Help removing old Windows & Users folder without breaking anything!

AddRAM said:

Not sure. Who is Alpha/Red, the users on that install ?

Yep. Alpha/Red is the only user account on this computer.

AddRAM said:

Have you tried taking ownership of the files ?

Yep. I used this tutorial. It seems to work when I use it on the Users and Windows folder on F drive. I can see the word 'Success' flash by in the command prompt, and the phrase '...now owned by "Alpha/Red"'.

Kaktussoft said:

Are you logged on as user RED on computer ALPHA? Do you have administrator priviliges?

Yep. I'm sure that I have admin privileges, it's the only user account. Here's a screenshot if that helps:

Kaktussoft said:

Does system,admistrator,user etc have any DENY access in folder Windows?

No. Every 'group or username' seems to have full access with the exception of 'Special Permissions'. The only 'group or username' that doesn't have full access is the 'CREATOR OWNER' account and the 'TrustedInstaller' account that each only appear on the Windows folder permissions.

Here's the message I get when I try to delete Windows or Users from the F drive:

right click F:\windows , properties, tab security->advanced
Post screenshot
tab owner. Post screenshot as well

Kaktussoft said:

right click F:\windows , properties, tab security->advanced
Post screenshot
tab owner. Post screenshot as well

Thanks Kaktussoft, here we go:

Try to delete some folders in f:\windows (some random one)
Try to delete some files in f:\windows (some random one)
Works?? if not

Create a file and folder in f:\windows. Works? Delete them, works?

In elevated command prompt:

Code:

become owner of everything under f:\windows
takeown  /f  f:\windows  /r  /d  Y
reset the permissions. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /reset  /t  /c  /l  /q
set permission to inherete. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /inheritance:e  /t  /c  /l  /q

Works? any errors?

Kaktussoft said:

In elevated command prompt:

Code:

become owner of everything under f:\windows
takeown  /f  f:\windows  /r  /d  Y
reset the permissions. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /reset  /t  /c  /l  /q
set permission to inherete. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /inheritance:e  /t  /c  /l  /q

Works? any errors?

did it fix the problem?

Might this be a case for EVERYONE?

Add the EVERYONE object with full control to the security for F:\Windows and F:\Users - populate subfolders and files.

Might work.

Bill

Slartybart said:

Might this be a case for EVERYONE?

Add the EVERYONE object with full control to the security for F:\Windows and F:\Users - populate subfolders and files.

Might work.

Bill

Better do: Take ownership for F:\Windows and F:\Users - populate subfolders and files first. And populate the permissions as well. So remove the excplicit permissions and inheret them only.

Full access to EVERYONE is not enough! There can be be DENY permissions (although very unlikely)

Kaktussoft said:

In elevated command prompt:

Code:

become owner of everything under f:\windows
takeown  /f  f:\windows  /r  /d  Y
reset the permissions. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /reset  /t  /c  /l  /q
set permission to inherete. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /inheritance:e  /t  /c  /l  /q

Works? any errors?

Kaktussoft, I think you've done it!! Thankyou so much. :)

Windows folder is gone and I'm in the process of repeating the process with the Users folder as I type. Thanks for sharing your ninja command prompt moves!

I think I must have good karma after helping out lots of people on audio forums! Thanks again to AddRAM, Kaktussoft and Slartybart.. hopefully some other forum members can gain something from this thread too!

:)

jimdandy said:

Kaktussoft said:

In elevated command prompt:

Code:

become owner of everything under f:\windows
takeown  /f  f:\windows  /r  /d  Y
reset the permissions. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /reset  /t  /c  /l  /q
set permission to inherete. includes subfolders
icacls  f:\windows\*  /inheritance:e  /t  /c  /l  /q

Works? any errors?

Kaktussoft, I think you've done it!! Thankyou so much. :)

Windows folder is gone and I'm in the process of repeating the process with the Users folder as I type. Thanks for sharing your ninja command prompt moves!

I think I must have good karma after helping out lots of people on audio forums! Thanks again to AddRAM, Kaktussoft and Slartybart.. hopefully some other forum members can gain something from this thread too!

:)

Glad you solved it. You could have done it yourself using windows explorer GUI!


My commands only did:

• take ownership of everything in f:\windows
• delete all explicit permissions on the files
• activate inherentence.

Probably most of the files did actually delete on first try(?)
You forgot to populate ownership to files/subfolders(?)
You forgot to populate permissions to files/subfolders(?)

that's why I gave you the cryptic commands.

Why not simply format F?