I ended up just going into SafeMode and deleting the files, reinstalling and things are fine; projects build out, and packaging games works again.
in 4.15 and 4.16 my UnrealBuildTool does not allow any permissions. If i right click it >> properties >> security tab >> Advanced | I see: Unable to display current owner
I am unable to change the owner (file) no matter if I am administrator (and I have tried using the command prompt), everything I do keeps this file inaccessible and it is preventing me from building out certain projects in the editor and those that can open in the editor cannot be packaged. The version of Unreal also cannot be deleted or overwritten as I apparently have no access to this file! Can anyone give me some advice?
This is a really weird thing that I also had to do this way. No idea how to fix it otherwise.