What is the $WINDOWS.~BT folder? Can $WINDOWS.~BT be deleted?

Deleting the hidden "$Windows.~BT" folder and reclaiming gigabytes of space on your hard drive is tempting. But what does this cryptically named folder do, and how important is it to your Windows installation?

What is the “$Windows.~BT” folder? Should I delete it?

Windows creates a "$Windows.~BT" folder when you upgrade your operating system to a newer build. This folder contains all the files needed for the upgrade, such as temporary installation files and logs from previous Windows installations.

Windows automatically deletes the "$Windows.~BT" folder after 10 days. Since manually deleting this folder will delete your old Windows installation files, you won't be able to go back to your previous Windows build using the Go back option in the Recovery menu during that time (for example, to downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 ). Therefore, you should only remove this folder if you're happy with the current Windows build on your PC. You can also safely delete the larger folder if Windows doesn't do it automatically after the grace period.

But you shouldn't delete this hidden folder like any other folder on your desktop. Instead, you should turn to the Disk Cleanup tool or Command Prompt.

How to find and delete the "$Windows.~BT" folder

Since "$Windows.~BT" is a hidden folder, you need to configure Windows to show hidden files and folders in order to find it in File Explorer. Once you do, the C:\$Windows.~BT folder will be visible.

However, you can't delete the "$Windows.~BT" folder directly. To do so, you'll need to run the Disk Cleanup tool. Here's how:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box .
2. Type cleanmgr into the box and press Enter.
3. Use the drop-down menu to select your system drive (usually C: ) and click OK.
4. Click the Clean up system files button .
5. Under Files to delete , use the check boxes to select the following options: Previous Windows Installations, Windows Update Cleanup, Windows upgrade log files, Temporary Windows installation files , and Temporary files .
6. Click OK .
7. Select Delete Files to confirm.

If the "$Windows.~BT" folder is visible even after running the Disk Cleanup tool, you will need to execute some commands in Command Prompt. To do that, open Command Prompt with admin rights and then run the following commands one by one.

takeown /F C:\$Windows.~BT\* /R /A 
icacls C:\$Windows.~BT\*.* /T /grant administrators:F 
rmdir /S /Q C:\$Windows.~BT\

When you run the above commands, the "$Windows.~BT" folder will be permanently deleted.

Now that you understand the purpose of the "$Windows.~BT" folder, you can decide how to deal with it. In addition to the "$Windows.~BT" folder, you may also encounter folders like "Windows.old", "$WinREAgent", "$SysReset" and others that can also be safely deleted using the Disk Cleanup tool.

Good luck!

See more articles below:

• 7 basic commands for working with files and folders that everyone should know
• Using CMD to Create an “Undeleteable” Folder on Windows
• How to share a folder over LAN on Windows 10