How to Delete an Old Windows Install?

Software & Operating Systems Windows
1

So here is my scenario:

Purchased a new 2TB NVMe, Gen4 SSD and installed a new Windows 10 Pro onto it.

Windows now gives me a choice of the OLD or the NEW install, defaults to the NEW install.

So I want to run this way for a little while longer to make sure nothing else is amiss with the new install, which seems to be running a bit faster without any hiccups, pretty sure my old install got partially corrupted and now repairs fixed it.

Do I have to Take Ownership of the OLD OS folders and such to do this ?

I have a Steam Library on the drive, which I could move before reformatting the OLD OS drive but was hoping for another option, maybe more for my own education etc…

Any thoughts on this one ?

I do have the Take Ownership reg hack installed on the NEW OS already so I can right mouse click to do this procedure.

2

run msconfig.exe elevated. Go to the boot tab, find the entry that doesnt have (Current) on it, and remove it.

3

Next time just do a reset. Its functionally the same as a reinstall but without needing to migrate data.

If you installed over the existing install then you will have a windows.old in the root of C which you will have to take ownership of to remove completely.

nevermind I cant read. msconfig is the way to go to remove the bootloader entry.

4

Aha, and then I can manually delete the old files/folders once I’m satisfied that the NEW install is good to move forward on, which I’m pretty confident in right now.

I will be testing the NEW install for the next few days and then see about getting rid of the boot entry and then manually deleting the files and folders.

I will try to post once I have completed this task if I run into any issues.