windows 8 has deleted my windows.old/programfiles ?!!!

Anonymous
2012-12-15T16:28:24+00:00

I was rather annoyed that windows 8, instead of integrating my existing programs and settings, shoved everything including settings in windows.old/ProgramFiles (what was the point of having a tick box that said "keep existing settings" if it didnt and even made my email inaccessible till I downloaded windows live mail again?)

However after hours of fiddling I managed to do a combination of re-install and running programs with tricky settings from the windows.old/program files directory via desktop shortcuts

Over the last few days the short cuts stopped working and I see windows 8 has deleted my windows.old/programfiles directory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its not in my Recycle bin, its not in my AVG virus vault

Any one know where this is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldnt understand why windows 8 had to stuff all my programs out of the way so it would take me hours to make shortcuts...but deleting the whole directory and my settings? Come on, this is rediculous

HELLLLP!!!

Andy

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2013-02-06T18:35:00+00:00

As I understand the process, the Windows 8 upgrade will copy your existing files and settings into \Windows.old, including:

  • PerfLogs
  • Program Files
  • Program Files (x86)
  • Users
  • Windows

It will then create new folders for all of the above, and migrate the files into the new folders. The \Windows.oldfolder is really just there as a part of the upgrade process, but it does act as a temporary backup folder. If you don't need anything from there in the first month, then you're not likely to need anything from there ever (as most / all of it is already in the new folders, and the old folder is likely taking up gigabytes of space).

Now, if you've upgraded from Windows 7, then congrats, everything has been moved to the new folders, including installed programs and drivers.

If you've upgraded from Vista or earlier, then your documents and settings have been migrated, but you're expected to reinstall the programs yourself, and the upgrade makes this clear. If you're foolish enough to create shortcuts into*\Windows.old\Program Files* and hack the registry to point into that folder, then you've dug your own grave.

(I came here through a Reddit link, thought I'd copy my explanation over there to the original thread here.)

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Anonymous
2012-12-16T08:41:05+00:00

Hi ,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community Forum.

From your issue description , I understand that the Windows .old folder is deleted from your Windows 8 computer.

In order to help you better,pease provide us with the following information.

1.When did you install Windows 8 in your computer?

I understand the inconvenience caused you, unfortunately the Widows .old folder will delete automatically after 28 days since Windows was installed.

It will also delete automatically when the Windows drive has less than 10% free space.

I am sorry to let you inform that its not possible to retrieve if the Windows.old folder is deleted from your computer .

Reply with the required information. If you have any further issues, please get back to us and we would be happy to help you.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-12T03:21:40+00:00

    Again, If you use the folder as intended problem Solved. And the cardinal rule of computing since the invention of the computer has been and still is back-up, back-up, back-up. Hope this helps and if you need further assistance post and we will be glad to Help you.

    The above opinion is mine and mine alone and doesn't necessarily reflect that of Microsoft, it's employees, or any other member of this forum.

    "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." -John Muir

    what do you mean by "as intended"?  Windows tells you it has put old files there and you should grab stuff you need.  It doesnt tell you that they could be deleted at any moment, so after rebooting to complete installation of an application I then found all the data files I was about to grab out of the OLD area, were now totally gone.  

    This was the post I made on this subject, as you can see, i was "using the area as intended" and working my way through grabbing stuff out of there, when it disappeared on me THE SAME DAY the refresh was performed.

    Same problem happened to me a couple of days ago.  I needed to do a Refresh because some windows files seemed to be messed up.  The refresh worked and as expected the Windows.Old directory was there containing ProgramData and old applications etc.  

    I was working my way through recovering files from this area when after a reboot, suddenly they were all gone.  This was not 28 days later, this was the SAME day!  The system drive is a 60GB SSD with more than 30GB free.

    I had some MySql databases that were in ProgramData and I had not yet moved them back to normal area because i hadnt finished installing/configuring MySql.  Obviously i assumed they were safely intact in the Windows.old\ProgramData area and didnt realise I should put them somewhere else safe since this area apparently deletes itself when windows feels like it.  

    Automatically removing this area is a joke - Id sooner prefer the machine ran out of space than deleting my Windows.old area without ANY NOTICE OR WARNING!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-12T10:19:18+00:00

    I don't know where you got your information but that folder is not meant for storage of any files- old or new. It is produced when you reinstall,  upgrade, refresh  as kind of a safety valve. The folder is supposed to delete itself. and as stated above the first rule of computing is back-up, back-up, back-up.  As far as I can see it is operating basically the way it supposed to.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-06-12T13:29:19+00:00

    SilverBack, I feel like you missed the point of this thread. No one is contesting that the files are, in fact, TEMP files that will be deleted at some point. It's not long term storage. BUT, the official statement on that folder and all accompanying documentation is that it will place your files there so that the user can retrieve their files. It will remain for one month, or until the free hard drive space drops below a threshold. Here's the description now from a quick Google search:

    "You have only 28 days to retrieve most files from the Windows.old folder, beginning from the time you install, upgrade to, refresh, or reset Windows 8.1. After that time, most of the content of Windows.old is automatically deleted." (From http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-files-upgrade-windows-old)

    But that's a lie. What it ACTUALLY does is start deleting the contents immediately. If you do an upgrade or refresh, you'd better be prepared for Windows to start killing those files the very moment you boot back up. In my case, I cleared my schedule to do the refresh and was copying over the files, putting them in safe longer-term storage, and in the hour it took me, I was already too slow. I had much of it backed up, but my Outlook PST was lost, as well as some logging files I needed.

    This is a bug. This is not the designed behavior. This is not intended. This is not documented. This is a bug. It SHOULD have a 28 day window before your files get erased. It instead gives you a few minutes. It it literally does not give you long enough to copy files, then it's not long enough by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, a user should have a backup anyway, but why even create the Windows.Old folder, why even backup those files while upgrading/refreshing, why even offer it as a temp folder, if the contents are automatically destroyed immediately?

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