Deleting folders even Unlocker app can't

[Coolme]

I used partition magic to merge some partitions together and in the process it created folders to save the content of the merged partitions. Now I want to delete these folders but even with unlocking programs such as Unlocker I wasn't able to get rid of these folders.

The message I get when trying is the following:

Cannot delete folder : Access is denied
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected
and that the file is not currently in use.

I tried several other unlocking tools with no success, what can I do?

Thanks for any answer.

[ua549]

Check the permissions. You may have to take ownership of the folder in order to give yourself full permission.

[Coolme]

I just tried to DEL it trough DOS but that wouldn't help either.

Check the permissions. You may have to take ownership of the folder in order to give yourself full permission.

What do you mean by "taking ownership"? How do I do that?

Thanks.

[PCJ]

Boot into DOS and rm them. There's a -something that allows you to delete pretty much everything regardless of how it is protected. Just "help rm" (or is the DOS command del? I've been using UNIX too much) and you'll get a list of all the additional commands.

[ua549]

In Explorer right click the folder, select properties, select security, select advanced, select owner.

[Coolme]

I'm going to sound novice but where is the security windows in properties? I only see theses: General / Sharing / Customize.

Thanks.

[ua549]

Is the file system NTFS?
Is the file system on your local computer and not via a file share?

[Coolme]

Is the file system NTFS?
Is the file system on your local computer and not via a file share?

Yes it's all NTFS and the files are local.

I have Win XP Home so I booted in safe mode and got to the security window of the folders but all permissions to move edit or delete were allready allowed. I really don't know what else to do.

Thanks.

[SkyDog]

If you're using Windows XP Professional, you might have to turn off "Simple File Sharing" to see the security tab for an NTFS-formatted volume. In any Explorer window, click Tools --> Folder Options. Select the View tab, scroll all the way to the bottom, and make sure that "Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended)" is not selected.

If you're using Windows XP Home, you can't turn off Simple File Sharing if I remember correctly. You might have to boot into Safe Mode to view the Security tab.

[ua549]

Are the folders empty?
If not, can you delete any of their content?

Are the folders in the root?
If so, try booting into the CMD console to delete them or change their name.
There may be undisplayable characters in the folder names so you may have to use a wildcard character (*).

[Coolme]

Are the folders empty?
If not, can you delete any of their content?

Are the folders in the root?
If so, try booting into the CMD console to delete them or change their name.
There may be undisplayable characters in the folder names so you may have to use a wildcard character (*).

Yes the folders are all empty. I tried using the CMD console with the DEL command but it didn't help.The folder are in the root of C: and others in D:

I then installed Ztree and this is what I got using the ALT-P command:

"The selected branch is not fully logged" or "Directory not logged" for the System volume information. What does that mean? I have all administrators right on my account.

Thanks.

[ua549]

Yes the folders are all empty. I tried using the CMD console with the DEL command but it didn't help.The folder are in the root of C: and others in D:

I then installed Ztree and this is what I got using the ALT-P command:

"The selected branch is not fully logged" or "Directory not logged" for the System volume information. What does that mean? I have all administrators right on my account.

Thanks.

Have you run chkdsk /f on each volume?

[Coolme]

Finally !!! The answer has been found. Thanks Cat5e for that link to the Acronis Disk Director Suite, I was able to look at the partitions and delete my folders from there. I don't know what it did but it worked, a bit like a format command only it didn't erase the rest of the partition. I had previously been able to delete some other folders but only because I formatted the entire partition the folders were on. That has just saved me much time of backing up everything and reinstalling from scratch.

I want to say thanks to all the people that took the time and effort to help me out with this problem. Thanks!

[cat5e]

Download the zipped file.

Make a new folder and unzip it to the folder (it is very good application does not even use the registry, if you do not want it later you can delete the folder).

Run it, if you see any blocking attributes to the folder change and try to delete.

You can delete first the Files and then the Folder, or you can delete the whole Folder by using the Prune command ALT+P.

Info page: http://www.ztree.com/html/ztreewin.htm

File to download, http://www.zedtek.com/download/ztw151.zip

[cat5e]

Configure ZTree to Read the Full Tree with all the files, if it reads the Tree only you cannot delete a Folder. Since it reads all the files that are on the Drive it would take longer than Windows Explorer to log every thing.

When it get to the System Volume, or any system protect folder, it might stop reading, press S (for Skip) reading the System Volume.

If Ztree cannot read file/s, or the whole Folder that need to be deleted, you cannot use Ztree.

In such a case you might need a program that can read directly the Hard drive after booting from a CD, and let you work directly on the FAT.

Some thing like this, http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...k-editing.html

There is a link to a Trial version at the end of the page.

No matter what you get to a point that you would have to learn and understand how advance utilities work in such situation, You would have to consider which way to go. I.e. try to repair, or reformat and Re-Install.