Friend is having a problem deleting some old XP setup files...

[ComputerBox34]

OK, here is a diagram of what he wants done:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/computerbox/Untitled-1.jpg

Now his main XP system partition is on D, not C. When he tried deleting the system files from the old installation, it gave him an error telling him that the files are in use. He tried all the old tricks including deleting them 1 by 1, etc. Nothing worked. He prefers not to back up all the data on CD's, etc. and reformat the drive but wants to try an alternate solution. Any help is appreciated.

[ComputerBox34]

Bump

No ideas at all?

[BigGuy]

Did he try safe mode?

I hope my first post on these forums was helpful. I have been a lurker for a while.

[djnes]

If for whatever reason his actual system volume is D, I would be very careful of what you remove from C. Even though the system volume may be D, Windows will still store some system files on C. If he is 100% sure they are from the old install, then try safe mode. However, if he's getting access denied messages, and he's taken ownership of them, they may still be in use.

[ComputerBox34]

He did try safe mode, same deal. So your saying those files could possible be from the current setup?

[GeForceX]

This was my original thought. The only way to delete those files is to do it outside of Windows environment. You could have Linux mount the C partition and delete it from there. But good luck on booting to Windows again if one of those files truly make/break your boot.

-J.

[ComputerBox34]

Just a FYI, we did not have to install linux or anything, we just used the recovery console on the XP CD. Worked fine.

[djnes]

One of the first things I do on each XP build is to install the recovery console locally.