Ghost Docs&Settings/User folders??

Hey everyone. Ive been scouring the web trying to find a solution to this problem, and i finally wound up here. hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.

Ive had to reinstall XP a few times on my desktop, system restore a few times as well. ANyways, in my Documents and Settings folder, I have folders for Profiles that havnt been there in years, but XP wont let me delete them. I'm getting an "access denied" error when I try to delete them.


Suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt

 

Seems that you have not been doing clean installs otherwise these folders would not have been there.

If you cannot delete these profile folders, one of the probable cause may be that you are logged in as limited user. A limited user cannot edit or delete anything in others folders. Try logging in as Administrator.

 

it's probably 'simple file sharing' that needs to be turned off in order to 'take ownership' and then purge em.

to do that, open explorer and do tools/folder options and then see the view tab. way at the bottom is 'use simple file sharing'. uncheck it.

after u do that, u can then rclik any file/folder and choose 'sharing & sercurity' where u'll find and 'advanced' button. in the advanced options, u'll see the 'owner' tab. from there u can check 'replace owner on sub containers & objects' and 'add' u'r account as owner.

once u do above, u've got keys to the kingdom and can do as u wish.

i would add that i'd ensure that u'r NOT doing this user folders that DO count on the current system.

 

Another idea worth trying but remember to login as Administrator.

 

Based on the current situtation, what would a "clean" install reqire me to do?

 

Can someone give me a step-by-step on the best way to do this?

I dont want to mess anything up.

Thanks,

Matt