knoppix

[Brian Kelsay]

Brian Kelsay

>>> Leo J Mauler <> 03/14/04 08:13PM >>>

>>On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 15:55:15 -0600 Brian Kelsay <>
writes:
>> I actually ran into some files that Knoppix can't delete.  
>> I'm repairing a Winders 98 PC for someone and I think 
>> he filled the drive to almost totally full.  I removed a 
>> bunch of stuff and then tried to delete some spyware 
>> in the Program Files dir and I get permission denied.
>> 
>> Anyone know why?

>Sometimes Linux picks up on the FAT file record and interprets it to mean
>something like file permissions.  There's a "read-only" bit you can set. 
>Other times Linux gets annoyed with special characters in the filename
>which aren't allowed in Linux filenames.
>
>I've had some success deleting those files using Midnight Commander (mc),
>the ncurses-based file manager.  The mc app seems to be able to ignore
>file permissions in some cases, especially since you're running it as
>root, allowing you to delete files in mc which wouldn't delete in plain
>shell "rm <filename>".

Same PC, now w/ XP Pro loaded (so I can at least lock 'em down), there are a couple of directories 
under C:Program Files that have read-only set and can't be deleted or have the permission changed 
under XP.  It's going to be Knoppix time again when I mess w/ it.  I was really surprised that 
Knoppix couldn't delete those files.  I was using Konquerer last time.  Next go around I will try 
MC if it is on there, otherwise I'll use DamnSmall Linux and Emelfm, which I have had success with 
before.  I had always thought that Linux didn't recognize Winders file permissions.

Another problem this PC has is there is a mysterious amount of space taken up on the drive.  4.5 GB 
used out of 6GB.  Can't find anything using a large amount of space.  I may start over and 
completely wipe the PC.  Bah, what a pain.  I think this is one reason to not have friends.