Hi,

I didn't create a new account; being logged as "Piotr" I took the ownership
of the windows.old folder, including subfolder and files. I then checked the
security setting for a couple of deeply burried files - the ownership is
mine all right.

When trying to delete from Windows Explorer, there were 2 stages: first, the
system informed if I want the administrator allowing me to delete; I clicked
OK and - after a while - the error message "Accessd denied" appeared for
each consecutive file (after pressing Skip).

Very similar was how it looked in the Administrators console; I typed "rmdir
/s windows.old"; the system asked me if I'm sure, I accepted and there was a
bunch of error messages about trying to delete individual files with access
denied again.

What's my next move?

Piotr

"R. C. White, MVP" <rc@grandecom.net> wrote in message
news:336D6612-380C-44B6-BBAE-369FE9321017@microsoft.com...
> Hi, Piotr.
>
> Let's get more specific on a couple of points:
>
>> Tried from both OS'es (XP and Vista); tried taking ownership;
>
> Ownership of what? Owned by whom?
>
> Can you create a new User (if you haven't already) named "Piotr"
> (perhaps), and have that User take Ownership of the entire drive, or, at
> least, the entire \Windows.old folder? In my experience, this took much
> longer than I expected because it had to take ownership of each file and
> folder, one at a time. But when it finally ends, the User Piotr should be
> able to delete the folder.
>
> Let us know, step by step, exactly what you did and exactly what error
> message or other result you saw.
>
>> tried running a command prompt as administrator - still no rights to
>> delete.
>
> In the Command Prompt window, what command and parameters did you use? As
> I'm sure you know, we don't "delete" a folder, we "remove" a directory.
> If we enter simply "rd \windows.old", we probably will get a message that
> the directory is not empty. If we append the /s switch, it will try to
> remove the entire directory tree, including all subfolders and files, even
> though not empty - but it will first ask us "Are you sure".
>
> Again, please tell us exactly what you typed in the Command Prompt window
> and exactly what results you saw.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@grandecom.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> (Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista x64)
>
> "Piotr Wozniacki" <p.wozniacki@wp.pl> wrote in message
> news:32DD83CC-09EA-4DBC-B7DE-CBA6542A847F@microsoft.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> This has been asked and answered many times, but none of the answers
>> semms to work here. I started installing Vista from the XP, but for some
>> reaosn interupted and installed from the DVD boot. Unfortunately, the old
>> installation files were renamed "windows.old" and I can't get rid of
>> them! Tried from both OS'es (XP and Vista); tried taking ownership; tried
>> running a command prompt as administrator - still no rights to delete.
>> What gives, besides re-formatting?!!
>>
>> Piotr
>