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Error message when you try to delete a file in Windows XP: "Access is denied"

Article ID: 298345 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q298345

Symptoms

When you try to delete a file, you may receive the following error message:

Cannot delete filename: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

However, the disk is neither full nor write-protected, and no one else is using the file.

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Cause

This behavior can occur if you do not have the permissions that are required to delete the file under the NTFS file system.

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Resolution

To resolve this behavior, select from the following methods.

Method 1: Make sure that you are using an administrator account to perform this task

Method 2: Ask the administrator to grant the necessary permissions

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

308419

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308419/ )

How to set, view, change, or remove special permissions for files and folders in Windows XP

Note If the problem persists, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to contact support, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/)

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References

For more information about system attributes, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

329183

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329183/ )

You may receive an error message when you try to rename a folder on an NTFS partition in Windows XP

815929

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815929/ )

"Access denied" error message when you try to copy a file to a Web folder that is configured with integrated authentication

If the articles listed here do not help you resolve the problem or if you experience symptoms that differ from those that are described in this article, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for more information. To search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com

(http://support.microsoft.com)

Then, type the text of the error message that you receive, or type a description of the problem in the Search Support (KB) field.

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