Cannot Delete File: Access Is Denied

my problem is indirectly related to the problem above. Unlocker Programs are big help in such cases but in my case i have not yet pinpointed the cause. It happens to my system mainly in the desktop and start menu where, everytime i drag and drop shortcuts within there, the links get deleted and what remains are just the root folders. When i attempt to delete these “empty” folders i get the above mentioned messages which i end up deleting with unlocker but the annoying thing is, i have lost the link and end up making a new one which is a bit trick.

I have a problem where i want to delete the old Documents and Settings from my last windows install and there is no process it just wont happen.

My problem started after changing my drive letters using Partition Magic. Since then my index-es on all my partitions got trashed. Chkdsk managed to clear all my problems from all my partitions but 1. The biggest. There it said it hasn’t got enough space to perform that operation. It is a 300gb partition who now only has abt. 40gb free (After hard work trying to delete files). The problem is that chkdsk seems to have locked that hard drive and because of the bad indexes i cannot delete anything. Actually, if i try deleting as soon as i enter windows, i can delete files, but hitting refresh just points out that the files haven’t been deleted as they reappear there through magic :). I tried turning off system restore and indexing services on those hard disks. Now my entries are corrupt and i cannot delete them. I can copy… but i don’t have enough space to copy all my 300gb. Anyway, i tried using a large number of unlock programs with no success. Tried deleting in safe mode. No luck. So actually right now i’m in a circle. I cannot delete files because of chkdsk lock and i cannot perform chkdsk lock because i cannot delete files to free space. Any suggestions?

I had trouble with a corrupt jpg file, it had an extremely long name, and it was impossible to move or delete, i tried deleting it in safe mode, i even tried moveonboot which was supposed to work, i eventually got rid of it just using command prompt. To get the dos name of the file, simply type “dir /X” which will give u a list of files and directories, but with the old form of dos name (eg filena~1.txt) and then “del [filename]“

Unlocker will NOT delete acroIEHelper.dll and two other .dlls in Acrobat 7.0.

well, the “unlocker” download, in several incarnations, just
didn’t work. Now I have to uninstall this crap and triple-re-run
the diagnostics to make sure you didn’t send me a load of shit
Tom

Well, I am not in a good mood. your software doesn’t work

did not work for me :/

Well it was a good thought but i tried that program and it didnt work. It won’t delete an empty folder such as I have so I am stumped for the moment. I’ve been working on this and many other problems for about four days.

Unblocker didn’t work for me either. In fact it cost me a lot of time re-installing my graphics drivers because it corrupted them and a couple of other files as well.. So I uninstalled it and booted it into the distance.

Unblocker is junk. Stop ruining your credibility by advocating something that doesn’t work.

Move acrobat files to another directory (or make a new one up) and then delete it. It worked for me.

No autographes, please.

I just found a great solution to this problem, I hope it applies to all situations.

Edit the Security permissions on the folder containing the 3 dll files (In my case it was named “ActiveX”), then assign Full Control permissions to your account.

It seems that even local Admins aren’t given full control on this folder. Hope this helps

Can’t edit the Security permissions? Read on .

Quoted from another web post:

If you have Windows XP, and your hard drive is formatted as NTFS, you can set permissions on files so that only users you specify can access them. However, if your Windows XP computer is not part of a Domain on a network, you may notice that there is no Security tab when you right-click a file and choose Properties. For some reason, the default for Windows XP computers that are part of a Domain is to have that visible.
For Windows XP computers that are not part of a Domain (they are stand-alone, or part of a workgroup), the default is to have the Security tab hidden.

To reveal the Security tab follow three simple steps:

Open Windows Explorer, and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu.
On the View tab, scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings and clear (click) the check box next to “Use Simple File Sharing.”
Click OK to apply the change, and you should now have a Security tab when viewing the properties of a file on an NTFS volume.

Now you can right-click the files in the folder and go to Properties. Click the Security tab and give yourself “Full” control over the file thus allowing you to delete it.

Enjoy.

Nothing worked for me, until I found your article.

THANK YOU! Unlocker worked great! It was the only thing that worked, nothing else did.

Thank you so much.

Hi, the permissions worked for me as a workgroup user administrator but i can not delete certain folder:
D:\System Volume Information\_restore{6E12F024-A816-476C-AAEC-1B73D447DF4F}\RP4

very very weird….it looks like tons of virii that are present in there…i dont know how the hell they are reappearing all the time.

looks like reader_s.exe or win32/Virut …still having issues with it.

Not only do I not have a Security tab, I also don’t have a “use simple file sharing” option.

I am lost.

Unlocker works if you only have a few files. I had my whole HDD locked up and it was a little frustrating having to use Unlocker everytime i had to make a change.

Terry S. supplied the solution i was looking for, i now have complete control over my files. Thanks for that.

Terry S.,thanks so much for your article was the only solution to delete secured files on Windows XP.

Terry S. Thanks a lot for posting that article here. I was finally able to delete the remnants of my failed OS so now my Gaming harddrive contains only games as I intended all along.

Trying to delete a folder. Getting “Access is denied” None of the above suggestions worked, including Unlocker, but it did allow me to rename the folder. Some of the security options above are not available with Windows XP Home. Also tried the command: rd /s /q “\\?\c:\path_to_folder ” . Finally went to “Sharing and Security”. Checked “Make this Folder Private”. Ok so far. Underscore appears under folder name. Deleted as usual. Worked like a charm. Whew.

This Unlocker thing did not work for me either. I have a locked folder that nobody can access on a network, and it is unimportant. Even from admin on the server I cannot remove. I only speak geek in Linux, not in Windblows, so not knowing any command line tricks in XP language is annoying.

I ran into this with two folders created on an external drive I used when installing Windows recently. Couldn’t remove them in Safe Mode or DOS and no programs that tracked usage worked since the files weren’t in use, just had access permission locked.
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Here’s what works for files/folders you don’t have permission to remove. Do the changes in the post by Terry S. - repeated and expanded here.

It’s important to find out what files or folders you can’t delete. You might have access to the folder, but not 1 file within it. Or access to the main folder, but not to a sub-folder. You must change the exact file you can’t access - or the folder.

Make sure you are signed on as either Administrator or a user with Administrator power.
Open Explorer, click Tools then Folder Options. In Advanced Settings window, scroll down and un-check “Use simple file sharing”. If you don’t do this, you’ll never see a Security tab.

Right-click on the exact folder or file in Explorer (you likely can’t left-click on it) and choose either “Sharing and Security” or “Properties”, then Security. You may get a message saying you don’t have permission - but telling you that you can take ownership. Choose that if needed.

You’ll have a window with box labeled “Group or user names” and a box below showing various permissions - these are likely grayed out and can’t be changed. Click on Advanced.

Choose “Effective Permissions” then the Select button. This gives you a confusing window. You need to put your username into the “Enter the object name to select” box. This is tricky because it doesn’t give good hints at what is needed here - what it really wants is your “computername\username” But entering your user name will work, then click on Check Names button and it should replace the username with the proper format. You can also put in “Administrators”, Check Names and add the group. Then click OK. (Computer names are the Location; user and group names are Object Types.)

Choose “Owner” and highlight the new owner - your username or groupname. Check the box “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” and click OK. You’ll be warned about replacing permissions, approve this.

You may then be prompted to change permissions - click on Full then OK. You may not need this step.

You should now be able to delete or move and otherwise access these files. The permissions may extend to other files locked out by the same program.

(Instructions vary a lot depending on OS and version of OS. These steps will give enough info to fix these access problems for most.)

The Security/Ownership screen may give some clues as to why the file/folder is locked out. The current owner may be listed - in my case it showed “S-1-5-21-1960408961-…” and I looked that up in the Registry and found “Protected Storage System Provider” is what locked it up.

Terry S your solution worked. PROPS!!!!!!!!!