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I am on Windows 10 and have plugged in a second drive from my old laptop that is mostly full of files I need. It works just fine, but I cannot delete D:\Program Files and a few other old Windows folders that I do not need and are taking up space.

I get a message 'You require permission from TrustedInstaller to make changes to this folder', but if I click the Try Again button I never get permission. I have given everyone permission on this folder and all subfolders, and made sure none of the files/folders are read only. It still doesn't work.

Does anyone know how to delete these old unused Windows folders?

Mario
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  • Why not just format the drive? – joeqwerty Oct 25 '16 at 16:34
  • because it is over half full and I don't have anywhere to put the files right now. Seems like a huge inconvenience to get an external drive, move off hundreds of gigs, format, then put hundreds of gigs back on just so I can wipe out some old MS folders – Mario Oct 25 '16 at 17:08
  • OK. It wasn't clear from your question that you wanted to save data from the drive. Thanks for the clarification. – joeqwerty Oct 25 '16 at 17:10
  • It has been several days since we heard from you. Have you made any progress? – Run5k Nov 12 '16 at 02:49

3 Answers3

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I previously posted an answer helping another user delete their lingering Windows.old folder following a Windows 10 upgrade. You could potentially try a modified version of the same method, but the BitLocker on that drive may still be a deal-breaker. You would also need to be extremely careful that you weren't accidentally targeting your current Program Files folder, instead!

Run5k
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  • thanks for the suggestion. If I can't figure out how to do it an easier way I may have to disable bitlocker and do this. This is very silly, though. Win 10 must have some hardcoded logic in it - this isn't even from an upgrade. It's just from an old laptop – Mario Oct 25 '16 at 21:04
  • But the critical piece of the puzzle is BitLocker. It provides a very nice native capability for securing data on your hard drive, but it can also make the life of an IT professional rather difficult during scenarios like this one. – Run5k Oct 25 '16 at 21:45
  • I had to do this, couldn't get anything else to work. Yay for spending a couple days unencrypting/encrypting – Mario Dec 01 '16 at 20:34
  • That is a rather unfortunate scenario, but I am glad to hear that it ultimately worked out well for you. – Run5k Dec 01 '16 at 20:37
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Try TakeOwn /F "D:\Program Files" first - this should switch the owner from Trusted Installer to Administrator.

Then run your normal Delete command.

Christopher_G_Lewis
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  • Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it from cmd run as Administrator and with the recursive switch: TakeOwn /R /F "D:\Program Files". TakeOwn succeeded, but when trying to delete the UI looked different but still ended up failing with the following message: You require permission from MyDomain\MyUsername to make changes to this file. – Mario Oct 25 '16 at 17:07
  • How about TakeOwn /F "D:\Program Files" /A /R ? That should force it to the local Administrators group - you need to be a member of local Administrators. You might have to use RD /S "D:\Program Files" rather than Explorer to delete the folder. – Christopher_G_Lewis Oct 25 '16 at 17:19
  • OK, tried the new command too but it didn't work. I did just notice that all my files are read only, and now when I try to make all files/subfolders not read only I am getting an error. The weird thing is I can move them into another folder on D like d:\piaFiles – Mario Oct 25 '16 at 17:30
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If nothing else works, you could boot with a Knoppix DVD (or other live Linux), and delete anything you want. You can even delete the System Volume Information folder and the Recycle Bin.

Charles Burge
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  • sure, if I disabled bitlocker I could. That's an all day thing, too, which I would rather avoid – Mario Oct 25 '16 at 17:33