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I would like to know if there are any files or directory structures that will tell me what was the previous version of Windows that created the windows.old folder.

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2 Answers 2

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In C:\windows.old\system32, open the properties for any system file, like 'ntoskrnl.exe'. On the Details tab, you see the Product Version:

  • 10.0 = Windows 10
  • 6.3 = Windows 8.1
  • 6.2 = Windows 8
  • 6.1 = Windows 7
  • 6.0 = Windows Vista
  • 5.2 = Windows Server 2003
  • 5.1 = Windows XP
  • 5.0 = Windows 2000
  • 4.0 = Windows NT 4

It gets a bit trickier if you need to know whether it was a home,pro, enterprise or server version.

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  • I just wanted to know if the previous installation was vista or 7. I think that should do it. Thanks a bunch!
    – John R
    Sep 7, 2013 at 18:14
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Open the "\Windows.old\system32\license.rtf" file in a text editor and look at the 2nd title row, it will tell you the exact Windows edition, as was initially installed. I verified this method on Windows Vista Business, Win7 Ultimate and Win8.1 Pro.

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  • 2
    Sadly with Windows 10 it just says WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM Jun 15, 2016 at 15:10
  • On a customer's computer, Windows.old\system32\license.rtf didn't exist, but I did a search for license.rtf and found a few in subdirectories.
    – wjandrea
    Dec 17, 2017 at 20:55

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