New, strange folders on the C:\ drive

Topic

New Reply

I just noticed that on my C:\ drive I have two folders/directories that were recently installed.  One is $WINDOWS.~BT (not hidden, folder date is 05/26/2020) and the other is $Windows.~WS (hidden, folder date is 06/07/2020).  Each folder has a folder in it named Sources.  In each case, the Sources folder has a folder in it named Panther.

On the C:\drive there is also an empty folder named ESD, dated 05/26/2020.

I have two laptops and the C:\ drive of each has these three folders.

It looks to me that they might be related to CU installation in May and June.  Does anyone know what they are (for)?

Reply | Quote

Replies

You can delete both folders.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/delete-windows-bt-ws-folders-windows-10#:~:text=%24Windows.-,~BT%20and%20%24Windows., and can be safely deleted. If you need to delete an option Previous Windows installation.

Mod Edit: HTML

Reply | Quote

Those are the Windows installation folders, usually associated with version upgrades. Have you done a recent upgrade, or has it tried to force you to 2004? Did you recently create an ISO with the MCT?
They are usually deleted by the system after the process is complete.

Reply | Quote

I am still on 1909, which I installed on Jan 24, 2020.  On May 26, I downloaded the MCT tool and created a 1909 ISO file which I burned to a DVD on May 27 (Build 18363.592).

About being forced to 2004: In February, I set FU to 365 days and GPE #2-notify download/install.

About 2004: I received an announcement about 2004 (your machine is not ready yet) on June 27.  On July 27, the message disappeared, but FU=365 should prevent me from being forced to 2004 until Nov 11, 2020 (that is, unless I enable  Select the target Feature Update version and set it to 1909, which should keep me on 1909 until 60 days after EOS of May 11, 2021).

Evidently, these folders didn’t ever get automatically deleted.

Reply | Quote

Perhaps you might try “Disk Cleanup” , the windows tool built in to windows!

Click START type DISK CLEANUP ; you should see it in the found list at top select that and make selections from the menu that appears. Be certain to click “Cleanup SYSTEM FILES”

Be careful you don’t check folders you dont want cleaned out- ie DOWNLOADS or downloaded program files etc.

Those odd folders will be gone. I have had to do this every time there is a windows update.

If PANTHER is the only thing in these folders, why bother?  win update will add and keep GB of files so check these after each update.

D

1 user thanked author for this post.

Reply | Quote

DriftyDonN wrote:

Be careful you don’t check folders you dont want cleaned out- ie DOWNLOADS or downloaded program files etc.

What folders do you check for deletion?

I know that I don’t want to delete the Recycle Bin, the Downloads folder and the Downloaded Programs Files folder, but the others … I have no idea.

Does the Temporary Internet Files folder contain my Browser History files (which I want to keep)?

 

Reply | Quote

PANTHER has something to do with sysprep, hasnt it?

What folders do you check for deletion?

Click Cleanup System Files

and dont forget to check Windows update – first row.

Do not check Temporary Internet Files, just to be sure you wont loose any data you want.
PS – sorry for czech version on the second screenshot 🙂

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

1 user thanked author for this post.

Reply | Quote

No need for the apology. I enjoyed trying to translate to the English equivalent and I think I was successful for a few words. Made my day!

1 user thanked author for this post.

doriel

Reply | Quote

I tried Disk Cleanup tool and it does not clean those hidden folders.
I have them on my C:
I cleaned disk by that tool and behold.. they are still there. You will need to delete them manually.

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

1 user thanked author for this post.

Reply | Quote

[WCHS]

doriel wrote:

What folders do you check for deletion?

Your list of folders in the screen with the blue title bar (Disk Cleanup for OS (C:)) is different from mine.  So, is the configuration of the dialogue box itself.  I thought they would be the same.  Maybe, that’s because you are on W10 1809 Enterprise and I am on W10/Pro 1909.  (The checked boxes in my screenshot seem to be the default; I didn’t check them myself.)

Does the screen with the red title bar show up when you click on the button for “Clean up System Files”?   In other words, you can choose the System Files you want to clean out?  (Wish it were in English, so I could get an idea of what’s in the list.)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by WCHS.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by WCHS.

1 user thanked author for this post.

doriel

Reply | Quote

Right click and Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator.

Reply | Quote

PKCano wrote:

Right click and Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator.

So, here’s the list when the app is run as admin.

I can see what the files in each folder are for, when it is highlighted, but again, I have no idea as to whether it is OK to delete some of these folders or not. I’ve previously listed the ones I know I want to keep, but what about the others —
Windows Update Cleanup, Windows Defender Antivirus, Windows Upgrade log files, Windows error reports and feedback diagn.., DirectX Shader Cache, Delivery Optimization Files, Device driver packages, Temporary files, Temporary Windows installation files, Thumbnails.

(The checked boxes in the image were automatically checked.)

Reply | Quote

Check Windows Update Cleanup

Uncheck everything else until you figure out what it is.

Run (be very patient) and reboot afterwards.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

Reply | Quote

WCHS wrote:

What folders do you check for deletion?

I’m trying to figure out what boxes to check for Disk Cleanup and am looking for advice. I know I want to keep the Downloaded Program Files folder (although it is already empty, according to the info shown when I click on the button “View Files”), the Temporary Internet Files, the Download folder, and the Recycle Bin. I have no idea what the others are for.

And I have no idea about what System Files could be safely deleted.

Reply | Quote

The ones I leave unchecked are:
DirectX Shader cache
Downloads
That’s it.

If you wait 10 days, the system will (usually) clean out the windows.old, the $WINDOWS.~BT and the $Windows.~WS temporary install folders. That is the time you have to roll back to the previous version.

Reply | Quote

Thanks. Where is the windows.old file saved? Is it at C:\, too?

I moved to version 1909 on January 24, 2020, so 10 days is long gone since a version update. I don’t know whether $WINDOWS.~BT and the $Windows.~WS disappeared 10 days after that.

Those two folders now have a date of 05/26/2020 (.~BT) and 06/07/2020 (.~WS). I executed the MCT tool on May 26 to get an ISO file of 1909, so that might explain the presence of the current .~BT folder, but 10 days since that date is long gone.

I have no idea what might have triggered the .~WS folder; my records show the May CUs were done on June 5, but that is not 06 /07/2020. And 10 days have transpired since that time.

My last WU was August 4 (for the July CUs), so 10 days have transpired since that time, too.

So, the upshot is they don’t disappear after 10 days, as they should).

I’d like to know if the same is true of windows.old.

Reply | Quote

The MCT created those folders while creating the ISO in May.

The C:\windows.old folder is the location of your previous programs/data/version for 10 days after you do a Feature Upgrade or Install (clean or in-place) so that you can roll back. The system removes it after that time.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Reply | Quote

Windows.old should be in C (windows os) drive.
It is deleted after 10 days.
You can safely remove both ~BT and ~WS files if you want to.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Reply | Quote

Does the screen with the red title bar show up when you click on the button for “Clean up System Files”?

Yes, correct. It will launch the cleaner with higher privileges.

According to my google skills there should be “Windows Update Cleanup” in english. If its there, check only “Windows Update Cleanup” and click OK.

But as I said, it wont clean $WINDOWS.~BT and $Windows.~WS folders.
At least it didnt delete mine.

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

Reply | Quote

https://www.howtogeek.com/268667/what-is-the-windows.bt-folder-and-can-you-delete-it/

https://windowsreport.com/windows-ws-folder/

My first Search results for — $WINDOWS.~BT & ~WS —

(2017 article excerpts for WT-WS) On Windows 10, the $WINDOWS.~BT folder contains your previous Windows installation. These files are used to downgrade to a previous version of Windows, or a previous build of Windows 10.

It’s similar to the Windows.old folder, which contains files from your previous Windows installation. In fact, you’ll see both folders after upgrading to Windows 10–both Windows.old and $WINDOWS.~BT folders.

It also contains log files. For example, if you download and run the media creation tool, it creates a $WINDOWS.~BT folder with a few setup log files. That media creation tool also creates a $WINDOWS.~WS folder that contains most of the Windows setup files.

Windows should automatically delete these files to free up space after ten days in the (per 2017 article date) Anniversary Update, or thirty days if your PC hasn’t upgraded to the Anniversary Update yet.

WS: Even though ‘WS’ stands for Windows Setup, it stores mostly configuration files and not the setup files. Still, if you’re rethinking switching back to Windows 7 or 8 respectively, it’s quite important to keep this file and not delete it.

Another similar folder is $Windows~BT which, on the other hand, stores major updates and installation files, so it’s also worth keeping.
Can I delete $Windows.~WS?

On the other hand, these folders combined can take dozens of gigabytes of storage space. And if you’re satisfied with what Windows 10 has to offer, you can delete their content right away. You can do it manually — by deleting the folder, or with the little help of the built-in tool called Disk Cleanup. Details about Disk Cleanup can be found in this article, so make sure to check it out.

W10 Pro 22H2 / Hm-Stdnt Ofce '16 C2R / HP Envy Desk-Ethernet - SSD-HDD/ i5(8th Gen) 12GB / GP=2 + FtrU=Semi-Annual + Feature Defer = 1 + QU=0

1 user thanked author for this post.

doriel

Reply | Quote

doriel wrote:

behold.. they are still there.

What if you unhid them first?

Reply | Quote

I tried that, but Cleanup does not offer to clean Windows update again, since I cleaned that up half hour ago.

These strange folders are from MSFT, and they have 340 KB for me. No need to delete them at the moment, since its well known folder from operating system vendor.. I dont want to cause some crash by deleting them 🙂

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

Reply | Quote

If you image your drive after an update, then del these space hogs, why no get rid of them then?

Reply | Quote