You Need Administrator Permission To Delete This Folder (SOLVED)
You Need Administrator Permissions to delete this Folder is a common Windows 10 issue. The problem is faced by the users when they want to delete a folder from their computer. This error leaves many bewildered since they are the administrators of the PC because it is, usually, their home machine. Like other Windows glitches, this one has some fixes as well. Here are a few solutions that you can apply to get rid of the admin permissions for folder deletion error.
You Need Administrator Permission To Delete This Folder Error
We’ve done the research for you, so here’s what works to solve this error.
1. Change Folder Properties
- Go to the folder location on your computer.
- Right-click on the folder that’s showing administrator permission required error and select properties.
- Click on the Security tab that opens and click Edit under Group or user names.
- Now click Add and in the text field under “Enter the names of the objects to select the box”, type everyone.
- Once done, click on “Check Names” and press OK.
- In the new Windows that pop up after your click on OK, go to Security > Permissions of Everyone and select the Full control option.
Now all users, whether they are admin, TrustedInstaller, or an ordinary user, will have complete control over the folder and will be able to delete it.
2. Modify User Account Control
There are times when taking ownership of the folder in Windows 10 doesn’t solve the issue. The administrator error persists. Under these circumstances, use the following method:
- Open Control Panel and go to User Accounts.
- Select your account and click ‘Change user account control settings’.
- On the User Account Control Settings Window, you will notice a Slider with a marker placed on Never Notify Me When I Make Changes to Windows Settings. Move the slider down to Never Notify Option.
- Now Reboot your computer and you will be able to delete the folder asking for admin privileges to complete the task.
3. Windows Native Administrator Account Activation
If both the solutions provided above haven’t helped you in deleting the folder, you can try to activate the native Administrator account. Here is how you can do this:
- Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
- In the Command Prompt window, enter the following command;
net user administrator /active: yes
- Enter the following command and tap Enter.
net user administrator “Password
- Now reboot your computer. Login through the native administrator account and delete the folder.
4. Booting into Safe Mode
In case none of the solutions are working for you, you can boot into Windows Safe Mode and delete the folder. Here’s how you can do it:
- Click on the Start button and select Settings from the left pane of the menu
- Click Update & Security.
- Now click on Recovery option in the left pane of the Windows
- Click on Restart Now button under Advanced Startup option
- Once your computer is rebooting, press F4 to enter Safe Mode.
- When you see the desktop with a black background, you will be in Safe Mode. Go ahead and delete the folder.
5. System File Checker
This is an unconventional way of fixing the admin error when deleting a folder, but it works especially if the folder has inherited permissions from an app that has been installed or a folder that came from a different system.
- Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
- Enter the following command
SFC /scannow
- Once the scan is completed, restart the system
- After the reboot, delete the folder.
6. Take Control through Custom.BAT file
You can forcefully take control of the problematic folder by creating a custom .bat file also works for them. Here is how you do it.
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder you’re trying to delete.
- Rename the folder to Locked Directory.
- Move the folder to the root of the C drive i.e., move the folder to the C drive so that it is NOT nested under any other folder.
- Create a next text file (use Notepad) at the root of the C drive.
- Enter the following in the file and save it with the BAT file extension. Name the file del_directory.bat.
SET DIRECTORY_NAME="C:\Locked_Directory" TAKEDOWN /f %DIRECTORY_NAME% /r /d y ICACLS %DIRECTORY_NAME% /grant administrators:F /t PAUSE
- Run the file with admin rights and it will delete the folder.
Conclusion
Apart from these methods, there are myriads of third-party tools available that can help you in taking back the access to system folders. You can try using them but only as a last resort. There’s nothing those tools can do that the above fixes aren’t doing. You should also exercise a degree of caution when deleting a folder that Windows 10 is preventing you from deleting because it might be critical to the system. Getting it back may be impossible and you may need to reinstall the OS to restore stability.
