As an IT administrator, you may have recently encountered a situation in which you had to determine which version of Windows was installed in the Windows.old folder. This can be a tricky task if you’re not familiar with the Windows operating system internals. To help you out, we’re going to discuss how you can identify the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder.
First, it’s important to note that the Windows.old folder is created when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another. The Windows.old folder contains the old installation of Windows, which includes all the files, settings, and other data associated with the previous version of Windows.
The most reliable way to determine the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder is to check the system files. To do this, you’ll need to open the drive that contains the Windows.old folder, then navigate to the “Windows” folder. Inside this folder, you’ll find several system files, such as the “ntoskrnl.exe” and “ntkrnlpa.exe”. The version of Windows in the Windows.old folder can be determined from the version numbers of these files.
Another way to determine the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder is to check the registry. The Windows registry stores information about the version of Windows that is currently installed. To access the registry, press the Windows key and R at the same time, then type in “regedit” and press enter. In the registry editor, navigate to the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion”. The value “ProductName” will tell you the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder.
Finally, you can use the Windows System Information tool to determine the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder. To open this tool, press the Windows key and R at the same time, then type in “msinfo32” and press enter. The System Information tool will display a list of system information, including the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder.
In conclusion, determining the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder may seem like a daunting task, but it’s actually quite easy to do. The most reliable way to identify the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder is to check the system files, the registry, or the Windows System Information tool. With this information in hand, you’ll be able to quickly and accurately identify the version of Windows in the Windows.old folder.