{"id":10522,"date":"2019-07-30T06:58:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T01:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=10522"},"modified":"2025-01-29T10:34:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T05:04:39","slug":"cannot-delete-windowsapps-folder-on-non-system-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cannot-delete-windowsapps-folder-on-non-system-drives\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] Cannot Delete WindowsApps folder on Non-System Drives"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have changed the default app save location to an external hard drive or secondary drive, Windows will create three folders, namely, WpSystem<\/code>, WindowsApps<\/code>, and WUDownloadCache<\/code> on the target drive.<\/p>\n

You may later change your mind and revert the default save location to C:. But you may be unable to delete<\/a> the leftover WindowsApps<\/code> folder on your secondary drive due to tight NTFS permissions<\/a> assigned to the folder. The other two folders, WpSystem<\/code> and WUDownloadCache<\/code> can be deleted easily.<\/p>\n

When you access the WindowsApps<\/code> folder on your secondary drive, you may see the following message:<\/p>\n

\"cannot<\/p>\n

You have been denied permission to access this folder.<\/pre>\n
And the Advanced Security Settings dialog shows the error:<\/p>\n
Can't open access control editor. Unable to perform a security operation on an object that has no associated security.<\/pre>\n
\"cannot<\/p>\n
This article explains how to properly delete the leftover WindowsApps folder on your secondary or external hard disk drive(s).<\/p>\n
RELATED:<\/strong> “Failed to Enumerate Objects in the Container” Error<\/a><\/div>\n
How to Delete the WindowsApps folder on non-system drives<\/h2>\n
You must delete the WindowsApps<\/code> folder on the non-system drive(s) only if it is not your default app save folder and doesn’t contain any apps. If any apps are installed in the secondary drive, please uninstall them<\/a> first.<\/p>\n
Step 1: Uninstall the apps in non-system drives<\/h3>\n
In Settings \u2192 Apps & Features, you can filter the list of apps by drive letter (e.g., D:\\<\/code>). In the following example, I have two apps, namely, Instagram and Microsoft VS Code. The VS Code is not a UWP app, so it’s not installed in the WindowsApps folder.<\/p>\n
I went ahead and uninstalled Instagram before wiping out the WindowsApps folder manually (in Step 3 below).<\/p>\n
\"windowsapps<\/p>\n
RELATED:<\/strong> How to Uninstall Preinstalled Apps in Windows 10 Using Different Ways<\/a><\/div>\n
Step 2: Revert the default app save location to the default<\/h3>\n
The default app save location can be changed by opening Settings \u2192 System \u2192 Storage \u2192 Change where new content is saved<\/strong>. Make sure it’s set to C:\\<\/code> drive, or your system drive.<\/p>\n
\"cannot<\/p>\n
Changing the setting on the above page would update the DefaultVolumeKey<\/code> registry value under the following key:<\/em><\/p>\n
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Appx\\PackageVolumes\\<\/pre>\n
RELATED: <\/strong>How to Restore the Default Permissions for WindowsApps folder<\/a><\/div>\n
Step 3: Delete the WindowsApps folder on the non-system drive<\/h3>\n
The unused WindowsApps<\/code> folder on your secondary drive or external hard drive can be deleted by taking ownership<\/a> of the folder and assigning your account full control permissions for the folder.<\/p>\n
(The procedure is the same as deleting the Windows.old<\/a> folder using Command Prompt.)<\/em><\/p>\n
To delete the WindowsApps<\/code> folder on the D:\\<\/code> drive, run these commands:<\/p>\n
takeown \/f d:\\windowsapps \/r\n\nicacls d:\\windowsapps \/grant *S-1-5-32-544:F \/t\n\nrd d:\\windowsapps \/s \/q<\/pre>\n
Note:<\/strong> S-1-5-32-544<\/strong> is the SID of the “administrators” group. On English systems, you can replace the SID in the command-line with the word “administrators<\/strong>“.<\/em><\/p>\n
\"cannot<\/p>\n
\"warningImportant:<\/strong> Don’t accidentally delete the WindowsApps folder<\/a> on your C:\\Program Files<\/code> folder.<\/em><\/p>\n
In some cases, the takeown command produces the following error:<\/p>\n
ERROR: Access is denied.<\/pre>\n
In that case, please open Command Prompt as TrustedInstaller<\/a> and carry out the steps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Getting an error?<\/h4>\n
Are you seeing the following error message after running the above commands?<\/p>\n
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.<\/pre>\n
If so, it means that one of the apps installed on that location is currently open. Terminate the app, uninstall it as per the instructions in “Step 1” above, and repeat the deletion procedure.<\/p>\n
Delete from Windows RE<\/h4>\n
If you still can’t delete the folder from Windows, boot into WinRE and delete it. See How to access Windows Recovery Environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Select Start, Power, then press and hold the Shift<\/strong> key while clicking Restart.<\/p>\n
In WinRE, click Troubleshoot \u2192 Advanced Options \u2192 Command Prompt.<\/p>\n
\"win<\/p>\n
Type\u00a0notepad<\/strong> and press Enter.<\/p>\n
In Notepad, click File, then Open. This will show the Open dialog that you can use to locate folders.<\/p>\n
Browse to the data partition and delete the “WindowsApps” folder.<\/p>\n
Important:<\/strong> When you boot into WinRE, the drive letter may not necessarily be the same.<\/p>\n
RELATED:<\/strong> How to restore the accidentally deleted SystemApps, WindowsApps, or Local Packages folder<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you have changed the default app save location to an external hard drive or secondary drive, Windows will create three folders, namely, WpSystem, WindowsApps, and WUDownloadCache on the target drive. You may later change your mind and revert the default save location to C:. But you may be unable to delete the leftover WindowsApps … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[106,191],"class_list":["post-10522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-command-prompt","tag-error-messages"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80841,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/delete-worldofwarships-folder-windowsapps\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":0},"title":"How to Delete the WorldOfWarships folders from WindowsApps","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"When you install World of Warships (WoW) via the Microsoft Store, it often occupies significant space within the protected C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps folder. The game can require 60\u201390 GB of storage after installation, and sometimes even more during updates. In some cases, the older versions are not removed during the WoW\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"worldofwarships folders in WindowsApps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/worldofwarships-folders-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/worldofwarships-folders-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/worldofwarships-folders-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/worldofwarships-folders-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3806,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-deleted-systemapps-windowsapps-packages\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":1},"title":"Accidentally Deleted SystemApps, WindowsApps or Local Packages. How to Recover?","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you have accidentally deleted the Windows 10 apps folders such as SystemApps, WindowsApps, or the Packages folder (in Local Application Data), here is how to restore them back. Each sub-folder in the above locations stores your program files and settings for the modern Apps, and deleting those folders would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"deleted systemapps windowsapps local packages","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/recover-systemapps-shadow-copy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/recover-systemapps-shadow-copy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/recover-systemapps-shadow-copy.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19755,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windowsapps-folder-restore-default-permissions\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":2},"title":"How to Reset WindowsApps folder Permissions to Default","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: This article tells you how to reset the WindowsApps folder permissions (and ownership) to Windows default. The WindowsApps folder under the Program Files folder stores the modern app packages. Each package folder under WindowsApps contains a manifest (named AppxManifest.xml) that contains a special XML namespace for packaged apps. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windowsapps restore default permissions","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/windowsapps-permissions-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1888,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reinstall-photos-app-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":3},"title":"How to Completely Uninstall and Reinstall the Photos App","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If the Photos app does not start or causes an error and the reset and repair method hasn't helped, you can completely uninstall and reinstall the app using PowerShell. Here are the steps for Windows 10 and 11. RELATED: How to Install Windows 10 Photos App on Windows 11 Uninstall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"reinstall photos app powershell","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ps-reinstall-photos-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ps-reinstall-photos-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/ps-reinstall-photos-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/do-not-move-special-folders-to-the-root-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":4},"title":"Fix: Accidentally Moved Videos or other Shell folders to D:\\ root","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"When you relocate a special folder: Music, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, or Documents to a different drive using the Location tab in the Property sheet, make sure you mention the complete target path where you want to relocate the folder. For example, to move the Videos folder of your user profile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"accidentally moved special folder to the root drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/move-special-folder-location-from-root-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/move-special-folder-location-from-root-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/move-special-folder-location-from-root-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1595,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-folder-cant-be-moved-here-documents-pictures-onedrive\/","url_meta":{"origin":10522,"position":5},"title":"Error “The folder can’t be moved here” Moving Documents\/Pictures, Caused by OneDrive","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've OneDrive options set to save documents and pictures in OneDrive, instead of This PC, the shell folders Documents, Pictures, and its three sub-folders Saved Pictures, Camera Roll, and Screenshots, are redirected to the OneDrive folder. With this setting on, the user can't use the Location tab in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"onedrive manage folders","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/onedrive-manage-backup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/onedrive-manage-backup.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/onedrive-manage-backup.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/onedrive-manage-backup.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}