How to delete the $GetCurrent folder on Windows 10

Residual problems with a Windows 10 update tend to drag on. You might discover something wrong with your installation months after you’ve upgraded. Windows 10, as of version 1903, now reserves storage space for updates. As it turns out, that’s not the only bit of space Windows 10 is taking up. If you did an in-place update of Windows 10, you might be left with residual files and folders and they can be quite large. The $GetCurrent folder can be quite big and you don’t need it after the update so here’s how you can delete the $GetCurrent folder.

Show hidden files

Open File Explorer and go to the View tab. Click the Option button and from the menu, select ‘Change folder and search options’.

In the Folder Options window, go to the View tab. Scroll through the options under Advanced settings, and select the ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’.

Delete $GetCurrent folder

Once you’ve set the hidden files and folders to be visible, visit your Windows drive and you will see a folder called $GetCurrent. This folder is very likely going to be large in size. Right-click it and select Properties from the context menu. The Size field on the General tab will tell you just how big the folder is.

Once the folder is visible, you can delete it. You will need admin rights but deleting it is really as simple as selecting the folder and tapping Delete. To get the full advantage of the free space, make sure you also remove the folder from the Recycle Bin.

The folder on my drive was over 3GB in size so it’s quite a bit of space saved. If you’re on an SSD, and that too one of a smaller capacity, that bit of space will count.

What is the $GetCurrent folder?

This folder contains set up files for the Windows update that you install. When you do an in-place update, Windows 10 first downloads the necessary files to your drive. On principle, the files should be deleted after the update but they’re not. What’s worse is that these files are kept in a  hidden folder so the average user isn’t going go looking for it. It’s rather frustrating that the folder isn’t cleaned up when Windows 10 detects you’re low on space.

Deleting the folder won’t have any sort of negative impact. The files aren’t something you will need again and even if you did, they’re files for updating Windows 10 and you can get them from Microsoft’s website.