Bottom Line: It is completely safe to delete the $Windows.~BT folder, but you should use the Windows Disk Cleanup tool rather than deleting it manually to avoid permission errors.
What is the $Windows.~BT folder?
Located at the root of your C:\ drive (and hidden by default), $Windows.~BT is a temporary folder created by Windows during a major operating system upgrade.
For example, if you upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or if you installed a massive yearly feature update, Windows downloads the new operating system files into this folder. It also stores logs and some rollback files just in case the upgrade process fails and it needs to revert your PC back to its previous state.
Can you delete it?
✅ Yes, it is perfectly safe to delete.
Once your computer has successfully upgraded and is running smoothly, this folder becomes completely useless. It is just dead weight taking up gigabytes of valuable SSD space.
How to properly delete it
If you try to right-click and delete this folder, Windows will likely yell at you about “Folder Access Denied” or missing Administrator permissions. Here is the correct way to wipe it out:
- Open the Start Menu, type Disk Cleanup, and press Enter.
- Select your
C:drive. - Click the Clean up system files button (this will restart the tool with admin rights).
- Scroll through the list and check the boxes for Previous Windows installation(s) and Temporary Windows installation files.
- Click OK and confirm the deletion.
What happens after you delete it?
You will instantly reclaim a massive chunk of hard drive space. The only downside is that if you had recently upgraded to Windows 11, deleting these files means you can no longer use the built-in “Go back to Windows 10” rollback feature. You are now permanently committed to your current version of Windows.
Discussion
Loading authentication...