Insufficient privileges under Windows 7 on Dell Inspiron

[steve9391]

Hello,
Control Panel User Accounts shows my name as administrator. When I try to Format C: under Command Prompt it still comes back with "Access denied-insufficient privileges". I want to wipe my drive clean and don't care about data. Please help, Steve

 

[manojgj]

hey dude , how windows will format its own drive.. by default Windows 7 will be installed on C: drive only..

 

[steve9391]

hey dude , how windows will format its own drive.. by default Windows 7 will be installed on C: drive only..

I first tried to format C: from Dell Reinstallation DVD (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-BIT) with help from Dell's technician. This format lasted only 2-3 seconds (300 GB drive!) and didn't get rid of my virus. This led me to believe this was "Quick format" that only creates new file table. I want to do "Normal format" that erases any existing data. I may have mistakenly assumed that formating under command prompt is not Windows but BIOS function. Thanks for your help.

 

[manojgj]

quick format wont erase data in hdd, just rewrite file system table..


if you wish to format the c drive of your system completely,then get hiren's boot cd & use live xp with it..
from the windows explorer on live xp select you C; drive(make sure that you have selected right one) and format it without selecting quick format option

or use any one of partitioning tools in hirens boot cd to format your drive..

http://www.hirensbootcd.net/

 

[sminlal]

Control Panel User Accounts shows my name as administrator. When I try to Format C: under Command Prompt it still comes back with "Access denied-insufficient privileges".

If you use UAC, then all programs run without any privileges even if you sign on as an administrator. If the program isn't flagged as requiring administrative privileges or if it doesn't request those privileges when it runs, then it doesn't get them.

If you want to perform tasks that require privileges from within Control Panel, you have to right-click it and use the "Run As Administrator..." option. The same applies to PowerShell.