Vista: Remove Old XP Files after Upgrade (Windows.old)

Contributed by Hack_Vista

January 29, 2007

Tagged: Microsoft Vista

When you upgrade Vista over XP, a copy of your previous XP installation is preserved on your hard drive in case you want to revert back to XP. If you are happy with your vista installation, you delete your old XP files to reclaim a ton of hard drive space.

Windows.old contains your previous XP installation. It is difficult to remove it manually so let Vista do the work for you.

Remove Windows.old:

1. Click Start
2. Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Click System Tools
5. Pick Disc Cleanup
6. Select Files from all users on this computer
7. Confirm the UAC
8. Select the drive that contains your old installation
9. One of the options will be to delete your old installation. Select it and let the Disc Cleanup Utility do its thing.