Cannot delete a file even when logged in as an Administrator

windows powershell command-line rmdir
user2061853 picture user2061853 · Sep 12, 2014 · Viewed 34.6k times · Source

Please could some tell me what I am doing wrong. I am trying to delete hidden folder through command line. I am running the command line as administrator but still getting message insufficient access.

Here is screenshot of my command line :

enter image description here

Here is the code i am trying

rmdir "c:\xampp\htdocs\prestashop\dfs"

I am getting errors like:

Cannot remove item .... You do not have sufficient access rights to perform this operation.

Answer

Matt picture Matt · Sep 12, 2014

Just because you are an admin doesn't automatically mean you have rights. Are you running PowerShell as an elevated user (UAC)? Have you checked the permissions of the files in question just to be sure? Are the files in use perhaps? Although if that was the case I would expect access is denied.

Have you tried also using -recurse and -force to be sure it gets them all? For what its worth rmdir is an alias for Remove-Item

Remove-Item "c:\xampp\htdocs\prestashop\dfs" -Recurse -Force

You will see, from TechNet, that -Force

Allows the cmdlet to remove items that cannot otherwise be changed, such as hidden or read-only files

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