What Is the Panther Folder in Windows 10 & 11?

By Timothy Tibbetts

on 06/23/2023

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If you've spotted Panther folders on your Windows 10 computer, you might have wondered what they were for and if they can be deleted.

The Panther folder is another temporary folder that temporarily stores installation, setup, or upgrade files. Many of the files are small, including XML, ETL, TXT, INI, and more.

Video tutorial:

The Panther folder can appear in a few places depending on the current setup state:

Down-level phase - C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther
Windows Preinstallation Environment phase - C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther
Online configuration phase or first boot phase - C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER
Windows Welcome phase - C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER
Rollback phase - C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther

The folder can sometimes be blue in color.

You can delete the folder if you know what step of the setup phase you're in, and more importantly if that step has been completed.

There's nothing to be gained by deleting the Panther folder, and we would leave it alone.

If you're trying to free up hard drive space, you might try CCleaner or PrivaZer. You could even use Storage to Find and Free up Space in Windows 10.

Similar:

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How to Clean Up the WinSxS folder (Component Store) in Windows 10

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