Deleting a folder

Factual Questions
1

I have a folder on my desktop that I created myself; it contains pictures and word docs that pertain to my ex-wife.

I want to delete said folder but when I attempt to do so I get a test box that tells me I have to have Administrator’s permission to delete it. This folder differs in no way (that I am aware of) of other folders I have added and deleted.

There is only one account on this computer and it is mine and on that account, I am listed as the Administrator.

Computer is running Windows 7 with Firefox as the browser.

What do I have to do to get rid of the folder in question?

2

Try running explorer as administrator. I know, you are already logged in as administrator, but try it anyway. Then navigate to your desktop through the file system and delete it there.

If that doesn’t work, you can make a batch file similar to this one:

SET DIRECTORY_NAME=“C:\Locked Directory”
TAKEOWN /f %DIRECTORY_NAME% /r /d y
ICACLS %DIRECTORY_NAME% /grant administrators:F /t
PAUSE

Obviously, replace C:\Locked Directory with the actual path and directory name of your folder. Your desktop will typically be under C:\documents and settings\user name\desktop, or something similar to that.

3

engineer_comp_geek, thanks for the information. I’m ashamed to say that the folder in question included other folders; I had thought deleting the top folder would also delete the others. For whatever reason, that didn’t work. I deleted each sub-folder one at a time and then the main folder; the problem seems to be solved. I regret not providing the complete information but I honestly thought it didn’t matter. Oh, well, we live and (hopefully) learn. I’m sorry for wasting your time although I am grateful for your input.

Mods, this thread can be closed as the problem no longer exists.

4

The question has been answered, but another way to delete balky files or folders is to open a “DOS” window by clicking on the start button, then choosing run and typing cmd. Inside the “DOS” window, navigate to the directory that holds the file or folder by using cd “full directory name” and then delete the folder or file by typing del “folder name” or del “file name”. You may have to put the file or folder name in quotes if it has spaces or other special characters in it.

This is for XP, I’m not sure if Vista and Windows 7 do things exactly this way, but I’m assume you can still open what used to be called a DOS window.

5

OldGuy, you can indeed open a DOS prompt that way in Vista and Win 7. I’d suggest one refinement, though (that works on all three OSes): rather than typing the file/folder name, and worrying about the full path or how to deal with spaces, just drag the file/folder in question into the command window after typing the command.

So:

  1. Click Start.
    2a. XP: Click Run, type cmd. Click OK.
    2b. Vista/7: Type cmd, and click Command Prompt when it appears.
  2. Type del.
  3. Press Space. (This may not be necessary, but it can’t hurt.)
  4. Drag in the file/folder to delete. Watch the full, perfectly-formatted path appear.
  5. Press Enter.
6

Thanks :slight_smile:
In XP this (after 7. answering Y to make sure you want to) deletes all files from a folder, but does not remove the folder itself, as does the command line sequence I gave. I can’t recall the DOS command to remove a directory.

7

Yup, you’re right. I wasn’t on a Windows computer at the time, so I couldn’t doublecheck those steps…

rmdir (or even just rd) will delete a directory. Use it with the /s switch to delete all sub-directories, and files, too.

So:

  1. Type this to delete all files and directories contained with C:\Example:
    rmdir /s C:\Example