I'm unable to remove files/folders because of permissions. I've already changed ownership.

I have just upgraded to Windows 7. I have all these leftover files that I want to delete, thousands, but I'm not allowed to delete. The only way I can delete is: 1. right click on file / folder-> properties 2 - click on the Security tab 3 - click Edit 4-Check "Full Control" button 5 - click OK until the dialog boxes are closed 6-so I can delete the file/folder being advanced security settings to change property does not help. I have to still go into each file and activate the "full control" for each check box manually. Since I have thousands of files, is not practical. What is the shortcut?

Some research more and I have the solution. After following the recipe for change owner:

  1. Right-click on the folder-> properties
  2. Security tab
  3. Click on the Advanced button
  4. Owner tab
  5. Edit... button
  6. Select administrators in "a change in ownership at", check "Replace owner of subcontainers and objects '... This may take some time
  7. Open cmd.exe as an administrator
  8. Type "cacls l:\messedUpFolder /T /e /g administrators: f"... .This could take some time
  9. rmdir /S l:\messedUpFolder
and that's all.

Tags: Windows

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