Temporary Directory left behind cannot be deleted?

[Guest]

I recently had to re-install XP and in the process, a temporary (?) directory
was left behind in the root of my C drive. This directory has has a very
cryptic name and it contains an update directory which contains an SP2
directory which contains a single file update.exe. So the entire thing looks
like:

Babced......./update/sp2/update.exe

I searched the knowledge base and found several KB articles regarding
temporary directories being left behind during the application of XP patches,
but each of them simply recommends deleting the directory and getting the
latest version of the patch. However, when I try to delete the directory, I
am told I do not have proper authorization to delete this.

I am sure I could eventually get rid of this directory - probably by setting
the attributes on the directory and perhaps turning off file protection, but
that's crossing my line of comfort in removing this directory - can someone
provide reassurance that doing so is actually a safe operation?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

What is the exact error message when you try to delete it?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Rick,

The exact error message is:

Cannot delete update.exe: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file
is not currently in use.

Does this help?

-jdc

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You need to take ownership of it:
http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Taking_ownership

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

A couple of further clarifications:

I had the order of the subdirectories wrong earlier - they are actually in
the following configuration:

C:\b2754fc765eadd4fec3ab1d9b32c10cd\sp2\update\update.exe

In addition the properties on update.exe indicate that it is
File Version: 5.2.42.0
Windows Service Pack Setup
Copyright: Microsoft Corporation, All rights reserved.

Company: Microsoft Corporation
File Version: 5.2.0042.0 (xpclnt_qfe.020226-1835)
Internal Name: Update.exe
Language: English (United States)
Original File Name: Update.exe
Product Name: Microsoft Windows Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.0042.0

The file is not marked read only, and attrib in a normal dos box shows no
attribution - but if I use a different command shell (4NT) it shows an attrib
of "N" for the file - I don't know that I have ever seen that before - not
sure what it means.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Yep, normal, you just need to use the steps to take ownership in order to
delete it. This is not uncommon.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Okay -research on the "N" attribute reveals that an "N" means "Normal" -
indicating that none of the other attributes are set for the file... It's a
generated attribute on NTFS disks and I am not sure if it's speciifc to 4NT
or not, but it doesn't look to be part of the problem in any case.

The owner of the file is BUILTINS/Administrators - and my ID is part of the
administrators group, so I would think that I should have rights to delete
this file.

-jdc

 

[Guest]

Rick,

Thanks for that - I am now able to delete the file.

-jdc