What is $Windows. Bt?
$Windows. BT is a temporary hidden folder as a part of Windows Upgrade. The folder is hidden, so first, you need to enable ‘viewing the hidden folders’ to check it. $WINDOWS. BT and $WINDOWS.~WS are the two folders connected to the Windows 10 upgrade process. They can appear on Windows 7, 8, and 10 by using gigabytes of disk space.
Talking about the ‘$Windows. BT’ folder, is often seen inside the root directory where Windows is installed and its size often varies. Mostly it is available in gigabytes due to which the users might face issues with the space it consumes on their system. The folder is automatically generated by Windows after a minor or major update.
Microsoft offers regular updates that improve the performance of the system and also include certain bug fixes. These updates need to be downloaded from the internet in the background first and later installed on the user’s system. All the necessary updates are downloaded and stored inside this and a couple of other folders, depending upon the nature of the update.
Sometimes, certain log files are also stored inside this folder which might be used later during any minor update. Also, in some cases, this folder is created by the ‘Media Creation Tool’ that is used to download the entire copy of Windows on a system. This tool temporarily stores the files in the folder which are later used for creating a setup for Windows.
Once the system has been updated, the files from the previous version of Windows are moved to a couple of folders in case the user decides to move back to the previous version of Windows. The “$Windows. BT” is one of these folders which contains important log files and other data from the previous Windows. A lot of important files are copied to the drive and are stored in the $Windows. BT folder to create a working installation. The important log files stored in this folder helps in diagnosing problems that might prevent the successful installation of Windows.
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How to access the $Windows ~BT folder?
Before you can access the $Windows~BT folder, you need to ensure that the hidden files have been enabled to view.
Step 1: First, you need to open ‘File Explorer’ on your system.
Step 2: From File explorer, you need to access ‘This PC’ and open your system drive where Windows 10 has been installed.
Step 3: From there, you need to click on the ‘View tab’.
Step 4: After you click on the View tab, you will find a ‘Hidden Item’ menu.
Step 5: There you will find the ‘$Windows. ~BT’ folder which you need to put a tick on, in the ‘Show/Hide option’.
This will enable viewing the $Windows. BT folder on your device.
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Deleting $Windows. ~BT
A lot of users have this doubt that whether we should delete this $Windows. BT folder or not, and if deleting, then how should that be done.
Please Note: If you choose to delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder on Windows 10, you won’t be able to downgrade to the previous version of Windows installed on your PC.
If you want to delete these files, it is suggested that you should use the Disk Cleanup tool in your version of Windows.
Step 1: To do so, you need to access the ‘Disk Cleanup tool’ and click on the ‘Clean Up System Files’ option.
Step 2: From there, you need to check the following items mentioned below in that list and remove them:
- Previous Windows installation(s): Removing this will delete the $WINDOWS. BT and old folders on your Windows 10.
- Temporary Windows installation files: Removing this will delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder on Windows 7 and 8, and the $WINDOWS.~WS folder on Windows 10.
Step 3: Now you need to click on the ‘OK’ option to remove these files.
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OR
Step 1: You need to press the ‘Windows + S’ buttons simultaneously to open the ‘Search bar’.
Step 2: Once the search bar pops up, you need to type in ‘Disk Cleanup’ and click on the first option that appears on your screen.
Step 3: Now you need to click on the dropdown that appears and select the drive where your Windows has been installed.
Step 4: After you click on the drop-down and select the root drive, you need to click on the ‘OK’ option.
Step 5: Then you need to select the ‘Clean Up System Files’ option.
Step 6: You need to make sure that you check the ‘Previous Windows Installations’, ‘Windows Update Cleanup’, ‘Windows Upgrade Log Files’, and ‘Temporary Files’ and then click on the ‘OK’ option.
Step 7: Now you need to wait for this process to get completed and then you will see that the folder will automatically be deleted from your system.
If the $WINDOWS. BT folder is still present, it will just contain a few spare log files or useless setup files on Windows 7 or 8 which you can try deleting manually from the ‘File Explorer’. All you need to do is, just right-click on it and select the ‘Delete option. ’
This folder does not have any use in the daily operations of Windows. It is only used to update or to install back the previous versions of Windows. Therefore, if you aren’t planning on updating to the latest version of Windows or on going back to the previous version, it is safe and completely alright to delete the folder.
You can also delete the $WINDOWS.~BT Folder using TakeOwnershipPro
TakeOwnershipPro is free software that you can download and install on your computer or laptop.
Step 1: After installing, the software will add the ‘TakeQwnershipPro’ shortcut to the ‘right-click context menu’.
Step 2: Next, you need to browse to the root path of your system drive, then right-click on the $WINDOWS.~BT folder and select ‘TakeOwnershipPro’. This will permit you to access the $WINDOWS. BT folder.
Step 3: Now you can simply delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder in the usual way.
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More you may know
There is an important folder within $WINDOWS~BT, known as the ‘Panther folder’. It keeps a black box recording of what happens on the system during the setup process. If your computer experiences an unsuccessful installation, you can check the setup error located there. This log can give you clues about what might be blocking the installation and how you can overcome it.
This folder has no benefit or use. It just occupies the pace on your system’s hard disk. There are several ways to delete it, which includes using Disk clean up or Storage Sense or the manual method.
So this was all about $Windows. BT. We hope you gathered useful information from here.
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