Solved Could not find this item - when deleting files

[sHAKaJaada]

Hi,i had resolve this kind of problem with this reg tweak work on 32-bit Win7 even if made for 64! For me work even without a restart.

 

[galmeida]

Nothing worked

Hi, I'm having exact the same problem with a long name file, to delete, move, rename, attribute change, etc. I deleted the file, which I received the confirmation. However, the file is still there, with zero bytes and no extension. When I try to delete, move or change the file, I get the error "Could not find this item, This is no longer located in xxx. Verify the item's location and try again."
I tryed everything: Using DOS, there's no 8.3 name format; In safe mode; chkdsk and sfc. Nothing worked.
I also tryed the tricks in
http://social.answers.microsoft.com.../thread/511a2436-99e1-4f5c-9578-60daa08422a1 "Could not find this item..." Nothing works! - Vista Help

Can not delete file. Error is "Could not find this item".

Without success.

I Have Windows 7 professional 64bits and NTFS.

Please, help me on this. Thank you very much.

 

[galmeida]

Simple solution

I've found that a reboot did take care of making the files disappear. It's just very disconcerting. I've run chkdsk and no problems have been found. All of the software on the system is straight from the vendor, so I feel relatively safe. I haven't seen it since that incident, so I'm not worrying about it too much.

Try the DelinvFile tool. Search with google and install it. It worked for me perfectly when NOTHING worked before.

BR, galmeida

 

[Timberline]

I've found that a reboot did take care of making the files disappear. It's just very disconcerting. I've run chkdsk and no problems have been found. All of the software on the system is straight from the vendor, so I feel relatively safe. I haven't seen it since that incident, so I'm not worrying about it too much.

Try the DelinvFile tool. Search with google and install it. It worked for me perfectly when NOTHING worked before.

BR, galmeida

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I tried everything posted and nothing worked until I tried DelinvFile. It was SOOOO simple to use and I was able to delete 3 files for free!

 

[jcapson]

I was able to delete by renaming first

I had two directories I couldn't delete. Here is how I solved it:

1) Open CMD
3) CD to the directory that contains the directory you cannot delete.
4) To see the DOS names, do DIR /X
5) Rename the folder to a new short name (like foo): RENAME dosname newname
6) I was then able to delete the folder.

 

[raevilman]

thanks man renaming through dos mode worked for me.,.

 

[jeremyofmany]

I am using Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 with 2GB of DDR RAM.
I used a freeware tool called Piriform Recuva and created a new folder on my desktop through this program. I have done this many times before prior to SP1 and had no issues.
However, this time I had a folder that I could not delete.
I was able to resolve the issue by creating a new folder directly on my desktop and moving the problematic folder into it, then deleting the newly created folder.

Weird issue, simple solution. Cheers guys.

 

[Layback Bear]

I like post #5 by usasma. Some times a restart or a complete shut down and a reboot is needed. Now when you do either one of these watch your little blinking lignt; if is still blinkin after a re-start or a boot don't don anything until it gets done blinking.

 

[aj88cab]

Big thanks to Brash, post #17, for the dos command renaming solution that worked for me! (also mentioned by Jcapson on post #25).

 

[globalpuffer]

I also had to register just to thank Brash (post #17) and Jcapson (post 25) for their advice in resolving this problem for me. I swear I tried every other solution recommended in here, along with a bunch of other ones. I had problem directories 3 layers thick and had to start at the bottom, renaming and deleting, but it worked! Also, while I renamed the problem directories in CMD Prompt using the 8.3 format name, I was unable to delete the directories from within the CMD Prompt. I had to go to to Windows Explorer to delete them. I hope that tidbit helps someone.

(Also, I did run the registry script from #21 above, though I still could still not delete using that method, it may have impacted the end result.)

 

[Machineguy]

My thanks and gratitude to Tachy and the rest of you who confirmed his solution. It worked. Almost too easily. I had tried almost everything. Safe Mode, Command Prompt, moving, renaming, etc. But the phantom file had a long name and Windows 7 could not find it to change anything, not even its location. But the Dos 8.3 delete worked like a charm. Thank you.

 

[Harkaway]

Thanks for this thoughtful forum. Nothing worked for me until I tried the DelinvFile tool recommended by galmeida.

It worked when all else failed!

 

[caperforever]

I know this is a bit late, but I found a quick workaround:

1) Open a Command Prompt.
2) Browse to the folder containing the buggy file.
3) Type 'dir /x' to obtain the 8.3 formatted filename.
4) Delete the file using the 8.3 filename, e.g. 'del NEWDOC~1.DOC'

Hope this information may spread and help other users with the same problem.

I tried everything else THIS WAS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKED!

 

[dc366]

I found the solution!!

Use DelinvFile.

DelinvFile - Utility for Deleting Invalid Files and Folders

 

[Twitterpedia]

​

 

[oempak]

Try the DelinvFile tool. Search with google and install it. It worked for me perfectly when NOTHING worked before.

BR, galmeida

THANK YOU SO MUCH galmedia, DelinvFile really works, finally

 

[etacarinae]

Try the DelinvFile tool. Search with google and install it. It worked for me perfectly when NOTHING worked before.

BR, galmeida

Cheers, galmeida. This tool worked perfectly whereas every other method provided failed.

 

[NowIsForever]

I know this is a bit late, but I found a quick workaround:

1) Open a Command Prompt.
2) Browse to the folder containing the buggy file.
3) Type 'dir /x' to obtain the 8.3 formatted filename.
4) Delete the file using the 8.3 filename, e.g. 'del NEWDOC~1.DOC'

Hope this information may spread and help other users with the same problem.

This worked for me too. It was a folder I had to remove and rmdir did it.

 

[Realise]

There is another solution which worked perfectly for me. Using an elevated Command Prompt ("Run as Administrator") do a forced 'remove directory' command on the containing folder. This is detailed here: Seven Forums Thread - Remove a Directory

NOTE: My original problem was a couple of strange left over files, in two different sub directories, that were 1kb each, with names likes ._mittleshift - perhaps a hangover from an old Apple Mac directory. I tried everything listed in this thread to move or delete the files/folders/parent directory, except for the DelinvFile application. These were NOT locked by any process and nothing to do with rebooting/memory. I had been trying things for 6 months before I got annoyed enough to work on getting rid of it once and for all. Finally the hard Remove Directory (RD /S /Q "Directory") in Command Prompt removed it completely without any problems.

 

[pomozki]

Try the DelinvFile tool. Search with google and install it. It worked for me perfectly when NOTHING worked before.

BR, galmeida

spot on! thanks very much folks, I've had this problems for weeks and nothing else works - happy to get those rogue files out of my system! and thanks to DelinvFile for the free trial (3 files)