[v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free Space

[DavidHB]

The reason why Eraser is not run elevated by default (as other utility programs, such as CCleaner, are) is that drag and drop is not possible between an normal user folder and an elevated Eraser window; the permissions are different.

Closing the running instance of Eraser is done by right-clicking on the system tray icon and selecting 'Exit'; this must be done before running Eraser as administrator.

David

[Joel]

To add on to David, that effectively prevents non-administrators from using Eraser as well; hence I do not recommend doing this. Eraser should work fine without need that checked. If it does not you may have a separate problem that may require some troubleshooting -- if that is the case, please open a new thread on the Support forum.

[iceweasel]

Joel, I wanted to say thanks for the nice repeating of the hint to quit the currently running instance in the taskbar. I tried a couple times before seeing this thread which helped me realize there was another version (non-admin) running that didn't have the admin privs. Thanks again!

[RileyV]

Just a note to whomever this may help: I am running Win7 and encountered permissions error, (no permission to erase unused space, run as administrator, etc.) I tried closing everything and it did not work. No indications whatsoever that Eraser was running. However, when I opened the task manager, took a look at the processes, it was in fact running. I ended the process, went back and ran as administrator, as you suggested, and everything worked fine. Thank you for the great software and for the help!

[Joel]

Thanks for the feedback, I think it could have been hidden behind the task bar or among the hidden task bar icons. If there are more reports of this then it'll warrant investigation.

[Earthquake McGoon]

Thanks to both Joel and Axident. My problem was identical to axident. I followed Joel's instructions perfectly but still I received the "completed with errors" error message. Then I discovered and followed axident's solution and I am now happily erasing. Thanks to both of you.

[Earthquake McGoon]

I would indeed be significantly more convenient for users to have this sort of basic FAQ included in the .pdf help manual.

[DavidHB]

I would indeed be significantly more convenient for users to have this sort of basic FAQ included in the .pdf help manual.

I have suggested to Joel that what is needed is a separate "getting to know Eraser" document (somewhat like the one that is in the FAQ). This would be accessible from the help menu, but, more importantly, would appear after installation, so that the user could quickly be given information about the easiest ways to use Eraser.

In practice, because resources are very limited, re-writing the documentation might have to be done as part of the Eraser 6.2 development. As, hopefully, Eraser 6.2 will no longer require separate user intervention or explicit elevation to run a free space erase, the need for users to be familiar with the somewhat arcane procedure for running Eraser as administrator will reduce considerably (and, in some of the development options Joel is considering, it would be possible to have Eraser 'elevate itself', so that the actual process would be simpler).

David

[Antares161]

Running ERASER 6.0.9 on a Windows Vista system and keep getting [Session: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 1:02:43 Error The program does not have the required permissions to erase the unused space on disk. Run the program as an administrator and retry the operation.]
Have tired the info listed above including the last post (for Vista) + gave everybody permissions to run the program. Yet I still keep getting the same error/run as an administrator message.
Side note - can run ERASER and clean out the recycle bin just fine?????

[Antares161]

OK Just for clarification... When I was referring to the "last post" I was referring to the post by "axident" from Wed Jul 20, 2011 @ 11:06 p.m.

Sorry if it was confusing...

[DavidHB]

Please, please read the "Getting to know Eraser 6" topic here in FAQ. It is all explained there; just follow the procedure described.

David

[qwerqeeeeefsd]

Except that's stupid. Just write an empty file, there should be no need to run 'elevated' at all.

[DavidHB]

Except that's stupid. Just write an empty file, there should be no need to run 'elevated' at all.

Oh yes there is. Just try running a free space erase as a normal user, and see what happens ...

Writing an empty file does nothing to erase free space (though it does overwrite an MFT entry). You could in theory keep on writing ballast files (containing nonsense or non-sensitive data), but it would be tedious to do this regularly, and Windows would probably prevent you from filling the drive completely.

David

[topgeek]

Hi all, I had that problem until I read this thread.

What I did is to "end task" on the eraser.exe process from the task manager. Then I started eraser as administrator and that seemed to have worked. working now. I'm guessing the free space erase is going to take a while.