I couldn't find too much information on Cygwin in XP where after reinstalling XP and having Cygwin on another partition with wrong "owner"-accounts.
Resulting in some files being unable to be deleted, how hard you might be trying. (I've tried very hard.)
I finally came up with a way to work around;
1. Browse* to the file that is 'locked' or cannot be deleted. (after trying to delete the Cygwin files and getting the "cannot delete"-errors, there will only be the locked files left, so you just have to browse a bit.)
2. Right-Click -> Properties -> Security
Here you notice you're locked out, and all options are greyed out, Your previous account that had admin rights to/owned the file is indicated as "not found".
3. Click advanced -> "Owner"-tab, and select the current owner. Hit "apply" then "Ok".
Close out the underlaying menu ("Host Properties" / Security Tab) by clicking ok to reload the changed settings.
4. Rightclick the file(s) again -> Properties -> Security.
You'll notice you now can change the access rights as you desire; Set your account to full control and delete the file(s) and hit "ok", then delete the files as you desire.
*Trying to change permissions for the upmost parent folder in the way described above didn't work as desired.
Regards, Tim
