Cannot delete a file - You need permission to perform this action

Hi,

I'm going mad here. I'm trying to install the Flash Player browser plugin,
and it keeps failing. I've found that the reason is that there are two
existing files in

C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9f.ocx
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil9f.exe

It is suggested that I have to delete these two files and try the Flash
installation again. I have a Home Premium Vista, I am administrator and I
have switched off UAC.

-I tried to do it in safe mode
-I tried to do it from command prompt (run as administrator)
-I tried do remove the read-only flag from the file, both from command
prompt (Access is denied) and from Explorer (You will need to provide
administrator permission to change these atrributes) and I AM THE
ADMINISTRATOR and only user!!!
-I tried to take full ownership of the file by going
Properties-Security-Advanced-Owner (it says that I'm the current owner)
-If I go to "Effective permissions and type my name, "Full control" is not
ticked, but I do have absolutely everything (INCLUDING Delete) except "Write
attributes"

Help please, for the love of God, I'm going mad.

Download and run the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/view...nalId=tn_14157

or direct download:

Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller:
http://download.macromedia.com/pub/f...ash_player.exe

Close all IE windows and run the Flash Player Uninstaller.

Then visit:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/downl...ShockwaveFlash

and click on "Install Now".

Oh Lord, thank you thank you thank you Carey!

I'd still like to know why does the damn thing ask me for admin rights which
I've got, but at least I've solved this.

Oscar answers:

Great Question.

This might help explain:

From:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true


“Windows Vista protects %systemroot% files and folders with permissions
designed for Windows Resource Protection (WRP), which can only be accessed by
the System service. Administrators can read system files and folders but
cannot write to them. Note that this differs from previous versions of
Windows.”

Basic information about Windows Resource Protection:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows...rce_protection

"Vlad" wrote:

> I have switched off UAC.

It's your fault!
With UAC on, just select the flash folder, delete it and confirm the action
when the UAC pop-up will appear. With UAC on, everything is so easy, so
simple.

That's most likely because even as Admin of the system, the files in
question, the permission for delete is not set, even as Admin. Also another
account like User machine name/user may be in conflict with permissions that
differ and could supersede other accounts.

That's why when I have a problem with file permissions, I always go look at
the user account permissions on the file for all user accounts, and I always
discover that permissions on a file need to change when permission is being
denied.

With it off it's even easier: just delete it.

Note that Vista doesn't have "My" Computer, only "Computer". Tell you
something?

Alias

Yes it does. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Vista allows a user
to easily rename "Computer" simply by right-clicking on it and selecting
"rename". Brilliant! But since you do not use Vista, you would not
know about this versatile feature, would you?