Access Denied using TakeOwn.exe

I have got this file that I can't delete. It happened after a system crash, so the CHKDSK kicked in upon next reboot. After that, I can't delete the file. THis is on Windows Home Server, and the file is one of those hidden Thumbs.db, and my WHS reports a "File conflict" on the file, the reason: Access Denied"

What I have tried so far, running as an Administrator:
Delete: Access Denied
TakeOwn.exe : Access Denied
Attrib.exe -s -h : Access Denied
cacls.exe : Access Denied (even whe trying to display the current owner)
Rename: File not found (its hidden)
Re-boot in to safe mode and tried the above: Access Denied
Running the above commands as Local System: Access Denied

Tizer Unlocker: Fail (Doesn't find anything locking the file)
File Assasin: Crashes ("FindRemoteFileHandles returned NULL value.")

I have used the CHKDSK /f again, rebooted since some suggestions is that the file has been corrupted, but that didn't change anything.
Any suggestions ?

Update: In a total separate scenario, I experienced a similar situation; Access Denied when trying to take ownership of a file. It turned out that the file was owned by TrustedInstaler, which is not possible to override just by being an Administrator. In this case, one can use psexec /ids cmd to elevate yourself to System and then TakeOwn.exe /a

Solution 1:

I had the same problem earlier today and fixed it using Unlocker. I don't know if it's any different from the tool that Nicu Zecheru recommmended, but I thought I'd share it here for future reference.

At first didn't believe that the folder could actually be locked, I restarted my PC several times since I first discovered that I am unable to access it, and none of these things worked:

• chkdsk /f - scanned the disk but found nothing
• takeown - access denied
• fileacl /force - access denied
• cacls.exe, xcacls.exe - no luck

Unlocker found that Windows Media Player was locking the file. If I remember correctly, I did have a video file in that folder, but I don't think I ever tried to open it using WMP. I copied the folder from a network location initially, and it's possible WMP might have accessed it during its background library crawling.

NOTE: it seems that older versions of Unlocker were bundled with adware (nothing nasty thought, some e-bay shortcuts from what I've seen). I simply unchecked these items during installation and everything was smooth.

Solution 2:

I can't get any higher in the hierarchy than Administrator

Sure you can. The local System account has higher privileges than Administrator. To start a command prompt under the System account, issue the command

at (time) /interactive cmd.exe

Where (time) is the current time plus 1 minute. Alternatively, download Sysinternals' PSTools and use

psexec -i -s cmd.exe

The elevated command prompt will start in a different directory from usual, which for me is

C:\WINDOWS\system32>