Deleting Windows system folders on an old hard drive

I had to install Windows 7 on a new hard drive after my computer died. The installation went well and I wanted to reclaim some hard disk space from the hard disk where I had installed Vista. However, I couldn't delete some of the system folders. If you're having the same problem, you can try what I did.

• Right-click the folder.


• From the context menu, click on "Properties".


• Click on the "Security" tab.


• Click on the "Advanced" button.


• Click on the "Owner" tab.


• Click on the "Edit" button.


• Change the owner to the current logged in user. If user is not found, try to find it by clicking on the "Other users or groups" button.


• Check the box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects".


• Click on the "Apply" button.


• An alert box will appear with the message "If you have just taken ownership of this object, you will need to close and reopen this object's properties before you can view or change permissions.". Click on the "OK" button.


• Click on the "OK" button.


• Click on the "OK" button.


• When you are back in the "Security" tab, select the "CREATOR OWNER" option from the "Group or user names" combo box.


• Click on the "Edit" button.


• If the box for "Full control", "Allow" is not checked, check it. Click on the "Apply" button.


• Click on the "OK" button.


• Click on the "Ok" button.

Now you should be able to delete the folder.