10 – How to Delete Files Protected by TrustedInstaller

It’s quite a few steps but it works

Did you know that a lot of files in Windows 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:

or something like:

Thanks Windows! So in order to delete a file or folder 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. Note that you really shouldn’t use this method to try and delete basic Windows features like Windows Defender or IE. It won’t work and it’ll mess up your computer. Only use this trick for deleting malware or virus files that may have inserted themselves into protected Windows directories.

Take Ownership of Files

First, go to the folder or set of files that you need to change permissions for, right-click on them and chooseProperties.

Next click on theSecuritytab and then click on theAdvancedbutton at the bottom:

Next click on theOwnertab and you’ll now see that the current owner isTrustedInstaller.

Now click on theEdit(in Windows 10, it’s theChangebutton) button and choose who you would like to change the owner to, either your account or theAdministratorsgroup. If your account is an Administrator account, I would suggest just picking Administrators.

You can also check offReplace owner on subcontainers and objectsif 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.

Note that if you are trying to delete an entire folder that has sub-folders, etc., you’ll also need to click on thePermissionstab, thenChange Permissions, select Administrators or the account you want to use, and then check theReplace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object.

It’s worth noting that you won’t be able to change permissions until you first change the owner for the folder and all subfolders and files as shown above.

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 choosePropertiesagain.

Now click on theSecuritytab again, but instead of clicking on Advanced, you need to click theEditbutton.

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, clickAdd, 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 toFull 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! It’s quite a few steps, but it does work. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications.Read Aseem’s Full Bio

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Windows 7/8/10 – How to Delete Files Protected by TrustedInstaller#

Take Ownership of Files#

Windows 7/8/10 – How to Delete Files Protected by TrustedInstaller

Take Ownership of Files