XP Pro 32 bit - Upgrade too Vista Ultimate 64 bit

[Maxtor]

I've got a system that came preloaded with Vista Home Premium and I had it as a dual boot with XP pro on a seperate HD. However, last week, I upgraded the XP Pro too 64 bit Vista Ultimate.

After the upgrade was done, I noitced that the install created two folders, one named Program Files (86) and the other is Windows.old. I assume that these folders contain the XP OS and program files. My question is, can I delete those two folders without having to worry that my system will crash or something? There is nothing on the XP Pro install that I'm worried about losing, just want to make sure I can safely delete the two folders.

You'll see the two extra folders in the attachment

Thanks for any info!

[3 of 7]

Do not delete the Program Files X86. It's the folder there Vista will install all the programs that aren't written specifically for the X64 architecture . As for the Windows.old folder I think your spot on about it having the old windows install on it.
You could just rename it till you need the space in case there is anything you want from it.

[JD]

I think you can also run Disk Cleanup and it'll remove the according old OS files for you.

[bojangles]

I would personally do a fresh install and see if any of your old programs are compatible at the 64-bit level. But yeah that windows.old are most likely the old XP files. Store it on an external HDD or a partition if you want.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by bojangles

I would personally do a fresh install and see if any of your old programs are compatible at the 64-bit level. But yeah that windows.old are most likely the old XP files. Store it on an external HDD or a partition if you want.

Considering like 90% of software is still 32bit compatible issues don't exist.

[death_hawk]

I've been running XP64 for a few months now and these are the programs I've installed that are 64bit:

7-zip (which I dislike and am probably going back to WinRAR)
QuickSFV (which I don't understand why it's 64bit, but it's there so I'm listing it)
Ventrilo (see QuickSFV)

Everything else is in the Program Files (x86) folder