I am using Windows 7 Professional. I have two external hard drives attached to my home PC. When I attempted to delete a folder or files on the external hard drive I get a pop up box that says that Ineed permission to perform this action or to make changes to this folder. I have administrative rights on this computer as I am the only user. Anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

I take it you haven't used Vista or Windows 7 before? I think the pop up box is the UAC (User Account Control)Disclaimer- Note: Disabling UAC will lead to a less secure system, so be warned. Disable UAC on Windows 7 Windows 7 makes it much easier to deal with UAC settings, and in fact you dont have to completely disable UAC if you dont want to. Just type UAC into the start menu or Control Panel search box. You can simply drag the slider up or down, depending on how often you want to be alerted.If you drag it all the way down to the bottom, youll have disabled it entirely. If that's not the case, then its just a simple matter of taking ownership of the files/folders. MCSE, MCSA, MCDST

Hi cwale, You can try take ownership of the files before deleting them. To do so, please refer to this article: Take Ownership of a File or Folder. In addition, please change the permission of the folder by the steps below: 1. Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take ownership of. 2. Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab. 3. Click Edit button. 4. Please check if Administrators and your user account have the full control to the folder. If not, please highlight the user in the list and check "Full control" under Allow section. 5. Click Apply and then click OK. Hope this can resolve the issue. Regards, Linda

did the solutions mentioned above solve your problem?

I have exactly the same problem except I need to use the files. It does work to take ownership of the files BUT taking ownership of a folder does not give ownership of the files in the folder, so it will take more than a few workdays to be able to get access to all my documents. I hope you have a solution.

i tried the said solution but i got an error saying access denied this is my screenshot hope you can help me http://i53.tinypic.com/30x78f9.jpg