# How do I delete a windows folder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118 "2006-06-09T20:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/1 "2006-06-09T20:41:57Z")
I’ve installed windows vista on my D:\ partition . Now I’m back in my C:\ winXP partition and I’m trying to delete the following vista folders: Windows Program Files ProgramData Users But I get an “access denied” message when I try that. Their properties say they are Read-Only and when I try to remove the restriction, I also get “access denied”. I can’t format D:. I have a lot of other stuff in there that I want to keep. Backing it up is not an option either. I have 200 GB of data in there. I just want to delete those pesky folders. Does anyone know how? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/2 "2006-06-09T20:56:29Z")
Following the procedure [here](http://articles.networktechs.com/37-p1.php) should allow you to delete them, even without knowing which program or process is preventing access. If these are windows system files which are currently in use by the system, you won’t be able to delete them this way. It doesn’t sound like that’s the case, though. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/3 "2006-06-09T20:58:57Z")
Actually, let me ask you to clarify something: are you trying to delete the folders on the C: partition _from_ the D: partion? ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/4 "2006-06-09T21:02:05Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Actually, let me ask you to clarify something: are you trying to delete the folders on the C: partition _from_ the D: partion? I installed XP on C:\ many moons ago. I installed Vista on D:\ yesterday I want to delete the Vista system files abovementionned from D:. I am currently running XP. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/5 "2006-06-09T21:03:47Z")
Ah, also. The vista files are not in use so the method you pointed out wouldn’t work. Very useful for future reference though. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/6 "2006-06-09T21:50:41Z")
anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/7 "2006-06-09T22:09:35Z")
Can’t guarantee this will work, but I have used [Unlocker 1.8.3](http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/) with some success on files that return the “access denied” error when they are deleted. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/8 "2006-06-09T22:15:54Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Can’t guarantee this will work, but I have used [Unlocker 1.8.3](http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/) with some success on files that return the “access denied” error when they are deleted. It failed miserably. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/9 "2006-06-09T22:23:46Z")
Perhaps you could boot from a live Linux CD and then delete the folders from there? ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/10 "2006-06-09T22:25:50Z")
Live linux CDs can only read NTFS, not write to it or delete it. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/11 "2006-06-09T22:27:23Z")
This used to work on Win98, but don’t think have ever used it with XP, but give it a try: Go to DOS (hold down the Window key and hit “R” and in the Run box, type “Command”) type in (without quote marks, of course): "deletetree \ or \ Enter. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/12 "2006-06-09T22:35:44Z")
Hmm. Try this: [http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1023755133](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1023755133) ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/13 "2006-06-09T22:53:56Z")
Also you can try [PendMoves and MoveFile](http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/pendmoves.html) from [sysinternals.org](http://sysinternals.org) Sysinternals has lots of very useful, very small programs and utilities. Mark Russinovich is the man! ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/14 "2006-06-09T23:23:57Z")
I used a slight variation of that method and it mostly worked (some files still retained their attributes and required individual attention). I’ve only got 7 megs of garbage to deal with now. Thank you all for your help. And remember, It’s all about ownership and security with NT. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-delete-a-windows-folder/360118/15 "2006-06-09T23:25:21Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > I used a slight variation of that method and it mostly worked (some files still retained their attributes and required individual attention). I’ve only got 7 megs of garbage to deal with now. > > Thank you all for your help. And remember, It’s all about ownership and security with NT. I meant to quote Q.E.D in that post. I used the method he found.