When testing a mobile device or even a computer, if we come across files that we cannot delete in the traditional way as on other devices, these are the so-called protected files of the operating system.
The possible reason is that they belong to the applications in use and deleting them may cause them to misbehave. Another reason could be that the applications we stopped installing left those files behind.
A third reason is that these protected files may be in files used by the operating system for normal work. In this article we talk about what files we can delete and why they exist on our device.
Is it dangerous to delete these Undeletable files from the system?
As we said, there are other files that are protected by the system and are files used by other programs. If we delete them, there is a possibility that similar programs will not work properly.
Therefore, we should perform a preventive analysis to determine whether all the applications that we have installed on our devices are necessary for us. Thus, if we find any of them, we can delete them, erasing all the data that the operating system has protected to allow their operation.
Therefore, we conclude that, according to previous studies, it is not dangerous to delete this type of protected data from the system, just be careful and only delete this data without touching the remaining part.
Here’s how to delete undeletable files on your computer:
From the terminal
To delete files created by the Windows operating system we need to:
- Access the file explorer.
- Select “Local drive (C)”.
- Select the “Programs (x86)” folder.
- Find the one you want to delete
- Right-click on it
- Select “Properties” from the context menu
- Find the “Security” tab.
- Select the “Advanced Settings” option and click on it.
- In the next window we see “Owner”, we choose “Edit”.
- Enter the user name we have in the corresponding box.
- Click on “Check names”.
- We see the name of the page for which we have selected “Apply”.
- We find the option “Replace owners in secondary objects and containers” and enable it.
- Then we choose “Apply”.
- In the Windows Security field we are asked if we really want to apply this change, we choose “OK”.
- In the Security tab, look for the Edit option.
- We have selected the administrator user and enabled all permissions for full control.
- Then we choose the “OK” option.
- Click “OK” again.
- This way we can go back to the folder we want to delete.
To delete undeletable files from our Mac, we will use the following instructions:
- Look for the “Applications” option.
- Click on “Utilities”.
- Select “Terminal” to run various operating system commands.
- For this step we need to know the path to the file. Once we know that, we type the command “sudo chflags nouchg file nouchg>”.
- Press “Enter”.
- Another option is if we are in “terminal”:
- We type the command “sudo rm -r path>”.
- Press “Enter”.
- This will be forcibly deleted.
- From the Resource Monitor.
To use this simple Windows tool, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the “Start” option in the lower left corner of the screen.
- Immediately type “Resource Monitor”.
- At this point we see the application window for the first time, we click on it.
- Select the “CPU” tab.
- Next, search for “Linked ID”.
- In the search bar, enter the name of the file you want to delete.
- Choose “Search”.
- When we find the file we want to delete, we right click on it and select “End Process”.
Safe Mode
If we cannot delete the file, we can restart the computer, but if the problem persists, we must do it in Safe Mode.
To do this we must perform the following steps on a computer with Windows operating system:
- Select the “Install” option.
- Go to the “Update and Security” section.
- Click on “Restore”.
- Select “Advanced Startup”.
- Select “Restart Now”.
- Go to the “Troubleshooting” section.
- Look for the “Advanced Settings” alternative.
- Select “Startup Settings”.
- Then select “Restart”.
- Press F4 on the “Startup Settings” option.
- Go to “File Manager”.
- Locate the file you want to delete and press “OK”.
- Then restart your PC as usual.
How to delete undeleteable files on Android and iOS?
For our computers, the same goes for our mobile devices, there are data that are protected and that we cannot delete. We will soon guide you through the steps to delete this type of file depending on the operating system of your phone.
Delete undeleteable files on Android
To delete a file, you must download the SD Maid application. Once the installation is complete, we will perform the following steps:
Open the program and go to the “Explorer” tab.
Find the file you want to delete.
Select “Delete”.
Delete undeleteable files on iPhone
For our iPhone we will download the trial software iMyfone Umate Pro, after installing the application follow these steps:
- Open the application.
- Select “Scan”.
- Select the file you want to delete.
- Select “OK”.
Why can’t I delete some data from my computer?
When we have limited space on our hard drive to store data, one of the first steps is to delete temporary files, cookies and any other unwanted files present in our browser or in the operating system itself.
If we find that we still need more space, we start looking for what data we can delete. We are then asked what data we cannot delete from our computer.
Other details
The operating system consists of several directory hierarchies in which commands are stored to ensure that the software runs correctly and efficiently. Some of this data is used to facilitate access to hardware and other pieces of software, as well as to manage resources.
As a result, the operating system considers this data to be important internally, so it is protected and generally hidden. Therefore, we cannot delete this kind of data to get more disk space, because it will greatly affect the operating system and the normal operation of the hardware.
