Can't delete two files from System Volume Information

Can anyone tell me *why* the two files (tracking.log and MountPointManagerRemoteDatabase can not be deleted from the System Volume Information folder when SR is turned off? There is an older thread on this subject

http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-xp/69538-system-volume-information.html

but the question never gets answered. Not that 20KB is a *big* thing with the size of today's drives, but for some reason, it irritates the heck out of me. I have tried changing the ACLs, but this has no effect, so I assume there is a registry setting that is keeping them protected. Does anyone know how to remove these files? Maybe another question is in order: If the files *can* be removed, will it do any harm?

Thanks.

 

I have never had any problem accessing the SVI folder or deleting any files therein. I use the CACLS command to allow full access to the folder and all files.

cacls "C:\System Volume Information" /e /g owner:f

I provide the complete PATH instead of getting resident in the root folder so I know the command is being directed properly. It will not issue any error message if you do it wrong but it will give you a confirmation when executed properly. It says, processed dir: C:\System Volume Information If you haven't been getting that confirmation, review your method and try again.

BTW, there is little point in deleting those files since they will be written back as soon as you reboot.

 

System Volume Information and CACLS

Thanks for the quick response. I figured there must be a mechanism to replace the files. I used the exact syntax you listed, but it *did not* work. The files could not be deleted. I was so curious about this, that I removed the HD from the laptop, and connected into a Linux machine, and was unable to reset the permissions from Linux. This really stumped me, since I clearly "don't know what I don't know" here. Perhaps the distribution that I was using may "honor" the ACL's on the NTFS partitions, but that of course is a matter for a different venue. In any event, if the files get recreated on reboot, the issue is moot. I was just trying to understand what is going on. Thanks again.

 

Perhaps this will help. On one occasion I actually had to set the permissions for each individual file after gaining access to the SVI folder.

I used:

cacls "C:\System Volume Information\MountPointManagerRemoteDatabase" /e /g owner:f

and

cacls "C:\System Volume Information\_restore{0A438C3B-A487-4C6D-850C-C76CC3327FD0}" /e /g owner:f

I didn't dig around to see why that happened but it was only that one time. I think it might have been after having the Sytem Recovery tool activated, which I hardly ever do. I probably wanted to dump the setpoints without trusting the system to do it. I'm pretty sure that was the reason.

That may be what happened to you but as you say, it really is a moot point.