Cannot delete indents nor past insertion point

Question

When I enter insert mode, vim will not allow deleting text behind where I entered insert. Also when I use auto indent, I cannot delete the indentations that get automatically created.

I've tried a blank vimrc and even tried my own version of vim compiled from source. How can I delete properly in vim?

Answer 1

Try :set nocompatible

Answer 2

Are you attempting to delete them using backspace? Try :set backspace=indent,eol,start

By default you can't backspace over auto-indentation, previous edits or line breaks.