Windows 7: Permissions For File Deletion?

There is also a program that lets you add an explorer right click context menu item to "Take ownership of drives and folders" (plus a separate one for files) among other things.

yeah I have the program as well, have not installed it as yet though. Seems like it would be a great addition to the context menu.

Actually you can't install this app. It runs as a totally portable .exe. But (among other things) it provides a very easy way to add (or subsequently remove) several helpful context menu items such as the "Take Ownership" ones. But my favs are "Copy to folder" and "Move to Folder." Much easier than manually editing the registry to get these. I sometimes wonder why MS didn't include these in the context menu by default though.

Old windows on D
New windows on C

and this take ownership reg is working a treat!!!!

And I am useless at windows - Thanks so much

Hello morris108, welcome to Seven Forums!





Just as a heads-up, use caution what you take ownership/delete; you may well disable Windows.

BareFootKid

Thanks - I deleted all the files successfully from D, am a little afraid to restart now. I now have about 15 Gig on the 120 GiG disc, but it says I only have 9 Gig free. Deleting the files did give me some extra space, and I told windows to show hidden folders. So am a little confused, maybe I will have to reformat it, and now I don't have the space to put the 15 Gig somewhere else.
My windows is still running from C, so hopefully everything will be okay

That did the trick for me too. Thanks.

Some sections of the registry, those applying to specific applications that were installed, like MS Office and the Sound Card Driver have locked out all users, including Administrator (there are "permissions" for no one). When these apps needed to be uninstalled and reinstalled, or even repaired, Windows does not have access to these locked-up sections and can't perform any of those functions.

In order to access these sections, one cannot batch Change Properties as they refuse to allow any changes to these frozen sections, even to Properties, and each file must be attacked individually from the bottom of the tree to the top in a time-consuming process of clicking, closing error message, right-clicking and selecting "permissions", closing second error message, clicking on Advanced in the Permissions for Properties Box, closing the third error message, click on the Owner tab, then click Under Change Owner To, select your user name from the list, Apply and OK. Then in the Select User or Group box, select Advanced.

Then in the Select Object box, select click on Find Now to search for users, then select your user name from the list, highlight it, then OK. Then in Permission Entry box make sure your user name is in the Name box, make sure you're applying changes to "This key and all subkeys", then checkbox under Permissions, allow yourself Full Control, OK, then Apply, OK, then in the Security box, click OK to close the Properties Boxes. The you try to delete the file, and it says you can't because it has a previously hidden "child" file that also needs to be unfrozen. Each registry entry may have 50-100 children that only show up after you've taken ownership and granted yourself full control of the fifle. Each one of these newly revealed children also require the same painstaking effort, and many have children of their own as well.

I have deleted over a thousand of these files related to the programs I mentioned above, was then able to delete them and proceed to fully uninstall/reinstall the previously frozen application. I tried the ShellToys program which gives you unparralelled control of all except the registry. I also tried your reg edit to take ownership of the entire registry. While it did Take Ownership of much of the registry, it was not permitted to change ownership in these frozen sectors. In addition, many system files stopped working under new ownership and many applications started going on the blink as well. Do Windows functions and some applications require remaining under the ownership of Trusted Installer, or Administrator, or SYSTEM? Do you think this problem could be avoided if all files were Taken as Owners by the principle user?

For my purposes, and so as not to mess up other applications and Windows functions, I would like to apply Ownership to a section of the registry through right-clicking on a Context Menu item on a small section of the registry, leaving the rest in the hands of the previous owners. Would this be possible?

Another had suggested trying out Ubuntu by booting it from a CD without actually installing it. I did this, but when trying to access Registry Editor, all shortcuts and system files were greyed-out and unselectable, so I could not access and delete the registry entries I needed to.

Anyway, I need a way to isolate these sections of the registry that give permission to no one, open them up by Take Ownership/Full Control of only the bad sectors. Once you have Ownership and Full Control, you can pretty much do anything you want with registry files.

Does anyone out there have a better suggestion? Would there be a command line process for deleting registry entries?

I too am having ZERO luck.

On my computer, I created a folder

I added some backup files to my folder

I now want to delete my files from my folder

I am admisinstrator

I have Taken Ownership

I have UAC turned completely off.

I reset the read-only attribute

I have rebooted and signed in with other Admin accounts.

WIn 7, bless its soul, will not let me delete my files from my folder on my computer.

It will absolutely not let me delete files. n way no how.

Yes the files are an old backup copy othe "_old" folder.

It tells me I need permission to perform the action and that I require permission for "Trusted Installer"

Windows 7, aka, Skynet, has taken over.

So seriously, I really need to reformat the drive to erase files ???? . It likely wont even let me do that either.

What an abolsolute POC operating system this is!!

I am shocked it lets you create files.

Hi mediaman09, if you're being told you need permission from TrustedInstaller then you have not taken ownership of the files/folders in question.
Did you try the Take Ownership shortcut? This method should never fail unless what you're trying to delete really is in use at the moment, i.e. locked by a process. If that's the case, Unlocker is a very helpful utility.