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

[Earthquake McGoon]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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

 

[DavidHB]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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

 

[DavidHB]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

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.

 

[esc4p3]

Re: [v5&6] "Elevation Required" message while Erasing Free S

Thought I'd register just to record a specific problem I was having, which I have now resolved regarding erasing free space on my hard drive.

I have been through all the advice contained within the FAQ, closing all instances of Eraser, running as administrator, shutting down programs including antivirus, adding permissions to the drive letter - all to no avail. I am running Windows Vista if this makes any difference.

What solved it for me, was an extra task surrounding adding permissions to the drive letter. Although as an administrator I already had full control over the drive letter, there was a folder within the drive called "System Volume Information", which only a user name called "SYSTEM" had access to. When I double clicked the folder, it told me I did not have permission to open the folder.

I noticed in the error log in Eraser, it did specifically say that the process did not complete because it could not access the "System Volume"....so clearly this was where it was failing (although I hadn't fully realised what the error message was telling me for a couple of days )

So I right clicked the System Volume Information folder, selected properties, select the Security tab, clicked Edit, clicked Add and added my admin account making sure to give myself full control over that folder in the permissions. I then clicked OK a few times and rebooted the computer. Having double checked that Eraser was definitely not running, I ran it as an administrator and added a new task to erase disk space and everything completed successfully.

I had partitioned my drive with various letters (for music, photo's, documents etc.) and every drive letter has a "System Volume Information" folder which I cannot access, unless I specifically add myself using the above method.

Once I have finished 'erasing' I will remove myself out of the folder permissions, as I'm not sure if this presents any security risks....as I wasn't included in the first place, there may be a good reason for that!

Hope this helps someone else.