Is your system drive or the drive where Windows 10 is installed running low on disk space after installing the recently released Anniversary Update for Windows 10? Do you want to regain the lost disk space? In this article, we will see how to free up disk space after installing the Anniversary Update for Windows 10.
When you upgrade your Windows 10 to Anniversary Update (version 1607), Windows 10 automatically creates a backup of your previous build of Windows 10 to a folder called Windows.old so that users can uninstall Windows 10 Anniversary Update and go back to the previous build if required.
In this guide, we are going to delete these files required to go back to the previous build of Windows 10. Please don’t use this method to free up disk space if you plan to go back to the previous build of Windows 10 for any reason.
Regain disk space after installing Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Refer to the given below instructions to free up a significant amount of disk space after installing the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
Method 1 of 2
Step 1: Open the Settings app by clicking on its icon on the left side of the Start menu. Or simply use the Windows logo + I hotkey.
Step 2: Navigate to System > Storage.
Step 3: Click on the drive where Windows 10 is installed. For your convenience, the Settings app displays the Windows logo on the drive Windows 10 is installed.
Step 4: When you are at the Storage usage page, scroll down to see Temporary files. As you can see in the picture below, the Settings app displays space used by Temporary files, including Windows.old folder.
Click on Temporary files.
Step 5: Finally, select the Previous version of the Windows option and then click Remove files to free up GBs of disk space.
Additionally, you can also select Temporary files and then click Remove files to delete temporary files safely.
Method 2 of 2
This is the classic method of deleting previous Windows installation files to regain lost disk space.
Step 1: Open up This PC. Perform a right-click on the drive where Windows 10 OS is installed and click Properties.
Step 2: Under the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. And if the Disk Cleanup button is not showing up, please refer to our fix to disk the cleanup button missing from the drive properties guide to restore the button.
Step 3: When you see the Disk Cleanup dialog box, click the Clean up system files button.
Step 4: Finally, under Files to delete section, select Previous Windows installation(s) and also select Temporary Windows installation files, and then click OK button to remove files from previous Windows 10 build to free up disk space.
To recover more drive space, refer to our 16 ways to free up drive space in Windows 10 article.
Cat Tilley says
Good Question by Mario Anticipo above, I have Windows 7 Pro, 8.1 Pro & the pre Anniversary Update of Windows 10 Pro, plus a 500GB System Partition on a MBR disk (cannot install W7 to MBR for obvious reasons). So with 4 Primary partitions, how does the Anniversary Update succeed?
Before anyone asks, no I’m not going to delete Windows 7, and until EOL, am not going back to UEFI/GPT for OS partitions, though do store Data on a GPT formatted drive. It’s not our fault that some earlier versions of Windows 64 bit, to include EOL XP 64 bit, which would run on GPT partitions of certain computers, I presume to be business/corporate oriented, as well as Vista Business 64 bit. Why does W7 get left out? I don’t know, only that it does. Am also running thin on SSD’s, so don’t have an extra small one to install W7 Pro on, and if so, the System partition will be on that drive.
Microsoft placed themselves in this position, knowing full well that many not only dual boots, but also has both a Recovery partition plus a Utility partition for OS diagnostics, or whatever it does. Tri boots are not unusual, say two Windows OS’s & a Linux, or two Linux plus a Windows partition to contend with. And not everyone has two or three drives. This actually began with the Windows 8.1 release, then the Update 1 added another, so the seeds were planted while Windows 10 was in Preview.
So let them contend with the mess they created. Windows 10 is imaged, plus I have a digital entitlement when both OS’s reaches EOL, but I don’t trust Microsoft, hence the image. It’ll be hard for Microsoft to deny the digital fingerprint of the computer (mostly the motherboard, but until then, we must contend with what we have.
Finally, what about MBR systems that didn’t ship with GPT? What happens, say if a Windows 10 OS only creates multiple 450MB partitions, just as 8.1 has done? We only have 4, drop that to 3 if a Data partition is created, how will W10 handle this monster they created, and finally what will happen when Microsoft begins to break their word, at some point, at a major release, the consumer’s computer will no longer run W10.
‘Lifetime of the device’ (until it dies). I’ll believe it when I see it, and there’s already many 10 year old computers running Windows 10, a legit upgrade from Windows 7. Microsoft gave the green light, not lets see what they do for customers when their computers won’t run W10 any longer. Offer a free copy of 8.1? I doubt it.
Linux will be the only option if no cash for a new(er) computer is in the budget. That, or go back to an unsupported OS, in that regard, Linux Mint or Ubuntu becomes a no brainer decision to remain safe & continue to use the computer. Sure, the users should plan for the future, but who am I to impose that option on them, to stash $10 to $25 monthly for a new computer every month? Yes I do it, but have no right to tell others to do so, can only recommend.
Corporations making their living off of Windows should be doing their part to educate it’s users to plan for the future, no it cannot be a demand, yet the more it’s heard the better. Plus consumers will listen to a respectable corporation over a mere consumer. The problem is, Microsoft ‘partners’ will not do that, despite the fact that it’ll sell more Windows computers. Why are major corporations not advising it’s customers to prepare for the future? Microsoft tried with XP over 3 years before EOL, as soon as SP1 for W7 was released. Yet none of their partners done the same, and some still supports the dead OS’s. The least these could have done (one of the few things I’ll ever applaud Oracle Java for) was to end support along with Microsoft. Only Oracle rose to the challenge, while in fact, we can still get Adobe Flash player downloads for the OS today, as well as some decent browsers other than IE.
This is also part of future planning, is a SWIFT migration from EOL OS’s on that day. Any installed software should cease to function, users can be given the choice to move to a supported OS (like the Pro versions of AOMEI, for example). I’m not saying ‘take paid for software away’, just move it to a supported OS, be it 6 hours, days, weeks or years later.
It’s responsible planning to move forward, and to ditch EOL OS’s when no longer needed & a threat to all Internet users. Just think, an even 5% share of Windows XP can come to bite us in the backside. Much more so than the 4 partition limit that MBR that Microsoft chose to use long ago to use. They should had switched all to GPT as soon as released, 11-12 years ago, and long before UEFI was a thought in someone’s mind.
The truth is not pretty, and there’s no way that I could had made it so. Yet that’s the way it went. Microsoft has thousands of ‘partners’, evidently in name only, because they don’t help to educate that an OS isn’t ‘cool’ to run about 2 years before EOL. That running semi-supported OS’s are still a threat, there will become a point when Windows 7 will be just as Vista, maybe stuck with IE 11 until EOL in early 2020. The non-issue of SP2 ought to tell folks something.
The sad is that Windows 7 still carries Microsoft, and will probably do so for at least two more years, Most of those who wanted the OS, got it while free. There’s still one catch, visual impairment will allow one to upgrade for longer, I can choose that path if I wish, and with my new build, will likely do so. All I need to do is remove my glasses, and I’m visually impaired. Where are the ‘partners’ saying these things? Nowhere, it’s reported by only a few whom dared to who weren’t partners of Microsoft.
Planning is of essence, and it’s that planning that can get us past the partition issue in plain English, as well as other upgrade secrets or inside ones, such as the visually impaired one that’ll allow Microsoft to continue to furnish Windows 10 for no cost. Can AOMEI place that in their news? Any staff member can see for themselves it works, maybe a phone call is needed, and of course the magical number that saves one from much hassle from the start of the call is ‘one’. Example, this version of Windows has been on only ‘one’ computer. Magically, everything works, and one can use the Snipping Tool to image the boxes of numbers for later activation w/out the need to call. If the OS is moved to another computer, just remember ‘one’ & all will be fine.
It’s always best to look forward than in reverse, and educate as many as possible on all angles of Windows.
Cat
Mario Anticipo says
Ok, thanks!
But new Windows 10 AU installation create a small partition (450MB).
Is necessary?
Now I have two partitions (450MB) near Windows 10 partition.
Thank you.