Windows 7 Administrator Permission

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work.


Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

Looking at it another way, what problems are you having by leaving
Program Files (x86) and Program Files alone? None? Then that's probably
the easiest approach.

The old days of "I like to run a tidy ship" don't really wash anymore.

--

Char Jackson

On 10/17/2017 5:31 AM, Art Todesco wrote:
Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.


There is a registry tweak that adds "Take Ownership" to the pull-down
context menu for folders and files. I installed it but have not yet had
a need to use it. Thus, I cannot assert that (1) it works or (2) that
it is otherwise harmless.

If you are interested, post a reply here; and I will make the .reg file
available to you.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

By allowing employers to eliminate coverage for birth control
from their insurance plans, President Trump has guaranteed there
will be an increase in the demand for abortions.

Art Todesco wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

Did you actually check your Windows account is in the Administrators
security group? Did you try logging on under the Administrator account?

Permissions can be changed by software and by you. Did you try to
change ownership and the permissions on the folder (and inherit the
permission changes to all its children; i.e., any files and subfolders)?

Was the error about permissions or about files being inuse? That
Windows says it wants admin permissions does not mean you got blocked
from performing the deletion. That could be just a UAC prompt. Do you
have UAC enabled? If so, what happens when you grant permission in the
UAC prompt?

If you go into the folder (with Windows Explorer configured to show ALL
files, including system and protected files), can you delete all files
and any subfolders then back out of the folder and delete the folder?

In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work.


Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

Looking at it another way, what problems are you having by leaving
Program Files (x86) and Program Files alone? None? Then that's probably
the easiest approach.

(I am not the OP but): if things don't disappear when he uninstalls
something, that _is_ "harm", regardless of the fact I think you are
implying that disc space is cheap nowadays.

The old days of "I like to run a tidy ship" don't really wash anymore.

There's untidy because of my own messes, and untidy because of someone
else's. When someone else (the unwanted prog. in this case) leaves a
mess, it's doubly frustrating not to be able to clean it up.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Actors are fairly modest...A lot of us have quite a lot to be modest about. -
Simon Greenall (voice of Aleksandr the "Simples!" Meerkat), RT 11-17 Dec 2010

On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:05:00 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work.


Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

Looking at it another way, what problems are you having by leaving
Program Files (x86) and Program Files alone? None? Then that's probably
the easiest approach.

(I am not the OP but): if things don't disappear when he uninstalls
something, that _is_ "harm", regardless of the fact I think you are
implying that disc space is cheap nowadays.

It's not just disk space, and in fact that's probably the least of it.
The bigger question is, what harm is caused by a folder being left
behind? In nearly every single case, there's no real harm. There's just
a sense of "things aren't right". That bugs some people, but I'm saying
that it shouldn't unless it affects how the computer operates.

If you're saying a folder left behind _is_ harm, then we simply have to
agree to disagree.

--

Char Jackson

On 10/18/2017 9:01 PM, KenW wrote:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

I think that is why many use an uninstall program. Because Windows
uninstall doesn't always do a good job. I use Revo Uninstaller and it
usually gets rid of everything including registry entries.
KenW

I second that.

In message , Mike S
writes:
On 10/18/2017 9:01 PM, KenW wrote:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going
into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.
I think that is why many use an uninstall program. Because Windows
uninstall doesn't always do a good job. I use Revo Uninstaller and it
usually gets rid of everything including registry entries.
KenW

I second that.

I third it - and Revo is not an _alternative_ to the application's own
uninstall, as it _runs_ the alternative's own install as part of what it
does. (Maybe other third-party uninstallers do too; I've not used any.)

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that
may never be questioned.

On 10/18/2017 7:05 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders.Â* Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission.Â* This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin.Â* I've googled this and nothing seems to
work.


Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86).Â* So I tried to delete it.Â* Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want?Â* Thanks.

Looking at it another way, what problems are you having by leaving
Program Files (x86) and Program Files alone? None? Then that's probably
the easiest approach.

(I am not the OP but): if things don't disappear when he uninstalls
something, that _is_ "harm", regardless of the fact I think you are
implying that disc space is cheap nowadays.

The old days of "I like to run a tidy ship" don't really wash anymore.

There's untidy because of my own messes, and untidy because of someone
else's. When someone else (the unwanted prog. in this case) leaves a
mess, it's doubly frustrating not to be able to clean it up.

I agree, I hate cleaning up after others.

On 10/17/2017 8:31 AM, Art Todesco wrote:
Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders.Â* Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission.Â* This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin.Â* I've googled this and nothing seems to
work.Â* Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86).Â* So I tried to delete it.Â* Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want?Â* Thanks.

Well, after I re-installed the current, non beta program, it sort of
cleaned up by using that directory. But, my original question still
stands: Why can't I delete something I want to delete? I am the admin,
but it seems there is a higher level of admin, which I can't seem to get!

Art Todesco wrote:
On 10/17/2017 8:31 AM, Art Todesco wrote:
Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going
into or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in
Program Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin
permission. What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I
want? Thanks.

Well, after I re-installed the current, non beta program, it sort of
cleaned up by using that directory. But, my original question still
stands: Why can't I delete something I want to delete? I am the admin,
but it seems there is a higher level of admin, which I can't seem to get!

You can.

Download psexec. Unpack it.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...wnloads/psexec

In a Run As Administrator Command Prompt window...

cd /d %userprofile%\Downloads # My copy of psexec.exe is here

psexec -i -s cmd.exe # Start a new Command Prompt window

In the new Command Prompt window that opens, I do this:

whoami # Reports the current account.
# Now Art is "SYSTEM", the OverLord.

OK, so now that we're super-powerful, we can do stuff.

rd /? # RemoveDir help page, for usage

rd /s "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla\Thunderbird" # Use quotes, for paths with spaces

Use with care.

While it might be inviting to start forking all sorts
of stuff that way, the approach has limits. Sometimes
the system won't let you do stuff like this. At
least the Command Prompt window seems to work OK.
This one might not work. The desktop session is
"owned" by the current logged in user, and forking
things with a different owner into that GUI, might
not work.

psexec -i -s explorer.exe

*******

And you're also cautioned, not to overplay your hand.
The reason this works, is folders that are actually
owned by TrustedInstaller (such as Program Files folders),
also happen to be owned by SYSTEM at the same time. When
you do a RemoveDirectory as SYSTEM, it's only a happy accident
that SYSTEM is an owner. There isn't a guarantee that
something opened by TrustedInstaller, is also owned by
SYSTEM.

TrustedInstaller is not a full account. It doesn't have a
home directory. TrustedInstaller is a "token" used by certain
services on the computer, to install files in high security places.
Such places include the Windows folder (System32), as well
as Program Files. It's all part of the Security Theater
that thinks malware cannot get into those places, if
the malware gets elevated. Well, of course the malware
is going to get in there, because that's what malware
does, and the malware dude spent three months figuring
out a way to make it happen :-) So this is not really
a "security model" as much as it's a "damn nuisance".

It's really to prevent naive users from damaging stuff.
And... it works :-) People spend hours trying to override
protections like this. The OS is not Windows 98...

HTH,
Paul

On Tue, 17 Oct 2017 08:31:25 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

Things used to work well, but lately I've gotten blocked from going into
or modifying some directories or folders. Win7 Pro says I need
Administrator's Permission. This is a 1 person (well actually 2)
computer and I am the admin. I've googled this and nothing seems to
work. Yesterday I uninstalled a program which left a folder in Program
Files (x86). So I tried to delete it. Win7 wanted admin permission.
What's the best way to let me do what I want, where I want? Thanks.

For fuller explanation than you have been given so far, try to find a
post of mine in this group from April 2016 in a thread entitled "Can't
access registry keys".
--
================================================== ======
Please always reply to ng as the email in this post's
header does not exist. Or use a contact address at:
http://www.macfh.co.uk/JavaJive/JavaJive.html
http://www.macfh.co.uk/Macfarlane/Macfarlane.html