Windows installation directory (Most probably C:/) will be filled up by the new program installation or desktop files in you PC. Once you have found that, it consuming some storage without any installations or files, It might look suspicious. You have cleared the Temp folder and cleaned junk files, but nothing pays. This might be due to a windows folder called $WINDOWS.~BT. It is an OS upgrade folder where the new windows upgrade files are downloaded and kept. The files will be downloaded step by step every time you are on an internet connection and it uses about 6 or 7GB space in your hard drive for the installation files only.
As I said, it is a storage space of the downloaded new windows versions, you can always delete them if you are not planning to upgrade your OS. The gradual download process will create a huge dump of files which consumes some of your valuable storage space. So let’s have a look at this guide on What is $WINDOWS.~BT folder on your hard drive and How to delete it to free up the storage.
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What is $WINDOWS.~BT Folder On your Hard Drive
The $WINDOWS.~BT folder is a usual folder like any other folders and can be deleted any time as you decide. But, don’t be excited too much. If you try to update your windows again, it will recreate the same folder in the exact location and again start to download the windows installation files. All you is some failed update processes on Windows update history window.
Fed up of this issue and want to delete that creepy folder to free up the disk space. Go to the Windows Updates in your control panel and click on ‘Installed Updates’.
Windows 7 and 8 users will find an update called KB3035583 on the window. In addition, Windows 7 users will find another update file namely KB 2952664. Windows 8 or 8.1 users face an update KB 2976978 file. All of them must be uninstalled and hidden respectively according to your OS.
Now, all setup for deleting the $WINDOWS.~BT folder. But, you may need the admin privileges to delete the folder if you get any errors while trying to delete it. If you are facing any problems to delete it, you may try the Disk cleanup.
- Hold Windows key+R to open the Run
- Type %windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe in the run box.
- Select the Windows drive
- Allow it to scan the drive if prompted.
- Once the scan completed, click the ‘Clean up System files’ button. It will allow to run the scan again.
- Once the scan is complete, look for the ‘Temporary Windows installation files’ option. You will find that it is very big in size and will free up a lot of space. So, check it and Begin the clean up the process.
Now, you have completely removed that folder and you got some big amount of disk space for your files. A long process but a very effective way to cut the root of that folder which consumes a large amount of disk space.
What about the $WINDOWS.~BT Folder On Windows 10
I have mentioned that the $WINDOWS.~BT folder is for storing the upgrade files of the latest windows updates. Then, why there is a folder in windows 10 which is the latest version?. It is quite a brilliant question. Once you have upgraded to the Windows 10 OS, It will save some files of the previous versions of windows to help the Downgrade process. Those files will be located on the same folder and it also uses some amount of your storage. If you are damn sure that, you are not going to downgrade the OS, you can simply delete it to free up your disk space. and use the disk cleanup to clean it up completely.