Windows Vista Forums

Vista won't delete folders unless empty (Maxtor Shared Storage)

  1. #1


    nowbegreat Guest

    Vista won't delete folders unless empty (Maxtor Shared Storage)

    I have an MSS 200 Gb that works fine with all Windows XP SP2
    computers. My new Vista Ultimate PC recognizes, reads, writes, copies,
    deletes files in the MSS no problem, except I cannot delete any
    folders in the drive unless they are empty first. What gives?



    Also, this is a public folder (not password protected--never has been--
    even under XP). Reading through Maxtor Knowledgebase, I see that
    Maxtor MSS drives don't work properly under Vista if folders are
    password protected... so that's not it.

    I get the feeling this has to do with permissions somehow... Any help
    would be greatly appreciated. /pg.


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  2. #2


    Rick Rogers Guest

    Re: Vista won't delete folders unless empty (Maxtor Shared Storage)

    Hi,

    You're probably right in your suspicions. Try taking ownership of the folder
    from the security tab of the folder's properties. When you do, make sure you
    also enable the line for this change to propagate to all subcontainers and
    objects. If you don't, then you may not have the appropriate security level
    to delete something within the folder, and be blocked from completing that
    function.

    --
    Best of Luck,

    Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
    http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
    Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
    My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

    <nowbegreat@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    news:c14dc207-29f4-41d7-ad4d-ee2d672046bd@xxxxxx

    >I have an MSS 200 Gb that works fine with all Windows XP SP2
    > computers. My new Vista Ultimate PC recognizes, reads, writes, copies,
    > deletes files in the MSS no problem, except I cannot delete any
    > folders in the drive unless they are empty first. What gives?
    >
    > Also, this is a public folder (not password protected--never has been--
    > even under XP). Reading through Maxtor Knowledgebase, I see that
    > Maxtor MSS drives don't work properly under Vista if folders are
    > password protected... so that's not it.
    >
    > I get the feeling this has to do with permissions somehow... Any help
    > would be greatly appreciated. /pg.
    >

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  3. #3


    CMShepard Guest

    Re: Vista won't delete folders unless empty (Maxtor Shared Storage)

    I had this problem sporadically until the last round of Vista updates.

    It is an ownership problem of some sort, but I cannot change the ownership
    to fix it. Everything looks correct as far as permissions and ownership. If
    I change the ownership, or permissions, the next time I look, they are back
    where they were.

    In the "old" days with DOS, you could not delete a directory if there were
    any files in the directory. That is what this problem looks like, but it
    is not caused by all files, only certain ones. If I delete the files in the
    folder, then I can delete the folder.

    When I encounter the problem, if I want to delete a folder, or rename
    a folder, the folder has to be empty before I am allowed to do those
    things. This is an intermittent problem, and seems to be associated with
    folders that I have copied from/to other hard drives.

    I have, on one occasion, tracked it down to one particular
    file in a folder. That file looked fine, but if it was in the folder, I
    could not
    delete the folder. I could make a copy of the offending file, put it in a
    folder, and that folder could be deleted. So, it appears to be a file
    ownership problem, but if I own the thing, what is Vista thinking?

    It is as if there is a "super owner" that sometimes takes ownership of
    a file and won't let its folder be deleted. I have no idea how that is
    possible.

    Like I said, I have not seen the problem since the last batch of updates.


    "Rick Rogers" <rick@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    news:eGiOXshSIHA.536@xxxxxx

    > Hi,
    >
    > You're probably right in your suspicions. Try taking ownership of the
    > folder from the security tab of the folder's properties. When you do, make
    > sure you also enable the line for this change to propagate to all
    > subcontainers and objects. If you don't, then you may not have the
    > appropriate security level to delete something within the folder, and be
    > blocked from completing that function.
    >
    > --
    > Best of Luck,
    >
    > Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
    > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
    > Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
    > My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
    >
    > <nowbegreat@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    > news:c14dc207-29f4-41d7-ad4d-ee2d672046bd@xxxxxx

    >>I have an MSS 200 Gb that works fine with all Windows XP SP2
    >> computers. My new Vista Ultimate PC recognizes, reads, writes, copies,
    >> deletes files in the MSS no problem, except I cannot delete any
    >> folders in the drive unless they are empty first. What gives?
    >>
    >> Also, this is a public folder (not password protected--never has been--
    >> even under XP). Reading through Maxtor Knowledgebase, I see that
    >> Maxtor MSS drives don't work properly under Vista if folders are
    >> password protected... so that's not it.
    >>
    >> I get the feeling this has to do with permissions somehow... Any help
    >> would be greatly appreciated. /pg.
    >>
    >

      My System SpecsSystem Spec

Vista won't delete folders unless empty (Maxtor Shared Storage)

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