File in System32 folder...will not delete

Im trying to clean up pc after uninstalling a program.

There is a .sys file that when I ask to delete it goes through all the UAC
to continue / need permission then last window box says..

You need permission to perform this action, try again and keeps repeating
itself and will not delete.

Remember, I am trying to delete a single .sys file but the last window is
headed ' Destination folder Access Denied', dont know where the destination
folder is that is referring to when trying to delete a file.

I am joined to a domain and my domain user is a member of the local pc
administrator group.

Thinking of trying to activate the disabled administrator account of local
pc , logging in as this but seems a bit much to perform this action.

As an exercise I copied the file ok in this directory, I could even copy
another file over the top of this file so some form of delete does work its
just the actual 'delete' function.

Is this a bug or is there some setting I have missed to delete system files
?

TIA

On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:22:37 -0000, "POP" <>
wrote:

>Im trying to clean up pc after uninstalling a program.
>
>There is a .sys file that when I ask to delete it goes through all the UAC
>to continue / need permission then last window box says..
>
>You need permission to perform this action, try again and keeps repeating
>itself and will not delete.
>
>Remember, I am trying to delete a single .sys file but the last window is
>headed ' Destination folder Access Denied', dont know where the destination
>folder is that is referring to when trying to delete a file.
>
>I am joined to a domain and my domain user is a member of the local pc
>administrator group.
>
>Thinking of trying to activate the disabled administrator account of local
>pc , logging in as this but seems a bit much to perform this action.
>
>As an exercise I copied the file ok in this directory, I could even copy
>another file over the top of this file so some form of delete does work its
>just the actual 'delete' function.
>
>Is this a bug or is there some setting I have missed to delete system files
>?
>
>TIA


You can't always delete system files if they are in use since that
would be like jumping out of your car while driving at 60 MPH.

What system file do you want to delete and why?

POP wrote:
> Im trying to clean up pc after uninstalling a program.
>
> There is a .sys file that when I ask to delete it goes through all the
> UAC to continue / need permission then last window box says..
>
> You need permission to perform this action, try again and keeps
> repeating itself and will not delete.
..
..
..
> As an exercise I copied the file ok in this directory, I could even copy
> another file over the top of this file so some form of delete does work
> its just the actual 'delete' function.

Hm. I'm disappointed to hear that you succeeded. I would consider that
a bug, actually.

On my Vista machine (the only one I've used) the system files are owned
by 'Trusted Installer' and *not* by Administrator as in XP. IIRC you
actually need to take ownership of a system file before you can delete
or replace it. Because you are not running as 'Trusted Installer' you
really shouldn't be allowed to do what you've described above.

I'd like to hear the real explanation from someone who really knows the
answer (most likely that would not be me )

Adam, thank you for your assistance. I am aware about files in use, that
wasn't an error. I explained previously, deleting files from an uninstalled
program. The uninstall message at the end said it couldn't delete and I
should attempt manually.

Don, thanks for the insight. I checked the security settings and usually in
XP, administator / system has full control this file only had read / write
for everyone. No settings for administrator / system.

File gone once I assigned full rights to everyone.

Now anyone know where this trusted installer group is so I can become a
member. Its my machine and I want control.... ;-)


"Adam Albright" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:22:37 -0000, "POP" <>
> wrote:
>
>>Im trying to clean up pc after uninstalling a program.
>>
>>There is a .sys file that when I ask to delete it goes through all the UAC
>>to continue / need permission then last window box says..
>>
>>You need permission to perform this action, try again and keeps repeating
>>itself and will not delete.
>>
>>Remember, I am trying to delete a single .sys file but the last window is
>>headed ' Destination folder Access Denied', dont know where the
>>destination
>>folder is that is referring to when trying to delete a file.
>>
>>I am joined to a domain and my domain user is a member of the local pc
>>administrator group.
>>
>>Thinking of trying to activate the disabled administrator account of local
>>pc , logging in as this but seems a bit much to perform this action.
>>
>>As an exercise I copied the file ok in this directory, I could even copy
>>another file over the top of this file so some form of delete does work
>>its
>>just the actual 'delete' function.
>>
>>Is this a bug or is there some setting I have missed to delete system
>>files
>>?
>>
>>TIA
>
>
> You can't always delete system files if they are in use since that
> would be like jumping out of your car while driving at 60 MPH.
>
> What system file do you want to delete and why?
>

"POP" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Im trying to clean up pc after uninstalling a program.
>
> There is a .sys file that when I ask to delete it goes through all the UAC
> to continue / need permission then last window box says..
>
> You need permission to perform this action, try again and keeps repeating
> itself and will not delete.
>
> Remember, I am trying to delete a single .sys file but the last window is
> headed ' Destination folder Access Denied', dont know where the
> destination folder is that is referring to when trying to delete a file.
>
> I am joined to a domain and my domain user is a member of the local pc
> administrator group.
>
> Thinking of trying to activate the disabled administrator account of local
> pc , logging in as this but seems a bit much to perform this action.
>
> As an exercise I copied the file ok in this directory, I could even copy
> another file over the top of this file so some form of delete does work
> its just the actual 'delete' function.
>
> Is this a bug or is there some setting I have missed to delete system
> files ?
>


You need to take ownership of the file. You may not be able to do this
through the GUI. Open an elevated cmd prompt by right clicking on the
Command Prompt icon and picking Run as administrator. Use the icacls command
to take ownership and give yourself full control of the file.

icacls file_name /setowner your_user_name

icacls file_name /grant your_user_name:F

You should then be able to delete the file. System files are protected from
accidental, or even deliberate deletion by a rogue program, by not having
any permissions for any accounts other than the system.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

POP wrote:
[...]
> Don, thanks for the insight.

You're welcome, but with reservations.

> I checked the security settings and usually
> in XP, administator / system has full control this file only had read /
> write for everyone. No settings for administrator / system.
>
> File gone once I assigned full rights to everyone.
>
> Now anyone know where this trusted installer group is so I can become a
> member. Its my machine and I want control.... ;-)

That's exactly what every hacker on the internet says about your
machine.

Before you start defeating the great new security features of Vista,
I *beg* you (and everyone else) to watch this video explaining UAC:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=288259

I'm a long-time *nix fan who has been ranting against MS for decades!
The reason I've started hanging out here and doing my inadequate best
to help people is that I want Vista to be a success! MS has finally
started to take security seriously and I applaud them for it.

The security changes introduced in Vista are absolutely necessary in
the long run, and the video explains it better than I can.

Thanks!

Kerry - After processing video files for burning onto a dvd I cannot delete
some of the files. Listed below is what I am seeing when I attempt to remove
the files now that I am done processing them. I am logged in as myself, UAC
is disabled and the cmd.exe prompt I am running from was started with "Run as
Administrator". Any suggestions?

C:\CRZ0NNW7>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 14DF-1F4C

Directory of C:\CRZ0NNW7

03/23/2007 05:15 PM <DIR> .
03/23/2007 05:15 PM <DIR> ..
03/27/2007 07:59 AM <DIR> VIDEO_TS
0 File(s) 0 bytes
3 Dir(s) 78,866,128,896 bytes free

C:\CRZ0NNW7>icacls VIDEO_TS
VIDEO_TS NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated UsersI)(OI)(CI)(F)
BUILTIN\AdministratorsI)(F)
BUILTIN\AdministratorsI)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEMI)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEMI)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
BUILTIN\UsersI)(OI)(CI)(RX)
NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated UsersI)(OI)(CI)(IO)(M)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

C:\CRZ0NNW7>whoami
amd64\rich

C:\CRZ0NNW7>cd VIDEO_TS

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 14DF-1F4C

Directory of C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS

03/27/2007 07:59 AM <DIR> .
03/27/2007 07:59 AM <DIR> ..
03/23/2007 05:16 PM 227,594,240 VTS_10_0.VOB
03/23/2007 05:22 PM 1,073,739,776 VTS_10_2.VOB
03/23/2007 05:24 PM 1,073,739,776 VTS_10_3.VOB
03/23/2007 05:26 PM 1,073,739,776 VTS_10_4.VOB
03/23/2007 05:31 PM 1,073,739,776 VTS_10_6.VOB
03/23/2007 05:36 PM 24,932,352 VTS_22_1.VOB
6 File(s) 4,547,485,696 bytes
2 Dir(s) 78,865,952,768 bytes free

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>icacls *
VTS_10_0.VOB: Access is denied.
Successfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1 files

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>icacls VTS_10_0.VOB /setowner rich
Access is denied.
Successfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1 files

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>icacls VTS_10_0.VOB /setowner Administrator
Access is denied.
Successfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1 files

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>icacls VTS_10_0.VOB /setowner amd64\rich
Access is denied.
Successfully processed 0 files; Failed processing 1 files

C:\CRZ0NNW7\VIDEO_TS>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kerry Brown" wrote:

>
> You need to take ownership of the file. You may not be able to do this
> through the GUI. Open an elevated cmd prompt by right clicking on the
> Command Prompt icon and picking Run as administrator. Use the icacls command
> to take ownership and give yourself full control of the file.
>
> icacls file_name /setowner your_user_name
>
> icacls file_name /grant your_user_name:F
>
> You should then be able to delete the file. System files are protected from
> accidental, or even deliberate deletion by a rogue program, by not having
> any permissions for any accounts other than the system.
>
> --
> Kerry Brown
> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>
>
>