Vista won't let me delete files and folders.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lars XLN Audio
  • Start date Start date
L

Lars XLN Audio

Feels like I've tried everything now. Certain files (like exe files) and
folders (if they contain exe files) just can't be deleted. I get "You need
permisson to do this". From who? Bill Gates himself? God? I'm the
Administrator and only user of the machine.

I tried activating and logging in as the "hidden" Administrator, but that
didn't help at all.

I 've tried with UAC on and off. With it on I get the joy of clicking about
6 times before I end up with the "you need permission" (shouldn't that be
checked first??) No wonder people turn that "feature" off...

I can rename the exe files and usually delete them after a reboot, isn't
that very strange?

Vista has been everything people say it is (not good)..
- Media Player was broken, but seems to work now, it actaully stops playing
when you close it.
- I've been getting a "Parts of Logos has stopped working" or something like
that error message at every startup for the last weeks.
- Sleep mode worked the first week only. Now it never wakes up.
- IE7 crashes at least once a day.

I've used XP for years and it was never this broken.
 
For deleting issues:
Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista
http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-ownership-context-menu-vista.htm

For sleep issues:
Go to Advance Power Settings.
Set hard drive to turn off a minute or 2 before sleep.
Set Hybrid and Hibernate modes to "Off"
Under USB settings select "Disable"
Under Multimedia select "Allow ....."

To disble UAC prompt and still have UAC security:
Run Regedit and navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
Change the value of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin from "2" to "0".
 
I tried the take ownership, and I still cannot delete the files. I have also
shut down the service which could have beenusing the files... Any other
suggestions?

Michael

Bob said:
For deleting issues:
Add "Take Ownership" to right-click menu in Vista
http://www.petri.co.il/add-take-ownership-context-menu-vista.htm

For sleep issues:
Go to Advance Power Settings.
Set hard drive to turn off a minute or 2 before sleep.
Set Hybrid and Hibernate modes to "Off"
Under USB settings select "Disable"
Under Multimedia select "Allow ....."

To disble UAC prompt and still have UAC security:
Run Regedit and navigate to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
Change the value of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin from "2" to "0".


Lars XLN Audio said:
Feels like I've tried everything now. Certain files (like exe files) and
folders (if they contain exe files) just can't be deleted. I get "You need
permisson to do this". From who? Bill Gates himself? God? I'm the
Administrator and only user of the machine.

I tried activating and logging in as the "hidden" Administrator, but that
didn't help at all.

I 've tried with UAC on and off. With it on I get the joy of clicking
about
6 times before I end up with the "you need permission" (shouldn't that be
checked first??) No wonder people turn that "feature" off...

I can rename the exe files and usually delete them after a reboot, isn't
that very strange?

Vista has been everything people say it is (not good)..
- Media Player was broken, but seems to work now, it actaully stops
playing
when you close it.
- I've been getting a "Parts of Logos has stopped working" or something
like
that error message at every startup for the last weeks.
- Sleep mode worked the first week only. Now it never wakes up.
- IE7 crashes at least once a day.

I've used XP for years and it was never this broken.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I have the same problem, and apparently many other people are in this
predicament. When I google the error, I get lots of hits, but no real help.
The typical answer is to take ownership, but that doesn't work.

I'm the only user of this machine. I'm an administrator on the machine. The
UAC is turned off. On XP, as an administrator, I could do whatever I wanted.
Now, vista has created some super administrator monster that won't let you
manage your own machine. I'm ready to trash this OS and go back to XP.
 
Is there more to that? I found this earlier

cd %userprofile%
icacls . /grant "%username%":(OI)(CI)(F) /T /C /L /Q

but got an error on the first command, dir not found.

There's also something about getting a privileged command prompt. I don't
know how to get there. I've changed all the menus to classic, so I basically
just do a Run > CMD to get a command window.
 
I have this in a batch file named setowner.bat

takeown /f %1 /r /d y
icacls %1 /grant administrators:F /t

to run, open a cmd window and type

setowner c:\"foldername"
 
Hi, SilverBob.

I've not been following this whole thread, but it appears you haven't yet
managed to open an "elevated" Command Prompt window.
just do a Run > CMD to get a command window.
Click to expand...

Yes, that gets you the normal Command Prompt window, but that runs as a
"standard" user, just like your normal administrator account. There are
several ways to get the elevated CP window. Here's one way: Click Start,
then type "cmd" into the Search box; cmd.exe should appear as the first
"hit" at the top of your screen. Right-click on that cmd.exe and choose Run
as Administrator from the context menu. You'll need to furnish
Administrator credentials to get past this point.

This should produce the CP window, as usual, but if you look carefully at
the Title bar, you will see that it says "Administrator:Command Prompt".
Since you've already provided the Administrator password, any command or
application launched from this window will "run elevated"; that is, with
Administrator privileges.

If you've ever used MS-DOS, or the Command Prompt window in Vista or WinXP,
you should feel at home here because this window emulates MS-DOS so well
that some users have called it "a better DOS than DOS". Type any of the
familiar DOS commands followed by "/?" to see a mini-Help file showing all
the switches and parameters available with that command. For example: Dir
/?

Enter the Set command to see a long list of your environment variables. One
of the variables should be %userprofile%. Mine says:
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\RC

Yours probably says "USERPROFILE=C:\Users\SilverBob, or something similar,
using your own UserName. So when you type:
cd %userprofile%
you should cd (change directory) to SilverBob's User folder.

Once in that directory, type:
icacls /?

That should tell you what each switch and parameter for the icacls command
does. Note especially what icacls /grant does, and remember that the single
period "." means the current directory/folder. Then type Dave's next line
at the prompt:
icacls . /grant "%username%":(OI)(CI)(F) /T /C /L /Q

Now that we've told you step by step what to do, please tell us - in as much
detail - just what you did and what result you saw. "I tried it" doesn't
tell us much; "didn't work" doesn't help us help you very much, either.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
Thanks for the very explicit explanation and instructions. And, I apologize
for not providing better feedback.

But, I have solved the problem. During my search for an answer to this,
I've collected several bits of information, including the "takeown" and
"icacls" commands, and turning off UAC. There seems to be two ways to turn
off UAC. I'm relating this from memory because I'm not at my home Vista
machine right now, but at my more familiar XP here at work.

Here's the place where I had previously turned off UAC.

1. Open up Control Panel, and type in "UAC" into the search box.
2. Click the link for "Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off".
3. On the next screen uncheck the box for "Use User Account Control (UAC)",
and then click on the OK button.

And, although the instructions didn't include a reboot, one was performed
anyway due to another issue. Unchecking this box as above apparently doesn't
do the job.

The other method, which I tried last night, did cure the problem. The steps
were like this:

1. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> System Config
2. Continue through User Account Controls prompt
3. Select Tools -> Scroll down and select Disable UAC
4. Click Launch -> Reboot machine

Afterwards, I was able to delete the files that I wanted.

Bob
 
Hi, Bob.

Thanks for the report back. I'm glad you found a solution.

I hope you've turned UAC back on now, since the problem is fixed. UAC seems
very intrusive for the first week or so after a new installation of Vista,
while we are continually installing applications and tweaking the system to
fit US until we get Vista tuned to our own way of working. But once
initially configured, the benefits of UAC far outweigh its irritations - in
my experience. YMMV.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
I tried the UAC thing described here but it didn't work for me. I'll try and
set aside some hours to try the DOS thing described too. Or maybe just throw
away Vista and reinstall XP. I'm guessing that will save me a lot of time in
the long run.

My Mozilla Thunderbird wants to update, but Vista won't let it. It's just
getting very tiresome. Very very tiresome. :(

I would really like to know: Will these issues be fixed, or is Microsoft
calling these issues "features"? If so I'm jumping ship for sure.

I wouldn't recommend Vista to anyone at this point, but feel free to try to
win me over. :)
 
Hi, Indelible.

You may have a bigger problem than you've told us. :^{

The \Windows folder is THE BOOT FOLDER! Asking Vista (or any Windows) to
delete that is like asking it to commit suicide by chopping off its own
head.

Unless, of course, it is the boot folder for some OTHER operating system.
While you are booted into Vista, the WinXP boot folder is "just another
folder" and should be easily deleted - IF you have permission to delete it.

Boot into Vista. In Disk Management, which volume is identified as (Boot)?
The \Windows folder in THAT volume is currently the boot folder and
currently undeletable. Vista should be able to delete any \Windows folder
on any other volume.

Of course, if you are booted into WinXP, then you will not be able to delete
its boot volume. And neither Vista nor WinXP care much what drive letter is
involved; they really deal only in terms like "Disk 0, Partition 3". That's
why I always give each volume a name, which gets written to the HD and does
not change when I boot into the other OS.
Just so all are aware, F:\Windows is displaying as being 0 bytes
Click to expand...

WHERE is this displaying? ALL folders normally display as 0 bytes.
Hovering over the folder name in Windows Explorer will usually produce a
display of the size. (It might be like "Size larger than 583 MB", which is
what mine currently displays.)

I'm not very experienced in permissions and such; I don't know if anyone -
even THE Administrator - can "take ownership" of the current boot volume or
boot folder.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
Hi, Rana.

Instead of saying you tried "as mentioned earlier", please tell us, step by
step, exactly what you did and exactly what results you saw, including any
error messages.

Chances are, you don't really "have the same problem". You probably have a
problem with SOME of the same symptoms caused by something quite different
from the other poster.

Also, your posts are reaching us via "no-mx.forums.net" and "User-Agent:
vBulletin USENET gateway", rather than directly via the Microsoft public
news server, so we can't be sure that all the posts are being "slurped" from
here and relayed properly. Some of them may be arriving late or out of
sequence - or never arriving at all.

Could you please click here:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.vista.file_management

That should start your default newsreader (probably WM or WLM), if it is not
already running; create a News Account for the MS public new server, which
is free and does not require you to log on; connect you to THIS newsgroup;
download the 300 newest messages; and display the latest post for you to
read. In other words, it should bring you right back HERE, but with a
different interface and eliminating the middleman so that we can talk more
directly. Later, if you like, you can click Newsgroups to add other NGs,
and you can click Tools | Options to customize WM/WLM in many ways to suit
your own preferences.

Then, please start a New thread with an appropriate Subject line and tell
us - from the beginning - just what your problem is. While not always
strictly necessary, it never hurts to give a brief description of your
hardware and tell us which version of Vista you are running.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
 
I had the same problem for the longest time. Rebooting would delete files I
was being told I didn't have permissions for.

The problem seems to be that windows explorer has a lock on the file
(occasionally it may be another program, but most explorer.

I tried disabling UAC and that did not fix the problem.

I downloaded Unlocker which showed me who had a lock on the file and gives
me the option of unlocking it. Once I select, release ALL locks, I can
delete the file everytime. And it works everytime.
 
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