Month: May 2021

Delete Windows System Folders From Former OS Drive

Robert LohrLeave a comment

I demoted a former Windows OS drive to a data drive recently without formatting it. The SSD still contained my OneDrive folder, and I did not want to download it again or copy it from a backup. Therefore, all of the Windows system folders were still on the drive. I tried to delete them, but whatever I did using the GUI, Windows slapped my fingers. I was not able to remove the Program Files and Windows folder.

There is a solution using the command line, though. You must execute all commands in an Administrator command prompt.

Example for the Program Files directory.

takeown /f "Z:\Program Files" /a /r /d Y
icacls "Z:\Program Files" /t /grant administrators:F
rd /s /q "Z:\Program Files"

Gotcha: I have noticed that I had to execute the statements a second time on some folders to delete them finally.

An exception is the Windows directory. It cannot be removed using these commands. I have found another workaround that tricks Windows into believing it is a previous Windows installation. Rename the Windows directory to “Windows.old” and then run Disk Cleanup -> Clean up system files. Windows will detect this as an old installation and offer to remove it.

Documentation

  • takeown
    • /f – Path to folder
    • /a – Give ownership to Administrators group
    • /r – Recursive
    • /d Y – Do not require confirmation
  • icacls
    • /t – “Recursive”
    • /grant – Replace previous permission with new owner and full access (:F)
  • rd
    • /s – Recursive
    • /q – Quiet mode, do not require confirmation

Titanfall 2 Review

Robert Lohr4 Comments

It has been a long time since I have played a first-person shooter in single-player mode. The last playthrough was probably the original Half-Life as a Let’s Play on YouTube about three years ago (I expected it to be longer, though). Since then, it has mainly been 3rd person shooters or action adventures. The majority of 1st person shooting games I have played are the Borderlands franchise and Counter-Strike until version 1.6. There have been a couple of others, of course; big names like Half-Life 2, Doom, Unreal (Tournament), Serious Sam, and so on. But that was at a time I would now call my youth. I like the skill aspect of shooters, but other than that, I have not found many that got me interested in a way that made me want to continue to play them. I have barely played through any of the previous games (Half-Life 2 being the exception 😉). In the here and now, I am looking for a well-told story and character development. And by that, I mean the main character’s personality and the relations the character has with others, not a role-playing system.

I have heard many praises about the quality of Titanfall 2, despite it not being a huge hit. When I discovered this game for a whopping 2.99€ in the Xbox game store, I figured why not try it out. Since I usually try to write reviews for games I find noteworthy in a specific way, be it good or bad, there must be something about Titanfall 2 that made me mash some keys on my keyboard and publish it on the Internet. Is it a Witcher 3 or a Battlefield 4? Curious?

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Xbox Game Pass, Play Anywhere, I Think I Get It

Robert Lohr1 Comment

The start of Q4 2020 was supposed to be an incredible time for PC gamers – or gamers in general. Firstly, Microsoft and Sony released their latest Next-Gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and S and the PlayStation 5. Secondly, AMD and NVIDIA battled it out in the GPU market, and AMD unleashed the Ryzen 5000 CPU family that ate Intel’s 10th generation for breakfast. And lunch. And supper, and dinner, and as a snack in between. Unfortunately for Intel, the only thing the 11th generation of Core Processors can do is hold AMD’s beer. In theory.

Excellent Hardware, No Stock, High Prices

I think by now, about six months later, we all know how things played out. It is not about having the best performance anymore. Instead, it is about who can get products on the shelves or into retailers’ warehouses so people can buy them. It seems like the price does not even matter. Some affluent enthusiast gamers may be more willing to overpay for their hobby, and first-time builders might not know any better. I am neither in the first nor in the last category. I could afford new PC hardware, but I am not willing to overpay a single Oren for any of it. The reasons for these prices are manifold, and many YouTubers discussed this very topic in many a video.

The story I want to tell you today is how all of that brought me into Microsoft’s console hardware and gaming service arms. Well, I guess I kind of already spoiled the reason: PC hardware is ridiculously overpriced, let alone readily available to buy. But there is more to it than that.

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