Delete Unwanted Windows 11 Update Files

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Windows Updates are essential. They keep your computer faster, stable and secure. They add new features, fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. Keeping Windows up-to-date helps you avoid hardware and software compatibility issues.But what happens when downloaded updates don’t install because of an error? What happens when your system abruptly shuts down while updates are downloaded and installed? The leftover files can be several gigabytes in size. They will continue to take up your storage for no apparent reason. Thankfully, there are ways to deal with this mess.

I. How to Delete Partially Downloaded Updates in Windows 11?

Method 1: Using File Explorer

Stop the Windows Update Service:

While the Windows Update service is running, it is not possible to delete downloaded Windows Update files. The service needs to be stopped.

  1. Press Windows Key + R.
  2. Type “services.msc” (without quotes)
  3. Click on OK or press Enter.
  4. In the Services window, look for “Windows Update” service.
  5. Right-click on Windows Update service, and select the Stop option.
  6. Exit the Services window.

Delete the Windows Update Files:

Now, it is safe to delete the downloaded Windows updates. After deleting them, you can restart the stopped service again. Nevertheless, it will automatically start when you reboot the computer.

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Go to the following folder: C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
  3. Delete all the files and folders from the “Download” folder.
  4. Press Windows Key + R.
  5. In the new dialog, type “AppData” (without quotes)
  6. Click on OK or press Enter.
  7. File Explorer will open. Open the following folder: …\AppData\Local\Temp
  8. Delete all the files and folders from the “Temp” folder.
  9. Start the Windows Update service, the same way you stopped it. (Select the “Start” option instead of “Stop”)
  10. Restart your computer.

Note: If the “Local” folder is not visible, click on the View tab on the Ribbon interface and check the “Hidden items” option.

Method 2: Using Command Prompt

The Command Prompt method is straightforward. First, we will stop the Windows Update service. We will delete the downloaded updates and restart the stopped service again.

Warning: Command Prompt is a complex tool. Typing incorrect commands can result in potentially dangerous system-level changes and loss of your personal data.

  1. Click on the Search Box on your Taskbar.
  2. Type “Command Prompt”
  3. Right-click on Command Prompt, and select  “Run as Administrator”.
  4. In the Command Prompt window, run the following command to stop Windows Update service: net stop wuauserv
  5. Run the following command to delete all the contents of “Software Distribution” folder: rd /s /q %SystemRoot%\SoftwareDistribution
  6. Run the following command to re-start the Windows Update service: net start wuauserv
  7. Reboot your computer.

Method 3: Using Windows 11 Storage Settings Page

The Storage page in your Windows 11 Settings provides an easy way to perform Windows Update CleanUp and delete all upgrade logs, if any.

  1. Click on Start > Settings.
  2. Click on the System tab.
  3. Click on Storage.
  4. Select the “Temporary Files” category.
  5. Check the “Windows Update CleanUp” and “Upgrade Logs” option.
  6. Optionally, you can check other options to free-up additional storage.
  7. Click on the Remove Files button.

Method 4: Using Disk CleanUp

Windows is equipped with the powerful Disk CleanUp tool that provides a comprehensive set of options to delete numerous temporary files. One of those options include “Windows Update CleanUp”.

  1. Click on the Search Box.
  2. Type “Disk CleanUp” and open it from the Search Results.
  3. Disk CleanUp will start analyzing your files.
  4. Once it finishes analyzing, check the option named “Delivery Optimization Files”.
  5. Click on OK.

II. Delete Windows Upgrade Rollback Files

After upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11, you will find a new folder “Windows.OLD”. This folder is created at the root of your system partition (typically, drive C:\). The amount of storage this folder takes may vary. However, it is usually higher than 20 GB in size.

The Windows.OLD folder contains a clone of the Windows folder, program files, and your documents, photos, videos, and other files from the previous Windows 10 installation.

Windows 11 gives you a grace period of 10 days to rollback to Windows 10. After the grace period is over, the “Windows.OLD” folder will be deleted automatically. However, it is possible that it will not be automatically deleted in some cases. You will need to delete it yourself.

If you are certain that you will not need to rollback to Windows 10, you can delete the “Windows.OLD” folder to free up gigabytes of storage.