Solved Even the Administrator account can't delete this folder...

[newTechie]

I've searched and tried everything I can for the past two hours and I cannot, for the life of me, get this folder and its sub-folders deleted. The attached picture is "Access is denied" output after the following scenario:

I ran "net user administrator /active:yes" from the elevated cmd

I logged into the newly found admin account and ran: rd /s /q "file location"

As I said before, the attached file is the output after that command executed


Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Parman]

Have you tried to take ownership of the file?

 

[newTechie]

I haven't tried that as of yet. Where can I see how?

 

[Parman]

I'm sorry I should have specified how to do that & Welcome to the forum.

Right Click on the folder & select properties.
Click on the Security Tab.
Choose Advanced.
Click on the Owner Tab.
Click Edit.
Select User listed or select Other users or groups
Select okay or apply.

If you have to select other users or groups.
Select user or group dialog box opens.
Type in the name of the user or group and click Check Names
Then click okay.

Let me know if that helps.

 

[newTechie]

I was able to successfully change ownership, unfortunately this did not solve my problem. I tried both right-clicking to delete it and using cmd to delete it after changing ownership, but neither worked.

 

[proudtobegreek]

May i suggest trying to delete it while on safe mode and if that doesnt work,kill explorer.exe in task manager,delete and reopen explorer under file,new task explorer.exe,ok.

 

[newTechie]

Killing "explorer.exe" did not fix the problem, nor did Safe Mode. I'm starting to wonder what I did to this folder to make it so undelete-able haha

 

[proudtobegreek]

can you move the folder to an usb stick and format it?

 

[newTechie]

It will not let me move the folders to my external hard drive, or any of my 5 USBs

 

[Parman]

Now that your the owner check the permissions of the folder.

Assuming your computer is part of.the administrators group look at that one first make sure you have modify or full contol. Then check through the others to make sure there is no deny permissions set.

I will go into more details when I'm at a pc.

 

[proudtobegreek]

That power user is really quick!Properties,security tab,click on each group,i'm outta here...

 

[Bongo]

Welcome to the Seven Forums

To take ownership give yourself permission and look at Post #6 of this thread will tell you how to do it http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/179502-basic-networking-information.html#post1525656

Or try Download Unlocker 1.9.1 - FileHippo.com

Or download a linux .iso and burn it to cd and boot from it (do not install it) run as a live cd and then navigate to the windows partition find the folder and delete it.

Jerry

 

[newTechie]

I have all permissions and none are denied, It says it is "Read-only" and won't let me change it

 

[Parman]

Try this.
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/53095-file-folder-read-only-attribute-wont-disable.html

 

[newTechie]

I booted into safe mode, deleted the folder there, booted normally and was able to successfully delete the folder there as well. Thanks for all the help guys! I'll know what to do if this ever happens again!

 

[Parman]

Glad you got that folder deleted.

 

[exengr]

Admin can't delete files

Before you try anything complex, shutdown and restart[cold reboot]. Then try again to delete. Thius worked for me

 

[mopar3]

I use this IObit Unlocker, Solution for "undelete files or folders" Problems on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 10 - IObit I have had great success with it, I would say %95.
It's easy to use. It's free but I think you can buy it.
It's worth a try.

mopar3

 

[TechnoMage2016]

I install and set up a new PC at least once a week, and one of the things I always install is a program called "Grant Admin Full Control". You can easily find and download it from the internet.
Once you install it, it becomes an option in the Right Click drop down menu.
So you can right click on any file or folder and make it "Yours".
To do something with a file or folder you still may have to right click it, look at "Properties" and remove the Read Only attribute.

A folder can be a lot easier to remove if you first delete all the files IN it.

I'm forever running into things I want to delete or maybe just rename, and Windows tries to make that as difficult as possible, but brute force and ignorance prevails, and I always get what I want.

Cheers mate!

 

[lehnerus2000]

Live Linux CD/DVD/USB

I'm forever running into things I want to delete or maybe just rename, and Windows tries to make that as difficult as possible, but brute force and ignorance prevails, and I always get what I want.

I use a Live Linux CD/DVD/USB to "beat" Windows into submission, when it refuses to obey.