Deleting old account on Windows XP after reinstall

Question

I recently had to reinstall Windows XP due to some kind of corruption. As I didn't wipe the hard drive first, the old user accounts containing my documents are still present. I want to get rid of these as I have restored from backup into my new account. However, when I use Explorer, it tells me these folders are not accessible. I guess this is some kind of authorisations issue.

Does anyone have any idea how to get rid of these folders?

Answer 1

You need to take ownership of these folders. Then you can delete them.

Instructions on how to do so are on Microsoft's website: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Disable Simple File Sharing in Windows XP Professional If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing. By default, Windows XP Professional uses Simple File Sharing when it is not joined to a domain. For additional information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 307874

How to disable simplified sharing and set permissions on a shared folder in Windows XP To take ownership of a file or a folder

How to take ownership of a file You must have ownership of a protected file in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the file by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a file, follow these steps: 1.Right-click the file that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties. 2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears). 3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab. 4.In the Name list, click Administrator, or click the Administrators group, and then click OK.

The administrator or the administrators group now owns the file. To change the permissions on the file that you now own, follow these steps:1.Click Add. 2.In the Enter the object names to select (examples) list, type the user or group account that you want to have access to the file. For example, type Administrator. 3.Click OK. 4.In the Group or user names list, click the account that you want, and then select the check boxes of the permissions that you want to assign that user. 5.When you are finished assigning permissions, click OK. 6.You can now access the file.

How to take ownership of a folder You must have ownership of a protected folder in order to access it. If another user has restricted access and you are the computer administrator, you can access the folder by taking ownership.

To take ownership of a folder, follow these steps: 1.Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties. 2.Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears). 3.Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab. 4.In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of the folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box. 5.Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message: You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you click Yes.

Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of. 6.Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.