Vista - How to delete Vista's User\All Users folder?

I've uninstalled Vista. I"m back to using XP. How do I delete the User\All
Users folder in drive D:? For background info, my XP boots up from C: and
I've successfully deleted the other Vista folders in D: (yes, by changing
their ownership first). The User folder has 0 bytes and I already own them
as the administrator, but for some reason I can't get rid of the read-only
bit. Thanks in advance.

"John V." <jv@noaddress.com> wrote in ...
> I've uninstalled Vista. I"m back to using XP. How do I delete the
> User\All
> Users folder in drive D:? For background info, my XP boots up from C: and

You can't :-)

Well, thats not strictly true. But C:\Users\All Users is not actually a
directory; it's a "symbolic link" or symlink. This is like a soft link in
Unix. They existed to some extent in Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003; but
most users never encountered them; only server administrators and the like.
But Vista uses symlinks much more widely than previous versions.

On a Vista machine you can see where the symlink points to by using a "dir
/a:s" command; eg:

C:\Users>dir /a:s
Volume in drive C is System
Volume Serial Number is 7846-1538

Directory of C:\Users

03/11/2006 01:41 <SYMLINKD> All Users [C:\ProgramData]
03/11/2006 01:41 <JUNCTION> Default User [C:\Users\Default]
03/11/2006 01:27 174 desktop.ini
1 File(s) 174 bytes
2 Dir(s) 19,171,004,416 bytes free

C:\Users>

So, "C:\Users\All Users" is actually a symlink to the "real" file system
direectory, C:\ProgramData.

On Vista, you manipulate symlinks using the mklink command. Windows XP has
no built-in comands to manipulate (delete, create) symlinks. You can delete
it using the Junction.exe utility, a small, free download from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Junction.mspx

Download it to your XP machine. Then run the command:

C:\>junction -d "C:\Users\All Users" C:\ProgramData

(it shouldn't matter that C:\ProgramData doesn't exist any more).

Hope this helps,
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au

I'm not at the box now but I'll try that.

Very informative and helpful. Succinct too. I hope you're getting just
rewards for you expertise! Appreciated. Thank you much!

"Andrew McLaren" <andrew@fakeaddress.com> wrote in message
news:FE1C2465-AEA3-4AD2-B3EF-B167D9FE0697@microsoft.com...
> "John V." <jv@noaddress.com> wrote in ...
> > I've uninstalled Vista. I"m back to using XP. How do I delete the
> > User\All
> > Users folder in drive D:? For background info, my XP boots up from C:
and
>
> You can't :-)
>
> Well, thats not strictly true. But C:\Users\All Users is not actually a
> directory; it's a "symbolic link" or symlink. This is like a soft link in
> Unix. They existed to some extent in Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003; but
> most users never encountered them; only server administrators and the
like.
> But Vista uses symlinks much more widely than previous versions.
>
> On a Vista machine you can see where the symlink points to by using a "dir
> /a:s" command; eg:
>
> C:\Users>dir /a:s
> Volume in drive C is System
> Volume Serial Number is 7846-1538
>
> Directory of C:\Users
>
> 03/11/2006 01:41 <SYMLINKD> All Users [C:\ProgramData]
> 03/11/2006 01:41 <JUNCTION> Default User [C:\Users\Default]
> 03/11/2006 01:27 174 desktop.ini
> 1 File(s) 174 bytes
> 2 Dir(s) 19,171,004,416 bytes free
>
> C:\Users>
>
> So, "C:\Users\All Users" is actually a symlink to the "real" file system
> direectory, C:\ProgramData.
>
> On Vista, you manipulate symlinks using the mklink command. Windows XP has
> no built-in comands to manipulate (delete, create) symlinks. You can
delete
> it using the Junction.exe utility, a small, free download from Microsoft:
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Junction.mspx
>
> Download it to your XP machine. Then run the command:
>
> C:\>junction -d "C:\Users\All Users" C:\ProgramData
>
> (it shouldn't matter that C:\ProgramData doesn't exist any more).
>
> Hope this helps,
> --
> Andrew McLaren
> amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au
>
>