Endless, Infinite, Never Ending folder... How to delete?!

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  1. Posts : 24
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #1

    Endless, Infinite, Never Ending folder... How to delete?!


    Hello all!
    This has been sat around on my computer for some time now and I just though that today I would try and sort it out. I don't know how it got there but somehow it did, last February. Anyway, I seem to have a folder that goes on forever!
    Here WAS the path before I attacked it:

    C:\Windows.old\Users\Brad\Documents\Documents\Documents\Documents\Documents\ etc...
    Windows.old was backup but there's nothing else in that folder.
    I tried moving a very deep child folder out and going through that. No luck. So now I just have a recurring Documents\Documents etc... on my HD.

    I looked through all this. Tried running CHKDSK, tried deleting it in safe mode, on Linux, and using scripts and stuff I found on the web. Something to do with Robocopy. That didn't work.

    I would appreciate if anybody who knew what this is to please help out.
    Ta,
    Brad.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #2

    Delete "Windows.old"
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 24
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    It said to try renaming to a shorter path or moving to a different location as the filesystem doesn't support it. So I moved a deep "Documents" child folder to C:\ and deleted Windows.old. But if I try to delete "Documents" now, it gives the same error.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #4

    Go to My Computer screen, right-click on the drive that has Windows.old > Properties.
    Then hit the Disk Cleanup button, let it delete Windows.old.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 24
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Okay it's just doing that now. I'll post the result.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 24
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Right. Disk cleanup ran fine and when I went to do the "Clean up System Files" as well, that worked. BUT! I'm forgetting that the Windows.old folder is no longer there.
    So I changed the directory structure back to how it was (C:\Windows.old\Users\Brad\Documents etc...) and now when I run "Clean up System Files", it freaks out and the disk cleanup application crashes within 2 seconds.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 578
    Windows 7 Pro x64
       #7

    You are someone else has fooled with permissions on the C:\ (System) drive to gain access to files and folders Microsoft does not want you to have access to. You or they have somehow killed all or some of the Junction points (Killed for the lack of a better term) making them into real folders, instead of virtual folders, and has cause a endless loop.

    You may notice your hard drive filling up because of the endless loop recreating file and folders endlessly.

    Have you ever heard of the phrase "Don't fool with mother nature"? Well there should be a big sign on the Win 7 system drive "Don't fool with permissions on the System drive, you'll be sorry".
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 24
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    It's been like it since day 1 when I upgraded Vista to Windows 7.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1,965
    win 7 X64 Ultimate SP1
       #9

    Dskchk


    I would run dskchk on the drive.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 578
    Windows 7 Pro x64
       #10

    noisyscanner said:
    It's been like it since day 1 when I upgraded Vista to Windows 7.
    If you open Windows Explorer and click on the Documents & Settings folder in the ROOT of the C drive do you get a popup windows that says "Location is not available" with a red circle and a X in it "Access is denied".
    Or the same on some other folders like C:\Users\Default User, C:\Users\Application Data, or most of the folders in the Users folder that has a big curved arrow on it like a shortcut arrow?

    If you don't then someone/thing has reset the security permissions.

    What happens if you try to delete Windows.Old?
      My Computer


 
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