Cannot Delete 0 Byte File on Desktop

Sir George said:

romar said:

Try Unlocker. been using it more than a year and it didn't fail me.

Click to expand...

The first post from the OP states "Unlocker" was not successful.

Click to expand...

Good point, Sir George!

Nice to see someone reads the original post all the way through at least! (Although it was 6 months ago - I've seen similar first-time poster's wait this long for a resolution, and sometimes respond within minutes or be "waiting" in the thread!)

Mike

Get a hold of a live cd with Linux. (free)
Start Linux and as "root" open the file manager and search for the Windows directory. Look up the file you want to delete and move it to trash.
Voila, that's all.

No idea if this is still an issue, but for anyone interested, I had a similar problem to this.

I tried regedit, rebooting, refreshing, deleting IconCache.db. Softwares. Nothing worked.

I then tried the following, I created a file in the folder where the "undeleteable" file is, with file extensions on, then renamed the file to match the same as the other file. Then deleted the folder the files where in, it worked and removed the files completely.

i found a software that works very well, i had a corrupt file that every time i opened the folder it was in it would instantly crash explorer.
delete doctor allows you to browse to the file without explorer crashing and there are several ways to delete the file, including deleting using the short name from cmd. one click and it was gone, not sure it will work on a ghost file but certainly a useful bit of kit for these type issues.

Download Delete Doctor 2.3 Free - Delete files that are difficult to delete, files that resist deletion - Softpedia

Have you tried to delete it in SafeMode.

Cannot delete 0 byte files

I noticed many options that failed. I found this and it worked for me.
The files cannot be deleted while explorer.exe is in use.
run cmd as administrator
open task manager
move all good files from directory/folder with problem to another (new) folder
in cmd window navigate to directory with problem files
in task manager end task explorer.exe
in cmd window type del *.* and confirm
reboot or restart explorer.exe
return good files to directory/folder
voila - all 0byte files gone!!

Hope this helps

Welcome to the Seven Forums and thanks for adding a solution to the thread so that others might find it later.

Here is a tutorial that is sort of like the steps that you mention:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55728-file-delete-command-prompt.html

Again, welcome - we can always use members that help other members

I had four undeletable files on the desktop, without extensions (which makes individual 'File - Delete from Command Prompt' method fail).
Filenames were ending on 'dot' or just on a 'word from a sentence'.
-1-
Go Start menu => search for and start 'cmd.exe' => you should have an elevated command prompt pointing to C:\Users\USERNAME\
-2-
Now type CD Desktop => you should look at the Changed Directory C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\
-3-
Move all desktop content by Drag-n-Drop to a Backup folder, except the undeletable files, and except the system files that won't move. Create the Backup folder, for example C:\wait\
-4-
Execute in command prompt C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop *.* (command to remove remaining content - here in Desktop folder) No need to close 'Explorer', no need to type missing extensions (hopefully).
-5-
Restore your desktop by moving files back. Done.