Let’s check how to delete $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders in Windows 10. After you upgrade to Windows 10 you may notice two folders on your System or C Drive named $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS. These folders are created by Windows, during the upgrade process. These folders are by default hidden. Change the folder options to see the. In File Explorer, under View tab, check Show hidden files checkbox.
How to delete $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders in Windows 10
If you are unable to right-click on them and select Delete, you can use the following commands to change permissions and force-delete them.
- Right-click on Start button. This will open the WinX Menu.
- Now select Command Prompt (Admin)
- Now to delete the contents of the $Windows.~BT folder, type or just copy and paste the following command
takeown /F C:\$Windows.~BT\* /R /A
icacls C:\$Windows.~BT\*.* /T /grant administrators:F
rmdir /S /Q C:\$Windows.~BT\
- Press Enter
- Similarly, copy and paste the following command to delete the contents of $Windows.~WS folder
takeown /F C:\$Windows.~WS\* /R /A
icacls C:\$Windows.~WS\*.* /T /grant administrators:F
rmdir /S /Q C:\$Windows.~WS\
- Press Enter
- You will get Successfully processed message at the end
This should delete the folders. However if you encounter access denied message, reboot the PC and follow the steps again. Check out How to fix Windows 10 creators update apps crash issue.
