It would seem that it can be difficult to delete a folder from a hard drive ?! Owners of computers with an infant living at home know very well that even a baby easily erases files and folders by accidentally pressing the Del button. Indeed, everything is so, as long as we are talking about an ordinary directory, and not a system folder with the Windows operating system. However, to understand the importance of such a question as how to delete a Windows folder, it’s enough to quickly skim through the topics of many forums. Users want to know why Microsoft has deprived them of the simplest thing - the ability to delete files from their own hard drive. This is what we will talk about today in this article. After reading it to the end, any user can easily and simply delete the Windows folder. In fact, the complexity is only apparent.
First of all, we note that you should not try to understand how to delete the Windows folder, putting experiments on your working system. If there is only one operating system on the hard drive, then, having loaded into it, it is useless to try to remove it. In the best case, nothing will work out thanks to the mechanism for protecting important system files, and in the worst, you will have to prepare a distribution disk and reinstall everything. The question of how to delete the Windows folder is relevant in several cases:
- the user has several systems, and it is necessary to erase the auxiliary, and not the one in which the download occurs;
- The OS was reinstalled.
Most often, the second case takes place. You don’t need to go far for an example: just yesterday, due to the actions of a virus, my Windows system stopped loading. The point is clear - you need to reinstall. But what to do with the old Windows folder? There are two solutions here:
- Without much thought, we begin the installation from the distribution disk. The installer will simply transfer all the old system folders to Windows.old. Then it remains only to restore the necessary files from there. The mechanism is worthy of all praise. Those who worked with previous versions know how “convenient” it was when the installer replaced all old files with new ones or, even better, offered to install in a directory with a different name. Now you don’t have to worry about how to delete the Windows 7 folder, because Microsoft has offered a really good solution;
- boot into a simplified WinPE system from a pre-prepared disk or flash drive and remove Windows from the usual environment. WinPE can be downloaded from any torrent tracker, usually a LiveCD build.
If everything is so simple, then why does the question often arise, how to delete the Windows folder? In 90% of cases, it is all about access rights to the folder. So the user booted into LiveCD (or reinstalled Windows) and opened Explorer. Here it is - the old Windows folder. Trying to delete ... and nothing, some files are not deleted. The solution is simple:
- transfer the folder (old Windows or Windows.old) to an arbitrary directory, for example, “1111”. This usually unlocks many files. We try to wash. If it does not work out, then take the next step;
- First we erase all subfolders in Windows. Most of them will be deleted without problems. Thus, we determine the locked file. Move it to the root directory and try to erase it. The system has difficulty deleting files from too many attachments, and if the file is in the nth subfolder, then it can be blocked by the assigned file system restrictions. Transferring to the root sometimes solves the problem;
- a cardinal way. In general, you can immediately start with it, but knowledge of additional features is never superfluous. We call the properties of the selected folder. On the "Security" tab, open "Advanced". We need to designate ourselves as the owner (owner of the folder). Following the tab “Owner” and clicking “Change”, we indicate ourselves, do not forget to check the box below (subcontainers and objects). We apply. That's all, now the problem folder will be deleted in the usual way - explorer or shell, like Total Commander (depending on who is used to it).