How to change ownership in Win 7

Rooky · 11 Feb 2011 at 14:04

I want to remove some files from a hard drive to eneable me to reformat it but the ownership issue prevents me. I have followed all the steps to change ownership and this appears succesful but I still cant remove the files. I gather this is a common problem but I still haven't been able to find a solution.
Any help would be much appreciated

Rooky

SiriusB · 11 Feb 2011 at 14:40

You don't need to remove anything to format a drive :/

Raumarik · 11 Feb 2011 at 16:30

Are you formatting a drive which you have booted from or which has OS files on it? As SiriusB says it shouldn't be a problem if you aren't unless you aren't an admin.

gc4170 · 11 Feb 2011 at 16:35

this utility is exactly what you need.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

Rooky · 11 Feb 2011 at 21:15

Thanks for all your replies. I assume the reason I can't format the drive is because there are protected files on it. I downloaded the tool you suggested last night and although it appears on the menu bar it still won't allow me to remove the file. A message saying"You'll need to to provide admin permission to delet this folder" appears. I'm logged in as the administrator and the file is now owned by me but I still can't remove it.

Pestilence · 11 Feb 2011 at 21:27

Rooky said:
Thanks for all your replies. I assume the reason I can't format the drive is because there are protected files on it. I downloaded the tool you suggested last night and although it appears on the menu bar it still won't allow me to remove the file. A message saying"You'll need to to provide admin permission to delet this folder" appears. I'm logged in as the administrator and the file is now owned by me but I still can't remove it.

The existence of ANY files on the drive won't prevent you formatting it. Use an OS disc or other bootable tool to do it instead.

darael · 11 Feb 2011 at 22:12

DOS and FDISK TBH. :cool:

SiriusB · 12 Feb 2011 at 10:39

Pestilence said:
The existence of ANY files on the drive won't prevent you formatting it. Use an OS disc or other bootable tool to do it instead.

Precisely. What exactly are you trying to achieve Rooky? If you want to completely delete all data on a drive then use something like http://www.dban.org/. This should let you nuke partitions or entire HDDs.

I do urge you make sure you have stuff backed up before using it though - just in case you make a mistake!

Rooky · 13 Feb 2011 at 23:13

Thanks again for your help. My aim is to tidy up my system before installing a SSD as drive C. I have two further partioned drives which I use for Video/photo editing etc. Following installing the "Take control" utility I have been able to remove all but one file. This is a copy of the windows system that I copied from drice C to drive D and has been sitting unused and unopened for over twelve months. As far as I know I am now the owner of this file and I log in with admin control. However it still informs me I require ownership to remove the file. I could understand if it warned of the dangers in removing a windows system file rather than remind me of the ownership issue. My intention was to format the drive but that option is greyed out.
OK on the options of DOS commands to remove the files but I'm afraid I'm a wimp when it comes to DOS operations!

SiriusB · 13 Feb 2011 at 23:30

Even if you are the owner of a folder you may need to go back into the folder security properties and give yourself permissions.

If there is absolutely nothing you want to keep on that partition, you can try formatting it through Disk Management. Right-click Computer. Click Manage. Go to Disk Management. Right-click on the partition you wish to nuke and the format option should be there.

Please, please, please triple check you are nuking the right one.