I can't delete a certain folder in Windows 7. It's not a system folder. It was created by an app. I get an error message "You need permission to perform this action. You require permission from Tony....". I am an admin and logged in as myself Tony. I have full ownership of the folder with full control permission. I rebooted the machine. I killed the app which created the folder. I am out of ideas.
Why is Windows 7 not letting me delete the folder?
I am not sure why this happens but there is a workaround.
To take control of the folder that cannot be deleted, create a text file called delete.bat and add the following lines to it:
SET DIRECTORY_NAME="C:\Locked Directory"
TAKEOWN /f %DIRECTORY_NAME% /r /d y
ICACLS %DIRECTORY_NAME% /grant administrators:F /t
ICACLS %DIRECTORY_NAME% /reset /T
PAUSE
You will need to change the directory path to match your requirements e.g. C:\Locked Directory to C:\Delete Me.
Right click on the file delete.bat select Run As Administrator and you should now have full control of the directory and all sub directories meaning you can do what you wish with them.
The only way was to delete files starting from the lowest level folder in that folder. I got that error message with every folder which had subfolders. I deleted all files/subfolders working my way up.
A folder can disallow a parent from overwriting its permissions, so it stops working at a certain depth.
Use Process Monitor and filter for ACCESS DENIED events to figure out this depth
Every time an ACCESS DENIED event occurs change the permissions as explained by @Sahil.
You can use Handle too see what processes are opening files within your folder.
handle C:\Path\To\Folder\You\Are\Trying\To\Delete
Example:
C:\Windows\system32>handle C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv
Handle v3.45
Copyright (C) 1997-2011 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
svchost.exe pid: 1500 type: File 134: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\schema
svchost.exe pid: 1500 type: File 1B4: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\schema
svchost.exe pid: 1500 type: File 1BC: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
svchost.exe pid: 1500 type: File 1CC: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
svchost.exe pid: 1500 type: File 1D0: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
inetinfo.exe pid: 1572 type: File 3C: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\en-US\inetinfo.exe.mui
inetinfo.exe pid: 1572 type: File 188: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MBSchema.bin.00000000h
inetinfo.exe pid: 1572 type: File 190: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MBSchema.bin.00000000h
inetinfo.exe pid: 1572 type: File 1BC: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MetaBase.xml
inetinfo.exe pid: 1572 type: File 1D4: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MBSchema.xml
svchost.exe pid: 1884 type: File 1AC: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\schema
svchost.exe pid: 1884 type: File 1C0: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
svchost.exe pid: 1884 type: File 1C4: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
Had this issue today with a Windows Update folder and would like to supplement the answer.
When permissions on a folder are correct (example below, with Admin being the administrator account I was logged in with):
But permissions on subfolders are different and do not propagate from the parent even though you tell them to, causing problems when trying to delete the parent folder:
Open a command prompt (personally, I did not need to elevate the prompt) and run
ICACLS <FolderName> /reset /T
To replace Access Control Lists with default ACLs, traversing all subfolders. After this try deleting the folder.
I had this issue and tried several of the answers here to no avail. However, I was able to simply delete the entire folder I was having problems with from an elevated command prompt like so:
rmdir "C:\path\to\folder" /s
Hope this helps someone.
You can use Unlocker utility to delete such folders.
It is very simple to use and it is completely free.
download SysInternals Suite and use the following utilities
use Process Explorer and Process Monitor to find out whats happening with your file
or use the following stand alone utils
use AccessChk to get details not easily available via the GUI
use PSFILE to scan for any process that is holding the file open then try the MoveFile utility to schedule a file delete in the next boot cycle.
The answer you're looking for will show up in the output of one of these utilities
When I run into a folder/file I can't delete and rebooting doesn't free the file. I will add to the security setting of the file/folder the Everyone group and set the permissions to Deny Full Control. Then when I reboot the machine, what ever was using the file/folder starts, it won't be able to read/write or lock the file/folder. Finally with nothing being able to use the file/folder, you will be free to delete it.
Hope this helps.
No go with Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Finally had to boot from a USB-based linux OS (which ignores file permissions in NTFS file systems) and delete the offending directory that way.
I assume UAC is enabled and you are trying to delete the folder from Windows Explorer. You should run Windows Explorer as administrator (right click on the icon and select "Run as administrator") and then delete the folder.
The other alternative is to disable UAC, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Well, this happens for files that were installed by some kind installer, like under the TrustedInstaller user.
You need to pwn the file first,
I had the same issue (Windows required permission from user X, while being connected as user X…):
I fixed it using unlocker (free, Microsoft Windows), then did:
After that, I could delete the directory without further issue.
I had a folder that was completely hosed on Windows Server 2019. Couldn't take ownership, couldn't modify permissions, couldn't delete no matter what I tried.
Ended up being able to resolve it with the robocopy command using the /MIR switch with others.
robocopy \\source\data c:\data /R:10 /W:10 /MIR /SEC /EFSRAW /ZB /J /LOG:C:\LogFolder\logfile.log
I was syncing files and was able to clean up the same folder in the source location first, then /MIR deleted the folder in the source with the other switches above.
DISCLAIMER: /MIR will mirror source directory to destination, including deleting files in destination, so be sure you want destination to match source exactly before running it!
For me, git's bash.exe was holding my folder open, so I had to manually stop the bash tasks.
bash.exe tasks:bash.exebash.exe
I tried all the options I could find like this and this: rmdir, Ubuntu terminal sudo rm -rf, PowerShell Remove-Item -Force, using takeown first, which worked, but didn't make a difference. I tried everything I could think of to delete from the WindowsApps folder.
Then someone on Reddit pointed me to the 7-Zip file manager. I ran that as admin, and it deleted with no complaints.
Try moving the folder to your Desktop and deleting it there, odd, but has worked for me under similar circumstances.
