Did you know that a lot of files in Windows 7 are not owned by you, even if you are the Administrator? They are instead owned by an entity called the “Trusted Installer”. Such a wonderful sounding name eh!
So that’s not a problem most of the time, unless you need to delete certain system files and folders. You’ll end up getting a message like:
You do not have permission to perform this action.
or something like:
You need authorization from TrustedInstaller in order to perform this action.
Thanks Windows! So in order to delete a file that is owned by TrustedInstaller, you have to first take ownership of the files or folders and then grant yourself full control permissions and rights!
You have to do all of that just to be able to rename, delete, or edit these files and folders. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps in order to do this.
First, go to the folder or set of files that you need to change permissions for, right-click on them and choose Properties.
Next click on the Security tab and then click on the Advanced button at the bottom:
Next click on the Owner tab and you’ll now see that the current owner is TrustedInstaller.
Now click on the Edit button and choose who you would like to change the owner to, either your account or the Administrators. If your account is an Administrator account, I would suggest just picking Administrators.
You can also check off Replace owner on subcontainers and objects if you need to delete more than one file in a folder. Go ahead and click OK. Now you will see that the Current owner is the account you picked.
Click OK until you have closed all properties windows and are back to the Windows Explorer screen. Then right-click on the folder or file again and choose Properties again.
Now click on the Security tab again, but instead of clicking on Advanced, you need to click the Edit button.
Now click on the user name in the list that you want to change the permissions for, which should be the same as who you changed the current owner too. If the user name is not in the list, click Add, type in the name and click OK.
Since I had changed the current owner to Administrators, I clicked on Administrators here and then clicked on the check box next to Full Control. When you do that, all the other boxes get checked too.
Click OK once and then click OK one more time to get back to Windows Explorer. Now you can delete those files without any UAC messages telling you that you can’t! Enjoy!
This is simply brilliant! I have 3 different win 7 installations because some crappy installing before, and w7 takes ownage of every single installation. Stupido W7, thanks again!
Oh, man! You guys are amazing. I'm not an experienced user of Windows but with your perfect instructions I was able to delete the Windows folders on my old System disk dive after replacing it with a new one with Windows 7 on it. Please keep up the great work helping us users.
I will save your site in my Favorites for further use. – Regards, John Caruso
damn awesome dude million thanks :)
searched the whole internet, tried this one! pretty great stuff.
thanks again
i did the instructions exactly as said, but it's not working. it's saying i need permission from a specific account (the only one on my computer, the one i'm signed in on) and i cannot fathom how to change it. i have almost successfully got full control of my computer, but it will not let me check the "special" checkbox at the end of the permissions editing, and it also will not let me uncheck Trusted Installer's.
Thankyou so much damned installer filled my drive up with useless short film clips and stuff I never asked for, so useful am sharing to facebook. Again thanks for making it so simple to understand even for me, and I still had to try a few times LOL
I tried to delete Internet Explorer 9 from C dirve despite follow the procedure to first owned the folder. But still cannot delete to keeps receiving the prompt
that I need usuer permission. I don't know what to do next! Please help to advise. Many helps
Thanks! Even I could do this and take back my computer!
It almost works, but it's telling me that I need to contact myself before deleting the file… Help???
Thanks a lot I removed that darn Security Defender but kept getting pop ups upon start-up that certain files could not be found. I could close the notifications but they were driving me crazy! This removed the offending folder and now no notifications! Thanks a bunch. TK
NOT WORKING – I already own the folder!
I was cut/pasting files in my new computer to do some organization. A folder developed this problem – but none of these solutions are working. There are two things that set this apart:
1. I am NOT trying to change system folders. I am in “my documents” working with regular folders and files, such as Word, Excel, etc.
2. According to the properties, my username is ALREADY the current owner and has full permission.
However, no matter what I do, it tells me that I need permission from “myusername” or sometimes it tells me I need “administrator” permission to change the file. I am, like everyone else here, the only user on this computer and have an “administrator” account.
I noticed that a sub-sub-folder of the problem folder lists “owner cannot be identified at this time” as the owner. When I try to make changes to the owner, it tells me I can’t, because I need administrator permission. When I do not use properties, anything I do tells me I need my own username permission.
Success!
Amazingly easy to follow instructions and well organized.
(you da' man)
It doesn't work. After changing the "permission" from trustedinstaller to your own name, it merely tells you that you need permission from yourself.
Thanks very much
THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!! :)
I just bought a laptop after having a pc for over 6 years, and the first problem I came up against was “trusted installer” Who are they trying to kid. I felt like I didn’t have any control over my own computer. I want to thank you so so much. I have been fighting with this “guy” for over a week. I was about ready to take this laptop back to the store. Thank you, thank you, thank you!