Question Unremovable $WINDOWS.BT

[AaronKyle]

Recently I made installed Windows on my SSD from my old HDD on another PC. I installed it via bootable USB. The problem is that on my old HDD there is a $WINDOWS.BT file that I can't seem to delete.

1. I already deleted it once via Disk Cleanup > Delete System Files. Later that day I restarted my PC and the $WINDOWS.BT was somehow on my HDD again even though I made sure I removed it. I tried the same routine Disk Cleanup > Delete System Files but this time there was nothing there.
2. I had suspicions that something was wrong since I had 40GB of storage left before $WINDOWS.BT got on my PC and when I deleted it I only had 34.5GB. So the 6.5GB remaining was not to be found. When I saw the file reappear and wasn't able to use Disk Cleanup to delete it, I tried changing the file's ownership to and got caught in a loop. When I changed ownership from Admin to My Desktop it said that I need permission from My Desktop. When I changed the ownership from My Desktop to Admin it said I need permission from the Admin.

 

[Colif]

So you made an installer using another PC, and installed win 10 on ssd. Was the hdd in the PC when you installed win 10 as it could be those aren't old files at all.

I assume you have tried restarting PC to see if it flushes it

$window.bt is part of the upgrade process, its likely it is meant to be controlled by Trustedinstaller.

 

[AaronKyle]

So you made an installer using another PC, and installed win 10 on ssd. Was the hdd in the PC when you installed win 10 as it could be those aren't old files at all.

I assume you have tried restarting PC to see if it flushes it

$window.bt is part of the upgrade process, its likely it is meant to be controlled by Trustedinstaller.

Yes, the HDD was in when I was installing it. And at one point I had both HDD turned on with the SSD on my PC so I can check it working.

 

[kerberos_20]

windows bt is windows boot (recovery stuffs), if its magicaly reapearing, it means your hdd is primary drive...u should disconnect it, and reinstall your windows on ssd

 

[Colif]

windows bt is windows boot (recovery stuffs), if its magicaly reapearing, it means your hdd is primary drive...u should disconnect it, and reinstall your windows on ssd

you sure, i can only find reference to it beng update files - https://superuser.com/questions/886098/what-is-the-windows-bt-folder/886101

its possible, win 10 loves putting its boot partition on 2nd drives if given the choice. Especially if file is in use, its shared something across.

So yes, remove hdd and fresh install on ssd will stop that behaviour

 

[kerberos_20]

well technically is the old windows.old and temp install files together
it can contain your old windows backups (for rollback), windows update logs or backup for your next update (those cumulative things which needs restart)...and it always reside on root system drive (for some time...up to 30days)

 

[USAFRet]

I have that same folder on my C drive.
Likely left over from either creating a Win 10 install USB, or remnants of updating to v1903.

That whole folder is 14.7KB
Not even enough consumed space to consider sneezing at.
So I just left it, rather than obsessing over reclaiming that trivial amount of space.
How large is yours?

 

[AaronKyle]

I have that same folder on my C drive.
Likely left over from either creating a Win 10 install USB, or remnants of updating to v1903.

That whole folder is 14.7KB
Not even enough consumed space to consider sneezing at.
So I just left it, rather than obsessing over reclaiming that trivial amount of space.
How large is yours?

It said 1.43GB but when I check in WinDirStat it was 14GB.

 

[Colif]

if you haven't installed yet, can you
right click start
choose disk management
expand next window to show all columns
take a screenshot, upload to an image sharing website and show link here,

curious what your install looks like