Windows 7: help me w/ cmd prompt- invalid argument/option- 'Files\....\...'

because of something unknown AVG stopped working for me, and i can't uninstall it normally because some files were missing... now i am trying to just delete everything manually in command prompt, except access is denied, so i must run a takeown command and a cacles command (? right).



k, so here's the problem:

when in command prompt i type... takeown /f c:\program files\avg\avg2012\avgsysx.dll

it returns with ERROR: Invalid Argument/Option - 'files\avg\avg2012\avgsysx.dll'

i am assuming that it's because there is a space in program files, i've tried typing it as c:\program_files\.... and c:\program%files.... but neither works... anybody? anything?

thanks p

I've never used takeown, but...

are you trying to run this from c:\ ?????

can you instead navigate (change directories) to a prompt at C:\program files\avg\avg2012 and then just run takeown /f avgsysx.dll?

Or can you temporarily move or copy avgsysx to c:\temp and then run the command and then copy it back to avg folder if necessary?

On the command line if a path has any spaces in it, you have to wrap it in double quotes.
For example to run c:\program files\myprog.exe from the command line I have to type
"c:\program files\myprog.exe"

Note the double quotes.
takeown /f "c:\program files\avg\avg2012\avgsysx.dll"

Thanks for that, Miles. I've never heard of that and never been in such a situation.

That's one of my Windows pet peeves is spaces in paths. Makes for a lot of messy programming. But we're stuck with it. Might be a good trivia question what version of Windows/Dos first allowed spaces in paths?

I don't remember myself it's been so long.

Sometimes you need to use multiple sets of double quotes (").

For example, if the path has spaces AND you wish to execute a program with switches (I think this is the correct syntax. I can't find the batch file that I had to do this in):

cmd /k ""path\program.exe" switches"

thanks miles that solved the space problem, now able to take ownership but still can't delete,
so i'll run >Icacls "c:\program files\avg\avg2012\avgsysx.dll g/ username:f"
which returns success 0 fail 1........boo, well at least we solved the spacing?

i am understanding that i have taken ownership of the file, now i can grant myself full permissions with icacls command (my query turned up the cacls command but my cmd prompt says Note: Cacls is now deprecated, please use Icacls) so that i can delete the file... any more suggestions? prolly try it out in safe mode tomorrow

Only include the path/filename within quotes, not the name and all the arguments. The command should look like this:

icacls "c:\program files\avg\avg2012\avgsysx.dll" /g username:f

But you also can make life much easier on yourself with this tutorial: Take Ownership Shortcut

Or try AVG's own cleanup tools here: http://www.avg.com/ww-en/utilities - might save you a lot of work, or at least get most of it done for you.

thanks all for the help, in the end i had to boot up safe mode w command prompt to finally delete these files and get the icacls command to work. thx

Glad you were successful in the end. To make sure that your system really is free of any and all AVG remnants, I still recommend downloading the AVG cleanup tool I linked to in my previous post - especially because of the registry keys left behind.

Then grab a solid replacement antivirus such as avast! or better yet, Microsoft Security Essentials.