cannot delete user folders on server because of index.dat 1

[apj77]

Hello,

I am trying to delete a number of user's folders on an NT server, but keep getting Access Denied message on the index.dat file. Even taking ownership does not give me the ability to remove these folders.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
AJ

 

[fuego007]

Taking ownership may not be enough. You may also have to change permissions and ensure that you have full control permissions to all files, folders, subfolders and files. Make sure you propogate the permissions and try again. If that doesn't work, try looking in the event log to see if it tells you why access was denied (you may have to enable auditing on the folders first).

Bob

 

[apj77]

I've taken ownership of the folder and files, given myself full control, enabled auditing and still cannot delete the history.ie5 or index.dat. The Event log does not show anything. The exact error is:

Cannot remove folder History.IE5. Access Denied
Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Please Help! I've searched Microsoft and nothing there either.

AJ

 

[GreenTeeth]

Ah, index.dat is not a normal file. It cannot be deleted moved or renamed under normal conditions. It is used by Internet Explorer in order for it to access the internet and it logs sites that have been visited on that computer .It is usually found within the Internet explorer folder. It is one of the ways that you can see what people have been looking at on the net. I beleive it is one of the ways that the police can track for dodgy things.

The only way I know of to delete this file is to download a small program from the internet, I can't remember the one I tried but I can find out if it is vital that you lose this file.

What these programs do is to delete the index.dat, and then when you next go on the net, a new one is created. It really should not be important to lose this file under normal circumstances and it is more important for the paranoid home user, or for interested techys.

I hope this helps.

 

[GreenTeeth]

Just a foot note after rereading your post. It is possible that the presence of this file could stop you from moving, deleting other files in the same folder, but if it is the one I am thinking of, it will be fine to leave it where it is. If you do really need shot of this, type into google, "index.dat", and you will find a number of programs offering to delete this file for you. It is worth doing your research, but essentially they will all remove it safely as I beleive it is not hard to write a program that will do this.

Good luck

 

[mp1976]

Hi,

The only solution i have found out for this problem is that u have to reboot the server once in order to delete this file.

 

[Ransoft]

Greenteeth is correct.