Admin can not remove old user folders after reinstall

[Klaas]

A couple of months ago I reinstalled XP in order to solve a problem (which
afterwards turned out not to be necessary, but that aside).
The old user folders in Documents and Settings are still there and even with
the administrator account I can not remove them.

Any ideas?

With regards,
Klaas

 

[Shenan Stanley]

A couple of months ago I reinstalled XP in order to solve a problem
(which afterwards turned out not to be necessary, but that aside).
The old user folders in Documents and Settings are still there and
even with the administrator account I can not remove them.

You left out a critical part of this problem description, methinks.

"Access Denied". Sound like the error message you get when you manually try
to access and/or delete the files/folders in question? Those error messages
are given for a reason - as a clue to the problem in most cases and even if
they end up being esoteric in nature - you can usually utilize the exact
wording to Google (or other search engine) your way to an answer...

How to Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Read *carefully* - do not just skim the page and start following steps.
There is important information there dependent on the version of Windows XP

Secondly - if your old accounts are still there - you did a parallel or some
messed up repair installation - not a "re-install" or what most would call a
clean installations. ;-)

 

[Klaas]

You left out a critical part of this problem description, methinks.

"Access Denied". Sound like the error message you get when you manually try
to access and/or delete the files/folders in question? Those error messages
are given for a reason - as a clue to the problem in most cases and even if
they end up being esoteric in nature - you can usually utilize the exact
wording to Google (or other search engine) your way to an answer...

How to Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Read *carefully* - do not just skim the page and start following steps.
There is important information there dependent on the version of Windows XP

Secondly - if your old accounts are still there - you did a parallel or some
messed up repair installation - not a "re-install" or what most would call a
clean installations. ;-)

Yes and no (now you figure out to which questions.. )
I did do a clean install, but did not format the hard drive.
I found out, after posting my question, that the folders and files were
ownerless.
What I did not understand is that when I ran cmd.exe as administrator, I
could not get full control. I eventually logged in in safe mode and then
managed to correct the problem and reclaim the disk space.

Thank you, nonetheless.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

A couple of months ago I reinstalled XP in order to solve a
problem (which afterwards turned out not to be necessary, but
that aside). The old user folders in Documents and Settings are
still there and even with the administrator account I can not
remove them.

You left out a critical part of this problem description, methinks.

"Access Denied". Sound like the error message you get when you
manually try to access and/or delete the files/folders in
question? Those error messages are given for a reason - as a clue
to the problem in most cases and even if they end up being
esoteric in nature - you can usually utilize the exact wording to
Google (or other search engine) your way to an answer...

How to Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Read *carefully* - do not just skim the page and start following
steps. There is important information there dependent on the
version of Windows XP

Secondly - if your old accounts are still there - you did a
parallel or some messed up repair installation - not a
"re-install" or what most would call a clean installations. ;-)

Yes and no (now you figure out to which questions.. )

I did do a clean install, but did not format the hard drive.
I found out, after posting my question, that the folders and files
were ownerless.

What I did not understand is that when I ran cmd.exe as
administrator, I could not get full control. I eventually logged in
in safe mode and then managed to correct the problem and reclaim
the disk space.

You did not do a clean install if you did not format the hard drive and it
was the only hard disk drive. You did - as I stated - a parallel
installation. Leaving all the old files/folders intact.

If the files/folders were ownerless - then you had to take ownership (as the
article I gave instructs.) If you had to do it in Safe Mode - you are
likely using Windows XP Home Edition. ;-)