I have a file in the "System Volume Information" folder which is 18.3 GB and cannot be deleted. It looks like a restore point, but I do not think it is one because it is so huge. I am running Vista Ultimate 64-bit.I have tried to take ownership and delete this file through several methods. I have tried using the takeown and cacls/icacls commands and I get access denied everytime. I have tried running cmd.exe as administrator and it's still the same Access denied when trying to change owner or permissions. I have google'd for hours on end for possible solutions and have found walk throughs of how to use takeown and cacls/icacls, how to make.cmd files to do this, .reg files to download for right click context menu take ownership, nothing has worked so far. When I look at the properties of the file, it says I do not have permission to view the object's permissions. The same is true when I try to see the owner of the file.I am logged on as an administrator account. When I first installed Vista I disabled a lot of services included the shadow volume copy service, because I never use restore points and wanted nothing to do with them. It might have something to do with disabled services. If I try to delete the file, nothing happens. No "access denied", nothing. I contacted Microsoft Tech support through chat, and they did a remote control of my computer and the tech wasn't able to get rid of the file or take ownership. They wanted me to scan for spyware and malware, which I did with FIVE different programs as well as a virus scan and not a single thing was found with all those programs. I haven't gotten back to MS's tech support yet after the scans because after about 2 hours with them and they couldn't get rid of it, it pissed me off. I normally wouldn't care about this file, but it is 18.3 GB and it's fragmented all over the HDD. Any help removing this file short of formatting and reinstalling Vista would be great!

Well after making this post, I thought maybe it was the services I disabled causing the problem.So I got the default services .reg file from http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/registry.htm and set it back to default SP1 services and restarted.Then I was able to enable restore points, and immediately disable restore points which deletes all restore points. I had tried this before and it did not work, this time though, it did work and removed the 18 GB restore point. Problem solved...after a few months of trying and giving up multiple times.

Danagar I'm glad you were able to find the solution for the problem. You might also want to consider adjusting the maximum disk space that is allowed for System Restore points. By default, Vista willallocate 15% of the system volume or 30% of the free disk space on the system volume. Here is a link to the instructions on adjusting this allocated space. I recommend using a maximum of 4GB. How to adjust disk space in Windows Vista:http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspacev.html If this post helps to resolve your issue, click the Mark as Answer button at the top of this message.By marking a post as Answered, you help others find the answer faster. Ronnie Vernon Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience