Do you have a $WinREAgent folder on the C drive? And you might be wondering what this is for. A folder with a dollar sign ($) indicates that the folder is hidden, created during installation and will only be used for a limited period of time.
After upgrading the Windows 10 version, you might find a hidden $WinREAgent folder located in Local Disk (C:), some people, especially those who are always paranoid about malware issues and other security problems, of course will ask, what is the function of this folder? is it safe to delete?
So along with this question and along with my curiosity, on this occasion AlfinTech Computer will briefly explain what is the $WinREAgent Folder that users usually find after the device has finished upgrading Windows 10.
$WinREAgent Overview
It’s created in Windows Recovery Environment which acts as a solution when the system won’t start. WinRE can fix common problems that prevent the Windows operating system from booting successfully. When used, most of the content is removed.
$WinREAgent folder is usually created during an upgrade and is used when a rollback is required.
This is a hidden folder, so you need to make sure Windows shows hidden files and folders. Now, if you see a folder on a regular system, it might contain another empty subfolder called Scratch. I couldn’t find more information in the $WinREAgent folder, except for the size, which only shows 0 bytes. If you decide to delete it, you can proceed with deleting it.
If you are having trouble updating your system, deleting the $WinREAgent folder might be one of the solutions that can help you install the update. Some users have seen the $WinREAgent folder deleted after Windows 10 Update Assistant was uninstalled.
Unfortunately, there is no mention of this folder on the Microsoft site. So, if you know more about this, please add a comment below for everyone’s benefit.
What is the $WinREAgent folder on Windows 10?
$WinREAgent is one of the folders we’ll be looking at in this article. Go to the root of the drive where Windows is installed (for example Local Disk C) drive and you will find this folder as shown in the screenshot. Not all installations will be able to use this folder, but there might be a better chance if you upgrade to Windows 10.
A separate folder is created when you upgrade to the Windows 10 operating system. These folders are created on the drive where Windows is installed, and these folders are used to update and save your work. This allows you to revert to the previous version and perform a restore.
You might be wondering what this folder is and why it was created. What is this folder for and can you delete it if you want? AlfinTech Computer will try to answer these questions in this article.
The further observation of about $WinREAgent existence
So, $WinREAgent folder is created when you upgrade from Windows 10. There are two things that are possible when performing an upgrade operation. The update can be successful or unsuccessful. If it fails, Windows will try to restore the previous version. And this folder plays an important role in the recovery process. It contains temporary files needed to restore or rollback an update in the event of a failure.
$WinREAgent folder is hidden by default. To find this folder, you need to enable hidden items in File Explorer. Typically, most folders with a dollar sign ($) in their name are hidden folders and require administrative access.
It has been confirmed that Windows automatically deletes this folder 10 days after the upgrade is complete. Otherwise, you can manually remove it if you like. However, before deleting, check the following: Make sure the folder is not taking up memory. That is, make sure you have 0KB inside.
If you have pending Windows update installations, complete them. Windows will of course restart to complete the installation of the update. Thus, the folder can be deleted automatically after reboot. However, if it remains, you can manually delete it.
Is it safe to delete $WinREAgent?
In general, the $WinREAgent folder is a folder created during a system update or upgrade, and usually contains temporary files that are used in case the system needs to rollback if an update or upgrade is experiencing a problem.
Technically, you could say that the $WinREAgent folder has an important role, where, for example, when an update or upgrade fails, the system will roll back to the version before the update or upgrade process was executed by restoring the temporary files that were previously created.
Based on observations, basically the $WinREAgent folder will be deleted within 10 days after the user completes the Windows 10 system upgrade process, and if the update or upgrade process has been completed, in other words the user has entered the operating system with the latest build number as what is offered.
Updates that have been installed, so users can delete the $WinREAgent folder without any problems. Especially after the update process is complete, the $WinREAgent folder will have an empty Scratch folder without any data in it.
If you download and install Windows 10 Update Assistant on your Windows 10 device, usually the $WinREAgent folder will also be present to store files and folders according to their function. And after the update process is complete, just as mentioned above, usually the contents of $WinREAgent will be deleted after the system update is complete.
To remove $WinREAgent if you have Windows 10 Update Assistant installed, it’s a good idea to delete Windows 10 Update Assistant first and then delete the $WinREAgent folder manually.
Conclusion of $WinREAgent existence on Windows 10
Now based on the description above, generally if you have finished upgrading either through Windows Update or Update Assistant, you can safely delete the $ WinREAgent folder.
However, if you haven’t finished and completed the upgrade process, the $WinREAgent folder will contain various important files to support the update process, so as long as the update process is not finished, it’s a good idea to leave the folder in place.
So, I hope this article will fulfill your curiosity, hopefully it’s useful.
AUTHOR BIO
On my daily job, I am a software engineer, programmer & computer technician. My passion is assembling PC hardware, studying Operating System and all things related to computers technology. I also love to make short films for YouTube as a producer. More at about me…
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