This is ridiculous

Ok, this is a completely biased argument since i have just wasted about 2 hours wrestling with Windows 7's permissons. This is going to end up in a rant but ill try to explain.

All i wanted to do was install 1 program, steam. Since i couldn't play counter strike i thought well i've tried everything bar a full re-install. So getting rid of it was the easy part. Now i had to re-install it. What a bad mistake....

"You do not have the permissons to delete this file (Steam.exe)" Retry or ignore.

No matter where i tried to instal this. I could not install it. Then when i finally managed to, steam created a steamnew.exe and steamtmp.exe and tried to update itself and re-write over the old steam.exe and lo and behold "Fatel error, Could not delete steam.exe you need the administrarors permisson." Well Thank you Windows but, my accout is set to administrator.

So ok, ill play ball, i enabled the built-in admin acount via a tut here (nice and detailed thanks ) and tried the same thing.... Oh wait i forgot it's windows...

"You need the administrators permisson before deleting this file." Are you serious? No matter what i tried the permissons of the folder Steam were all set to full control bar the CREATOR ACCOUNT. So i tried to enable that full control, but everytime i clicked apply or ok, it just closed the window and the radio buttons weren't checked nor the permissons changed. The UAC has been on full, then half full and off. Didn't make a difference.

Now don't get me wrong Windows 7 > XP any day, but this is down-right stupid. This is the reason why i loved XP, If your account was set to Admin, then it actually meant u could do anythin since you were Admin. Windows 7 and this whole UAC permissons thing is the most fustrating and patronising thing i have come accross....

That ends my rant and in a nutshell, i want to install steam but cant since i dont have the right permissions, how would i go about getting them and Why can't i delete files that i have made?

Thanks for reading this :)

-baMBi-

I've noticed this happening on my system as well when there are certain folders/files that you've recently accessed then want to delete them and Windows wont let you even with full admin privileges. The only way to delete these files/folders for me, is to do a restart, go back to it then delete it.

Anyone noticed this on their system and any fix?

I have rebooted about 6 times, i still need permissons... I have calmed down now, but why can't you delete things that you have either authorised or made yourself? does that seem too il-logical to you?

-baMBi-

Yes it is... Well, try to check this out, it might be helpful in taking ownership of files/folders you're tweaking

Tried the Take Ownership reg, it helped in removing files manually, but when steam updates it seems to want to make and delete its own files and thus won't work there...

-baMBi-

You've of course set the program to run as administrator by default?

hello bambi

Where are the files you wish to delete located, if they are in program files, which is a protected area, you may find that running explorer.exe as an admin will allow you to delete the files. Normal explorer operations are run with the users standard user rights and explorer does not prompt for elevation.

another workaround is to explicitly give yourself full rights to the folders/files concerned right click - take ownership then give yourself full control that should permit deletion.

It can be very frustrating when this sort of thing happens, I know from personal experience

Yes i have/had run as admin on.
As for the explorer thing i didnt know that and will give it a go, but i tried to set my entire C drive as full control, but i got so many "Access denied" due to permissions i just clicked abort lol. But i'll give the explorer a go :)

-baMBi-

Unfortunately, I don't use steam.
If the module that updates steam files is different from the one you've given run as admin, you might want to give that module run as admin as well. Just a thought :)