows 7 files but it messes up Windows 10 configuration? Will there be any hidden partitions or files being used from my old drive where Windows 7 is saved installed ?

Just want to be sure I am not making any mistakes.

 

[Math Geek]

Remove the old drive and boot it up. If it does then there is nothing on it needed by win 10. if it fails to boot then you know something there is needed. Most likely a boot partition. It all depends on how you got everything set up and how you installed win 10.

Taking ownership works sometimes and does not other times. It's a coin toss if it'll work. As noted above, most likely you'll need to back up your data and fully format the drive to remove those old windows files

 

[hars]

So I have 3 drives on my pc. One is the new SSD where Windows 10 is installed, second is an HDD where Windows 7 was installed previously, and third one is also an HDD which is used for storage.

If I understood this correctly, I need to remove the HDD which has Windows 7 files and try to boot the pc. If it does boot properly, then I can directly format that HDD. But if it's doesn't, then it means that the files are being shared which is required to boot Windows.

In this case, what should be done? Will I have to reinstall Windows 10 again?

Also, the procedure where I have to unplug the old HDD and check the functioning, is it as simple as plugging and unplugging the drive, and does it require any change in software settings once done?

I'm not an expert, hence need help with this. Thanks.

 

[Math Geek]

Yes simply remove the power from the 2 drives other than the win 10 drive.

Best practice when installing an OS is to remove all drives other than the target to prevent anything overlapping. Hopefully, your all good but testing first will tell you for sure.

Once you know you don't need anything on the drive and your data is saved elsewhere, then delete all partitions on that win 7 drive, create a new single partition and then your all set to use it for data.

If it won't boot, then we'll explore options to hopefully get it working without a reinstall.

 

[Setiyok]

If you wanted to delete Windows folder in drives, you can rename it to Windows.old and then use Disk Cleanup to remove it.

 

[USAFRet]

If you wanted to delete Windows folder in drives, you can rename it to Windows.old and then use Disk Cleanup to remove it.

An old windows install is much more than just that one folder.

 

[Setiyok]

An old windows install is much more than just that one folder.

You mean Windows.old.001 etc?

 

[USAFRet]

You mean Windows.old.001 etc?

No.

Things like:
/Users
/Program files
/Program Files(x86)
/ProgramData
original boot partition
///various other things, some of which may be hidden.

If one wants to remove the old OS, it is more than just that one folder labeled "Windows".

 

[Setiyok]

No.

Things like:
/Users
/Program files
/Program Files(x86)
/ProgramData
original boot partition
///various other things, some of which may be hidden.

If one wants to remove the old OS, it is more than just that one folder labeled "Windows".

Can you rename them tho?

 

[USAFRet]

Can you rename them tho?

Some of it, no.

If you want to get rid of an old OS on a drive...
Find and copy to elsewhere, whatever personal data you want.
cmd diskpart /clean the whole drive.

Anything else is far more work and doomed to fail.

 

[hars]

I will first unplug the additional drives and check if Windows boots properly. Then will follow the next steps. Fingers crossed!