Permission issues. Fed up with "You do not have permission to....."

Please forgive my intrusion. I'm not an expert at anything. :)

Just out of curiosity did you run the System File Checker scan suggested by Greg in an earlier post? Any problems detected? If yes, it's been recommended to run the scan 3 times rebooting in between each scan due to system file dependencies.

Since Unlocker didn't work for you I'm not sure if FileAssassin will help, but it's a free utility from a respected company.

Malwarebytes : Remove any locked file with FileASSASSIN

Again, sorry for butting in.

If the excellent suggestions by Shawn and Lee don't help then you may have corruption that can be repaired by System File Checker as suggested.

You can also utilize the System Resources and logs to find clues using these troubleshooting steps leading up to a Repair Install as a last resort before Clean Reinstalling Windows 7.

As you read about and consider these, do you have the latest installer with SP1?

CShark said:

I have to ask: is this issue faced by all Win7 users, or is it a sporadic problem ? I can almost understand MS not letting users delete specific system files, but cannot fathom why this would apply to non-system, non-critical files or folders. In my opinion the worst of these problems is the apparent lag between trying to delete a folder and being denied permission, then if I wait long enough, I am then able to delete it after all!!!!

This is not a common problem in Windows 7, so it's not some feature built into it. What you're experiencing is a problem with your particular system that is not an intended or deliberate programmed feature of Windows 7. You've got a program or service running that is putting locks on your files for certain time periods. Why, I'm not sure, but that appears to be the underlying issue. Given that you say you have 2-3 TB of installed programs and data, it could be any number of them that have gone haywire and are unduly locking access to files. You could try a repair install, but it doesn't sound like that might do much good for you at this point.

marsmimar said:

Please forgive my intrusion. I'm not an expert at anything. :)

Just out of curiosity did you run the System File Checker scan suggested by Greg in an earlier post? Any problems detected? If yes, it's been recommended to run the scan 3 times rebooting in between each scan due to system file dependencies.

Since Unlocker didn't work for you I'm not sure if FileAssassin will help, but it's a free utility from a respected company.

Malwarebytes : Remove any locked file with FileASSASSIN

Again, sorry for butting in.

Please do not apologize for butting in, you are not hijacking my thread, but adding to it, for which I am grateful.

To be honest, I've been afk for a week or so due to health issues.

No, I have not tried running SFC (which is something I should have thought of... but alas my dos days are a long way back! I actually remember telling a friend that dos would never die as Windows at that time was pretty sad.

I will give this a go and get back to you guys. Yes, I do have over 2 tb of programs and data installed, but I try to run a tight ship, eliminating unnecessary services, TSR's (Terminate and Stay Resident) stubs, etc. It is not impossible that at least one services I've disabled is at least an indirect cause of my woes.

I've recently partitioned my drives, chkdsk was fine. All drives are regularly scanned for usual blemishes, viruses, bad clusters... as well as defragged. I do not use free defraggers or partition managers, as I've been burned by them from time to time.


Thanks you guys for all the good suggestions. As mentioned, I will post any results, as I am not the only person who hates to see "Oh, I found it" as the final post in a thead I'm reading.

Cheers

FliGi7 said:

CShark said:

I have to ask: is this issue faced by all Win7 users, or is it a sporadic problem ? I can almost understand MS not letting users delete specific system files, but cannot fathom why this would apply to non-system, non-critical files or folders. In my opinion the worst of these problems is the apparent lag between trying to delete a folder and being denied permission, then if I wait long enough, I am then able to delete it after all!!!!

This is not a common problem in Windows 7, so it's not some feature built into it. What you're experiencing is a problem with your particular system that is not an intended or deliberate programmed feature of Windows 7. You've got a program or service running that is putting locks on your files for certain time periods. Why, I'm not sure, but that appears to be the underlying issue. Given that you say you have 2-3 TB of installed programs and data, it could be any number of them that have gone haywire and are unduly locking access to files. You could try a repair install, but it doesn't sound like that might do much good for you at this point.

A big thanks for this post. I assumed my little problem was mine alone, but you never know for certain till you ask :)

I have the same issue.

Maybe, we can boot with an "emergency" boot CD, with other Operating System, like Linux.

Don't know if taking the HDD out and plug it via USB to an Apple could work for deleting.

Sorry if don't work, just trying to add a couple more alternatives.

Hi guys

Thanks for your post CShark, you wrote the perfect "here's my problem, tried these things, don't tell me to try these silly default A+ troubleshooting things".

The reason for my post is not because I found a solution, but to give some input of when I experience the same problem.

On one of my machines in particular this happens a lot. That machine is configured as a file server (for Windows shares and also FTP access using FileZilla FTP Server). The hardware specs are as follow: 3d gen i3, 8GB RAM, 14TB total storage. This machine (lets call it the file server) is used to store company data, including pictures, video clips, drawings etc. Video files vary from 100MB - 2GB (depending on quality and length off course).

We never have any issues with this "server", except when sorting files according to relevance.

Let's say I have an "unsorted" folder with all videos from the last month, I would create folders under the sorted section and place relevant files in there. Usually this is not a problem, but the moment we have eg 5 videos under "/unsorted/project xyz/roof videos" or "/unsorted/project xyz/conference videos" and I move the "roof videos" or "conference videos" sub folders I note this problem. Please note this only seems to happen when moving to a different partition, I've never seen the issue when moving to a different location on the same drive.

Those folders would move as expected, but then gets stuck at some point. Then I manually move the individual files across. Sometimes, when going back to the "roof videos" folder, the files are still there and can't be moved or deleted. Give it a couple of minutes and you can usually delete them (like CShark also commented). But here comes the tricky part, when you try to delete the (now empty) "roof videos" folder, you get the "you don't have permission" error. Sometimes Windows complains about the thumbs.db file being in use, but if you change into the folder and out again, the thumbs.db is no longer a problem and you can delete the folder, or so you'd think. Carry on doing something else, come back to your "project xyz" folder, and whoops, "roof videos" are back. Only THIS time you can't even open the "roof videos" folder, it gives you that "administrator needed" permissions error. In this instance you HAVE to reboot. After a reboot the folder is gone.

I first noted this problem on 1TB Seagate HDD's. I thought it could have had something to do with the drives, but then I had the same problem with 1.5TB, 2TB, 3TB and now with 4TB Seagate drives. I have not seen the problem on other makes of drives (I don't really own other makes of this size so I can't tell).

At some point I even thought it could have to do with the power supply, that Windows (or the drive's built-in AI) is trying to protect you from data corruption due to a weak PSU, but even after upgrading the PSU (to more than is needed) the problem persist.

My solution to the problem is to never delete (or move) these sub folders. I would move the content to where they need to be, but leave the folder in tact, as I sometimes use the same folders again. Only once the project is completed and I do wish to get rid of the folder I would remove it. Sometimes it deletes fine, other times it would just sit there until I reboot.


Sorry for my detailed reply, but just maybe it gives a better insight of the problem.

I do still suspect the problem could have to do with built-in AI from the drive, or a bug in NTFS for larger drives. I have never seen these problems on smaller drives (up to 320GB).

Thanks for your time and effort!

G

Simple. Share the hard drive or folder you can not access because of a permissions problem

pebbly said:

Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums

I found this worked for me for various folders especially the Windows System folder...

wheres I could not modify certain folders, I need to take care of the Wallpaper folder so I could add all my custom wallpaper and get rid of the default wallpaper..

and to modify the Microsoft Managements Consoles .msc files to customize their layout...
to make them more manageable....


ps: I just wanted to add some of my thoughts to this thread...