Sometimes when trying to delete a particular file on Windows, you may get ‘Access denied’ error like the one stated below,

“File Access Denied: You need permission to perform this action”

The error clearly indicates that you are not able to delete the file as you do not have required permission. In order delete the file you need to have appropriate permissions. Each file or a folder may have a permission which determines who can access it and who cannot. Thus, make sure you are the owner of the file before deletion. Also, you can change the permission and then delete the file by following below-mentioned steps. In order to do so, you must be logged in as the administrator.

 Check the permission of the file and change it

• Step 1: Simply right-click on the file and then choose Properties
• Step 2: Navigate to Security tab
• Step 3: Below the Group or user names, click on your name to identify the permissions that you have
• Step 4: Then, click on Edit and select your name. Mark the check box for the permissions you require and then finally hit the OK button

Apart from this, the ‘Access denied’ error could occur during file deletion if the file is encrypted. The encrypted files are the ones that are secured from unauthorized access. Thus, you cannot perform a deletion on an encrypted file without the certificate used to encrypt it. In order to find out whether the file is encrypted you need to perform the below steps,

• Right click on the file and then choose Properties
• Then, navigate to General tab and choose Advanced. Here, check whether the option – Encrypt contents to secure data is marked.

If its marked then you need to procure the certificate from the person who created/encrypted the file. After decrypting it you will be able to delete the file. However, if you have accidentally deleted important Windows files, then you can use a software known as Recover. The application is exclusively designed to restore lost/deleted files from Windows