Folder Access Denied, Unable to display current owner.

[David H. Lipman]

Sorry, didn't mean to send, continuing:

.... I'm receiving "Access denied" when attempting to change permissions on the folder
or
delete it. I've attempt running a command prompt as administrator and removing the
folder
but no dice.

Please start you own thread and fully detail the problem and what you have tried. Then we
can try to help you. Right now it is just a piggy back "me too" and that no way to go.

 

[Paul]

Unfortunately I'm now having the same problem and none of
the suggestions in this thread of worked for me
It occurred when attempting to re-install VMWare,
I'm receiving "Access denied"

Sorry, didn't mean to send, continuing:

.... I'm receiving "Access denied" when attempting to change permissions on the
folder or delete it. I've attempt running a command prompt as administrator and
removing the folder but no dice.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tims/archiv...vista-secret-11-deleting-the-undeletable.aspx

takeown /f %1 /r /d y
icacls %1 /grant administrators:F /t

That's two lines from a script.

The thing is, on the newer OSes, they changed the ownership
of Program Files to make it harder to do certain exploits.
Microsoft doesn't really want programs writing temporary files
into the Program Files tree, and so they have one workaround
for that (so the programs don't die because of the response).
And when it comes to installation, Microsoft now likes
to use "TrustedInstaller" account.

If you do screw around with some folders, it's nice to put them
back later, so "everything matches"

And don't ask me the question "what if I smash everything"
or words to that effect. I don't know what the side effects
are, of turning any modern OS into Windows 98 (no security).
I presume things work as they used to, only now the malware
will have an even easier time of it.

As I'm extremely lazy, when a modern OS gets in the way,
I sometimes tee up a copy of a Linux LiveCD, which doesn't
implement NTFS security properly, and just go in there
and have a field day. That's my equivalent of the
"what if I smash everything" environment, only making
it separate from Windows in a sense. When Windows wakes
up, it finds a few things missing... and all the permissions
are as they were

If you do decide to do something like that (Linux LiveCD),
I should warn you that I have managed to destroy my Windows 7
install with a Linux LiveCD. It would no longer boot, and three
repair attempts failed. It's a good thing I had made a backup
two hours earlier. I think it may have had something to do with
me "just looking" inside System Volume Information, but I really
can't be certain. Since my C: is only 26GB of files, it doesn't
take too long to back it up.

Vista, Win7, and Win8, share many of the same permissions
and security features, so some of these methods work on
all three of them.

Have fun,
Paul