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PhilipPark's avatar
PhilipPark
Iron Contributor
Sep 15, 2026

Windows 11 won't let me delete a folder even though I'm the admin

I've got a folder on my Windows 11 PC that refuses to delete. Every time I try, it says I need permission from myself—which makes no sense since I'm the only account on this machine and it's an admin account.

I've already tried taking ownership, running as administrator, restarting Explorer, and booting into Safe Mode. Still blocked. It's not a system folder either, just a regular one I created a while back and no longer need.

Anyone know what's going on or how to get rid of it?

 

configuration
deployment

1 Reply

  • Shanthathota's avatar
    Shanthathota
    MCT
    Sep 16, 2026

    hi

    open command prompt as administrator and take ownership: takeown /f "folder path" / r /d y

    give administrators full control: icacls "folder path" /grant Administrators : F /t /c

     remove read-only attributes: attrib  -r -s -h "folder path" /s /d

    then delete the folder: rmdir /s /q "folder path"

    hope this will work out.