Thread: Can't Delete File

there is a program or process holding onto the files
you need to find out what it is and stop it in task manger services tab
also try deleting while in safe mode

try boting from the windows xp cd and start the Recovery console
use the del comand to delete the folder

you may have to delete the folders manually

try this
NTFS4DOS has been released as FREEWARE for personal use.
you may need a dos boot cd with it on

Originally Posted by old_picker

there is a program or process holding onto the files

I really haven't had the time to get back to this but a few observations. I tried to delete it from the C prompt as I described earlier and this was not from shelling out from windows, no go. Ron asked me to log on as administrator and I could not see how as I have never created accounts on this machine. It turns out that if you log on in safe mode you can go into the security setting as administrator and there are a whole raft of options not normally available. I have yet to try this and the way things are going in my life it may be some weeks as this computer is not normally used except for back up and a few other odd things. These files were transferred from another drive across my LAN as backups and have never been accessed by the progaram that they are used by. As I said previously XP has a known habit of doing this from all I can glean from the net but I have never seen it before. It seems to do this with no hook to any program but I can't find out why and no one seems to know. Thanks for your reply and I will get back to this sometime in the future, all my time is taken up with other things for about the next month and spending hours on computers trying to solve stupid stuff like this is not in the program.

I want to resurrect this thread. I just wrote another folder to this drive from a .bkf file and it also is locked with no access. Why is it that the folders that are extracted from archives are the only ones locked. I have tried all the suggestions from this thread with no results so far. The folder I just extracted today is again only data files and they are used by a multiple applications. I don't want to format this drive as it has had very little use and does not need it. Just to check on something, I have never created accounts on this computer so how do I log on as administrator? I presume that is done when windows starts as an automatic default? I wonder if I can get a copy of 6.22 and boot from that, then delete the files, will MSDOS read the drive with NTFS enabled. I just need to find some floppies now.

Chris

my guess is that the user ID you use when logging on doesn't "own" the files / folders you're trying to delete

even if you don't need to enter a user name and passwaord when you start the computer, it's possible for there to be files owned by a higher level user



ian

Originally Posted by ian

Chris

my guess is that the user ID you use when logging on doesn't "own" the files / folders you're trying to delete

even if you don't need to enter a user name and passwaord when you start the computer, it's possible for there to be files owned by a higher level user



ian

Ian, that's what gets me, I don't understand how the files can be owned by anyone else as there is no "anyone else". Also what gets me is it only happens to files extracted from archives (zips) or .bkf files.

Chris
I wont pretend that I fully understand it, but in this context, "someone else" includes another or previous computer, the original backup program, or the person who loaded the operating system.

what version of windows are you using?


ian

XP professional. I am the only one who uses this computer though it is hooked up to a network for internet purposes only. It has two HD's in it and it is only the C drive that has this problem. Thanks for taking the time to think about it.

Chris
in an earlier message you said

These files were transferred from another drive across my LAN as backups and have never been accessed by the progaram that they are used by.

my guess is that your 'puter considers that these files are owned by the "administrator" or another user of the computer they came from, or they are owned by the "Administrator" account on your PC.

I also run XP pro, but unlike you I've setup a number of users, mostly so I can control who can do what with the hardware and software. I've a 9 y.o. who uses it.
I don't know how it came about but my PC has TWO administrator accounts
One was created when the operating system was loaded by the dealer, the other – called Administrator – appears to be a default created by Windows that is only accessible from fairly deep within the Control Panel – Users area


ian

Just a couple of thoughts
1. Buy yourself a terra bite ( usb ) drive from aldi , back everything else up , re format the drive and then re install windows then from your terra bit drive re load all your other stuff
2. Get something like privacy guardian ( comes free with registry mechanic ) and run the offending files through the shredder

I have a WD network attached terrabyte drive and it normally holds all my stuff. What happened was we had a couple of power outages and the drive started to fall off line so I backed everything up to this other computer which rarely gets used using the back up facility in XP and replaced the drive. I then opened one of the back up files to another drive on the same computer and found it would not allow me to delete it. Prior to this I had unzipped a file to the same drive with the same result which was what started this thread. I have found some DOS 6.22 image files so am going to use them to have a crack at it. Now all I have to do is remember all the stuff about DOS I had forgotten. I do have a copy of XTGOLD kicking around somewhere so I could use that do the file management. BTW this last file was only transferred across the two drives, not the network. Now to round up some floppies. Is there any way of booting an XP computer to the C prompt without starting any component of XP or do I have to use 6.22?

Chris

I don't think DOS6.22 is compatible with XP — XP uses NTFS, 6.22 uses something else
I don't think XTGOLD works in XP either, for a similar reason

I think the problem is file ownership at the Administrator level
I have a similar issue on my work PC — files copied to new PC from my old one not be deleted because I don't "own" them. they are "owned" by the tech who did the transfer

If you are working on the drive where the backups are stored can you copy, delete, modify the files?



ian

Ian, I have just done some more investigation. I selected other folders on the drive and looked at the owners on all these and found they vary, different types having different owners, i have never looked at this stuff before so stay with me here. So it seems that different owners have different levels of control and there are maybe 6 owners for each folder with different levels of control??

Anyway I then looked at the folders I can't remove and found that one had three possible owners and the other had only two. The one with three had an "everyone" as a possible owner so I deleted the other two, gave it full permissions and I was able to delete it. The other has only two possible owners and "everyone" is not one of them. I also appear not to have any way to change the controls for either of them.

I hope you can follow this as I am having trouble getting my head around all this stuff. Can I create an "everyone" for this folder and give it full permissions and delete it? It seems to me this should be possible but I don't know how. Also why I can't change the permissions on the current owners is a mystery also. I don't seem to be able to edit any details on this folder at all.

Chris

I think you have found the "problem"

"everyone" is a default windows user and while not the lowest level of user is not far off it.

from memory other user levels are
backup operator
user identified by name
advanced user
administrator

now I think that the default XP installation is for an advanced user – I can't check this on my PC without logging off and logging back in as the Administrator

the Administrator can do anything but I'm not sure how you go about getting yourself logged on as the Senior Administrator



ian

Hi Chris

I don't know if the following article helps but it's straight from the XP Help and Support pages, but I suppose you've already RTFM.

Good Luck

How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP

Article ID:308421Last Review:November 6, 2008Revision:3.0
This article was previously published under Q308421


INTRODUCTION

This article describes how to take ownership of a file or a folder to which you are denied access.

If you must access a file or a folder that you do not have rights to, you must take ownership of that file or folder. When you do this, you replace the security permissions that were originally created for the file or folder.

MORE INFORMATION

Prerequisites

Log on as an administrator

You must be logged on to Windows as an administrator in order to change security permissions for a file or a folder. If the computer is your personal computer, you are likely already logged on with an administrator account. If the computer is part of a network at work, you might have to ask the system administrator for help. To verify that you are logged on to Windows with a user account that is a computer administrator, visit the following Microsoft Web site: (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/admin)

Start Windows XP Home Edition in safe mode

If you are running Windows XP Home Edition, you must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an account that has administrative rights in order to access the Security tab. Access to the Security tab is required in order to change security permission. If you are running Windows XP Professional, you do not have to start the computer in safe mode. For more information about how to start Windows XP in safe mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 304449 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/) How to start the System Restore tool at a command prompt in Windows XP
Disable Simple File Sharing in Windows XP Professional

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File Sharing when it is not joined to a domain. For additional information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 307874 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874/) How to disable simplified sharing and set permissions on a shared folder in Windows XP
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To take ownership of a file or a folder

How to take ownership of a file

You must have ownership of a protected file in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the file by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps: 1.Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.4.In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the administrators group now owns the file. To change the permissions on the file that you now own, follow these steps: 1.Click Add.2.In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account that you want to have access to the file. For example, type Administrator.3.Click OK.4.In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user.5.When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK.6.You can now access the file.How to take ownership of a folder

You must have ownership of a protected folder in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the folder by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps: 1.Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.4.In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.5.Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message: You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you click Yes.

Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.6.Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.Back to the top

NEXT STEPS

If these methods did not work for you, you can use the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web site to find other solutions to your problem. Some services that the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web sites provide include the following: •Searchable Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1): Search technical support information and self-help tools for Microsoft products.•Solution Centers (http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub): View product-specific frequently asked questions and support highlights.•Microsoft Customer Support Newsgroups (http://www.microsoft.com/communities...default.mspx): Contact counterparts, peers, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs).•Other Support Options (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=csshome): Use the Web to ask a question, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, or provide feedback.If you continue to have problems, you might want to contact Support: http://support.microsoft.com/contactus?FR=1 (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)
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REFERENCES

For additional information about file and folder permissions, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 161275 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161275/) Interaction of file and folder security on NTFS volumes
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