Undeletable Folder

[Pez]

Hi all.

Recently I did a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate (not an upgrade). It's a hard drive that had already had Win 7 Ultimate on it, but I had run into some snafus, so I just re-installed fresh.

As you probably already know, Windows 7 detects previous Windows installations and puts it into a folder called "Windows.old". After my new installation was done, this Windows.old folder was pretty big, around 25 gigabytes.

From some searching I did, I found out about using Disk Cleanup, and you put a checkmark in the box for Previous Windows installations, and then let the program run its course.

It worked.....basically.....sort of.

The Windows.old folder is still there, and now it's only 1.94 kb in size; much smaller that the previous 25GB!!!

But if I try to delete it, I get a pop-up message on-screen that says:

"Could not find this item.
This is no longer located in C:\. Verify the item's location and try again."

There are two buttons to click: "Try Again" and "Cancel".

If I click "Try Again", it just keeps popping back up.

Isn't this a strange message to be getting, though? How is it that it says "could not find this item"?!?! Sure it can! I just clicked on it and tried to delete it, and yes, sure enough, it is in "C"!!

I tried deleting it in Safe Mode, but I still get that same popup message I described above.

If I navigate my way through this Windows.old folder, what's eventually in there is something leftover from SecuROM. Inside of it are two files with strange characters for names:

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϴϱЄϱЃϵϳЅ
ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρЂϻϵЉЃϵϳЅ

Whether I try to delete these individual files, or any of the folders that contain them, I get error messages telling me it's not located there anymore.

Not located there anymore?!?! Even though I'm looking right at it?!?!

Anyone know how to get rid of this pesky, stubborn folder (file)? Any help or info is appreciated.

Thanks,
Pez

P.S. I tried renaming the SecuROM files, but it won't let me do that either.

 

[richc46]

Use disk clean up and check include system files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

 

[kword88]

see if this helps:

Diagnose and repair Windows File and Folder Problems automatically

 

[Zeplash]

You could always reg.edit it out but be carefull.

 

[KremmenUK]

I wonder if 'File Assassin' (from MalWareBytes) could get rid of them ?

http://www.malwarebytes.org/fileassassin.php

 

[LiquidSnak]

File Shredder - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

You could try file shredder.

 

[Orbital Shark]

I wonder if 'File Assassin' (from MalWareBytes) could get rid of them ?

FileASSASSIN: Malwarebytes

File Shredder - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

You could try file shredder.

I've had to try similar steps to manually remove the Windows/old folder and unfortunately, even after taking 110% control of the files in question they will not budge.

Use disk clean up and check include system files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

Best option out there, although, having manually deleted some files already it may give error messages if it's expecting the size of the folder to be larger than it actually now is....

 

[winsupertweaker]

Go to System Protection, uncheck System Restore. Reboot, go back to the file, right click it and delete. If not, then start in safe mode, and delete it. Then renable system restore (if you use it).

 

[jeff425]

or maybe even the unlocker works as well. Google search them

 

[Pusspa]

have you tried deleting the files from a linux live cd?

 

[EzioAuditore]

have you tried deleting the files from a linux live cd?

Yeah,, these methods always work. I also had a file occupying some gigs, so stubborn, wouldn't get away by any method... Fortunately, had a Kaspersky rescue disc lying around. Booted off it, went to the file manager, pressed the Del button and tada,, gone. No hiccupps or messing around with windows and it's pop-ups...

 

[Pez]

Hi all.

Wow....a lot of responses!!! More than I thought I would get!

But....the Windows.old folder still won't go away.

On the Disk Cleanup suggestion: I do not get "Clean up system files" button when I try this; it's just not there, it's missing. It can be seen here in Step 3 of this link:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

I tried this link suggested:
Diagnose and repair Windows File and Folder Problems automatically
and ran this file: Mats_Run.WinFileFolder; it did not work.

I also followed the link and downloaded the program "File Shredder". When running the program, it "hung up" and I get the error message from Windows that the program has stopped responding, and then I closed it.

When I tried the program "File Assassin", it claimed that the file was "not found"......even though I'm looking right at it and selecting it!!! Weird.

If I were to try and edit my Registry (and yes, I've done it before), how would I go about doing it for the "Windows.old" folder? Should I just "search" within the Registry? I tried "Edit/ Find" and no results came back.

Linux Live CD?? Don't know much about it.

Any other suggestions or ideas? The Windows.old folder is not huge in size anymore, but the fact that it's there and won't let me delete it is bugging me.

Thanks for any more tips or info.
Pez

 

[kword88]

here is an alternate disk cleanup:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/76383-disk-cleanup-extended.html?ltr=D

have you tried any deletion methods from safe mode?

do this, then try to delete the contents of the folder, then try to delete the folder:

Show hidden files

To take ownership of a folder

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab, click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
3. Click Edit.
   
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. Click the name of the person you want to give ownership to.
5. If you want that person to be the owner of files and subfolders in this folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
6. Click OK.

Change a read-only file


Setting a file to read-only helps you to protect the file from accidental deletion and changes to the file's content. If a file is set to read-only, you will not be able to save changes to it unless you turn off the file's read-only status.

1. Find the file you want to edit.
2. Right-click the file, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.
4. Edit and save your file as needed.

you could also try renaming the folder and/or files before trying to delete them.

 

[kword88]

you can try this too. either from an elevated command prompt from within windows, and/or from startup repair, before windows loads:

How to delete a folder in command prompt | Windows 7 Themes

 

[jailbirdslanger]

Try register editor (regedit) also check if it has attributes of 'read only' for some reason and un-check that. I use a computer cleaning tool called CCleaner ( Piriform - Download CCleaner, Defraggler, Recuva, Speccy - Millions of users worldwide! ) . It does two types of sweeps: A basic cleaner macro that cleans multiple windows objects; and registry cleaner which deletes old, unused, and files that are no longer whole.

Good luck sir