How to delete the WindowsApps folder on Windows 10

There are many folders on your Windows drive that you cannot access and/or delete. These are normally system folders and deleting them or modifying them could break the OS. Some of these folders can be deleted without damaging the OS but due to their nature, they’re protected. The WindowsApps folder is one such folder.

WindowsApps folder

The WindowsApps folder is where UWP apps are installed. UWP apps can be installed or moved to any drive on your system. What this means is that if you’ve ever installed an app to a non-Windows drive, it will have the WindowsApps folder. As such, if you want to delete the WindowsApps folder from a drive, you have to make sure that there is no UWP app installed to the drive the folder is on.

Delete/move apps

Before we show you how you can delete the WindowsApps folder, you need to first make sure there are no apps installed to the drive it’s on. Checking which apps are installed on a drive is incredibly easy.

Open the Settings app and go to the Apps group of settings. On the Apps & features tab, scroll down to the list of installed apps. Open the Filter by dropdown and select the drive with the WindowsApps folder that you want to delete.

Look through the list and move the apps you want to keep to a different drive. Delete the ones you don’t want to use. The list will be a mix of UWP apps and desktop apps. The desktop apps do not need to be removed. They do not install to the WindowsApps folder.

Change WindowsApps folder permission

You’re going to need admin rights for this. Navigate to the root of the drive with the WindowsApps folder. Right-click it and select Properties from the context menu. Go to the Security tab and click ‘Advanced’.

On the next window that opens, click the Change option next to the Owner.

Another window will open where you can enter a new owner for the folder. In the box at the bottom, enter your admin user name and then click the Check Name button. Once the name is verified, click OK, and then Apply.

Delete the WindowsApps folder

After you’ve changed the permissions, go ahead and select the WindowsApps folder, and the Delete key on your keyboard. You will be prompted to allow the change as an admin user but once you give it admin permission, the folder will be deleted.

If you ever install or move a UWP app to the same drive again, this folder will be recreated. It won’t have any data left over from the previous version that you deleted.