Deleting program files

Hello, I recently had to reformat my computer, but saved basically al
of my old computer in the folder windows.old before doing so. Now that
wiped my drive and reinstalled vista, I want to get rid of tha
windows.old folder because it is huge and I don't use it anymore, but
can't get clearance to delete or move it to an external hard drive. Ca
you tell me a way to override this please? Thank you

--
amadeusmozart

amadeusmozart;992482 Wrote:
> Hello, I recently had to reformat my computer, but saved basically al
> of my old computer in the folder windows.old before doing so. Now that
> wiped my drive and reinstalled vista, I want to get rid of tha
> windows.old folder because it is huge and I don't use it anymore, but
> can't get clearance to delete or move it to an external hard drive. Ca
> you tell me a way to override this please? Thank you

You first need to have full adminstrative access and take ownership o
the large directory. It's likely set as to read only in the propertie
which would need to be unchecked once you have attained the permissions
One guide for manually deleting the Windows.old folder sees command
entered at the command prompt option for that

DELETING THE WINDOWS.OLD FOLDER MANUALL
1) Open an elevated command promp

- Click star
- Type: cm
- right-click it under program
- click Run As Administrato

2) Take ownership

- Change the directory to the windows.old folder (e.g. c
c:\windows.old
- Type: takeown /F . /A /R /D Y > NU
3) grant yourself permissio

- Type: icacls . /grant:r AdministratorsF) /T /L /
4) Delete everythin
'How do I delete the hidden windows.old folder?
(http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Administ...indowsold.aspx

--
Night Hawk

Would the command change if windows.old was located on my desktop? Also,
your second command to grant myself permission showed up with a smiley
face in it, am I correct in saying that the command for that would be as
follows:
icacls . /grant:r AdministratorsF) /T /L /Q


--
amadeusmozart

When I try to delete it now, it tells me that I cannot delete that fil
because it is being shared with other people. I'm not sure why that is
how can I override that? Thank you again for your help

--
amadeusmozart

The only way it could being shared would be some process in Window
still accessing the main folder for some reason. Well our good friend
at sourceforge.net have another option with that being the WinDirSta
you can grab at 'SourceForge.net: WinDirStat: Windows Director
Statistics' (http://sourceforge.net/projects/windirstat/

Another option when locked out by Windows would be booting from a liv
Linux distro if you just happen to have one on cd. But the first ther
sees a delete option to try out

--
Night Hawk

amadeusmozart wrote:

>
> Hello, I recently had to reformat my computer, but saved basically all
> of my old computer in the folder windows.old before doing so. Now that I
> wiped my drive and reinstalled vista, I want to get rid of that
> windows.old folder because it is huge and I don't use it anymore, but I
> can't get clearance to delete or move it to an external hard drive. Can
> you tell me a way to override this please? Thank you!

Windows.old contains your previous XP installation. It is difficult to
remove it manually so let Vista do the work for you.

1. Click Start
2. Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Click System Tools
5. Pick Disc Cleanup
6. Select Files from all users on this computer
7. Confirm the UAC
8. Select the drive that contains your old installation
9. One of the options will be to delete your old installation. Select it and
let the Disc Cleanup Utility do its thing.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Thanks, disc cleanup took care of the windows.old folder for me, but th
technician also had me create two other folders, Windows.Vista an
Program Files.Vista, in case I needed to access them following m
reinstalling Vista. I do not need them since I have a new Program File
and Windows folder, but it tells me again that I need permission t
delete them too, but disc cleanup did not take care of them. Is there
way to make disc cleanup get rid of this, too

--
amadeusmozart

amadeusmozart wrote:

>
> Thanks, disc cleanup took care of the windows.old folder for me, but the
> technician also had me create two other folders, Windows.Vista and
> Program Files.Vista, in case I needed to access them following me
> reinstalling Vista. I do not need them since I have a new Program Files
> and Windows folder, but it tells me again that I need permission to
> delete them too, but disc cleanup did not take care of them. Is there a
> way to make disc cleanup get rid of this, too?

I doubt it since Disk Cleanup was built to detect windows.old and not some
other windows.* folder. I'd take ownership of those folders and try and
delete them in Safe Mode. Or do as suggested by the other poster and delete
them from a rescue CD such as a Linux Live CD or a Bart's PE. Or ask the
mysterious technician who had you create the folders to get rid of them for
you.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

When I take ownership of the file as Night Hawk suggested, I enter th
final two commands as


- ype: cd .
- Type: rmdir /S /Q Windows.Vist

But it tells me it can't find the file, even though it is in the sam
place the windows.old folder was. I don't know if what I'm saying i
making any sense, but I just want to get rid of those two folder
because they total over 20 gb together and I just wanted to clear tha
clutter. Can you tell me what it is I am doing incorrectly in takin
ownership of the file

--
amadeusmozart

Try using Unlocker: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/



amadeusmozart wrote:
> When I take ownership of the file as Night Hawk suggested, I enter the
> final two commands as:
>
>
> - ype: cd ..
> - Type: rmdir /S /Q Windows.Vista
>
> But it tells me it can't find the file, even though it is in the same
> place the windows.old folder was. I don't know if what I'm saying is
> making any sense, but I just want to get rid of those two folders
> because they total over 20 gb together and I just wanted to clear that
> clutter. Can you tell me what it is I am doing incorrectly in taking
> ownership of the file?
>
>