Endless supply of directories. Unable to delete! please help

[biffa]

Hi everyone,

I currently have a problem with what appears to be recurring folders.
I have the main folder which then shows a folder inside that, then another inside that, then another inside that until I come to about 7-8 folders. opening any of these and the you end up opening one folder, within a folder,within a folder,within a folder. It seems to just go on forever! I've attempted to rename the folders as I go but so far.. after 30 minutes of this. I stopped right clicked.

to simplify this it would appear like this in a tree:
(now changed folder names to numbers)

Root folder :7
open that reveals folder 7
open that reveals another folder called 7
open that..... it goes on for about 50 times until you a brought to this

7
7(1)
7(2)
7(3)
7(4)
7(5)
7(6)
7(7)
7(8)
7(9)
7(10)

selecting and then opening any of the above folders will bring you to a folder called 7
opening that reveals another folder called 7 and so it goes on (the above list of repeated folders does not re-appear).

I can't delete the root of the directory as the filename is too large.
I tried to rename each directory but got bored after about 30 minutes as I found out (after opening a folder which revealed another folder inside I right clicked that folder and it said "6" more subdirectories. so... opened that folder I just right clicked on - revealing another folder - renamed that. opened it. - another folder - renamed it - opened that folder - renamed it. - right clicked it - it said 3 more subfolders. so.. carried on.. counted that I'd opened 4 checked again "6" subfolders. so.. no matter how much you go through the folders renaming each folder, you will never reach the final folder.

I've tried to delete the root folder, but file path it too long/ name is too long
attempted to delete via command prompt using rmdir... erase, del.. RD.. no avail
also tried this through safe mode - nothing. Tried through the advanced boot option (pressing F8 on first boot up)again.. no avail
when I did try it through safe mode with command prompt and through the advanced boot option It did attempt to delete the directories but showed "error file path (or file name) too long. so couldn't be deleted that way.
tried running unlocker - file not locked, but when trying to delete through windows 7 with command prompt it shows "running in another process"
unlocker was also unable to delete the folder on re-boot
lock hunter wasn't able to do anything other than move it to the root of my external hard drive. it did however show that it wasn't running in any process's

I've searched for the past day or two while trying different things and yet... nothing has worked at all. I've also tried robocopy but that didn't help either.

please help as I don't want an endless supply of subfolders being on my hard drive. there's no files or data in the folders it's just an endless supply of a folder, within a folder...

Thanks in advance

rob

 

[biffa]

anyone?

 

[Injust]

Try using Unlocker from UNLOCKER 1.9.1 BY CEDRICK 'NITCH' COLLOMB.

 

[biffa]

I have tried unlocker, lockhunter already today and un-installed them. however I have installed again from the link provided. Still no result. the best unlocker can do is rename the root folder.

 

[richnrockville]

Biffa, welcome to the windows 7 forum.

I am just guessing but are you sure that you don't have a trojan/virus that created all those directories and then put an executable down deep in the directory structure that many av's won't be able to process?

Just an idea.

Rich

 

[edwar]

Have you been messing around with the Security tab for that drive? If you have and you assigned your user account full permissions to the ROOT of the drive you have effectively FUBARed your system.

Time to save all your files and do a Wipe/Re-Install.

 

[biffa]

I'm not sure, if I do have a trojan or virus (or did at the time of creation of the original directory) I'm surprised anti-malware bytes hasn't picked it up. same with spybot and AVG and webroot secure anywhere.

The folders were originally created after backing up some video files. which didn't convert correctly. the files deleted correctly but the root and all subfolders would not move!

When running windows cmd prmpt and attempt to delete the directory with RD or RMDIR it says the directory is not empty ?

when trying "Erase F:\77" (root folder name changed to 77 with unlocker) it then displays " are you sure Y/N" typing "Y" in reponse and hitting enter does nothing?...

 

[Injust]

Wait...
How many anti-virus programs are you RUNNING?
You're only supposed to have one at a time.

 

[biffa]

Have you been messing around with the Security tab for that drive? If you have and you assigned your user account full permissions to the ROOT of the drive you have effectively FUBARed your system.

Time to save all your files and do a Wipe/Re-Install.

the drive is just a slave drive. having formatted my "C" (master) previously all the data stored on the slave (media) drive stayed intact.

Surely there is a way to correct a permission's problem? everything else file's wise is fine. just this stupid folder situation.

 

[biffa]

Wait...
How many anti-virus programs are you RUNNING?
You're only supposed to have one at a time.

AVG internet security - main virus/security programme running 24/7.
Anti-malware bytes. not running only when I want it to - scanning purposes only (every month or so).
Webroot anywhere - not running, only when I choose to do a scan myself, otherwise it's not running. (used every month or so).
spybot S+D - run once a week, rest of the time it is not running.

I use the above in that way as a "backup" method. what one AV database might not have defined another brand might have - that way, lowering the risk of undetected trojans,viruses malware, spyware, adware etc. - AVG runs all the time, the other's don't unless I want to run a scan myself every now and then. (one firewall running).

 

[Injust]

You should NEVER have more than one antivirus INSTALLED, even if you do not run it.

 

[biffa]

I know that but the problem I've found is that whichever security programme (AV) you choose, another programme will find something the first programme has missed. I'll un-install them anyway.. right now AVG is the only one I use really anyway.

Is there a way of reset the security permission's to default (when the root and subfolders) were created ?
I've had no end of problems with permissions when moving files around and such. although I've never encountered this issue before at all..

 

[edwar]

If this is on a drive other then the Windows system drive then I doubt it is a permissions problem.

Go head and Take Ownership of the ROOT of that drive.

 

[biffa]

If this is on a drive other then the Windows system drive then I doubt it is a permissions problem.

Go head and Take Ownership of the ROOT of that drive.

If permissions for everything contained on that drive were incorrect, surely I wouldn't be able to delete other files?

I've tried changing the permissions on folder and subfolders effected and still no success.


this is how it appears


F:\77\7\7\7\7\7\7\7(1)7(2)7(3)...... upto 7(10) opening any of these would then look like this
F:\77\7\7\7\7\7\7\7\7(1)\7\7\7\7\7\7\7\7\7\7.... so it goes on.

I thought the permissions problem would be the "main" folder (77) and it's subfolders.

Thanks

rob

 

[Jeckler]

You should NEVER have more than one antivirus INSTALLED, even if you do not run it.

He's not running multiple AV's. MBAM, Webroot Anywhere and Spybot are on-demand scanners.

 

[Injust]

Still, only one scanner.

 

[richnrockville]

You should NEVER have more than one antivirus INSTALLED, even if you do not run it.

I disagree, I have the professional version of malware bytes and Vipre running at the same time. Malwarebytes does not conflict with vipre or viceversa.

Installed is one thing and active is another. I think that your advice might be confusing.

Rich

 

[Sir George]

You should NEVER have more than one antivirus INSTALLED, even if you do not run it.

I am curious, what was the source of this information? Why not have more than one AV installed, if it is only used on-demand?

The only caveat about having two or more AV programs on a computer is to limit real time monitoring to only one. Antivirus programs do not usually play well together, and running two at the same time will often lead to one singling out the other as a virus, or in some cases, even cause file corruption. Plus running two apps can really eat up system resources. However, there are benefits to having two apps; updated definitions in one may not be identified by the other, so protection may actually be enhanced.

 

[Injust]

Yeah, I was talking about real-time monitoring
Whoops Guess I slipped up over there...

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I'd run a disk check (go in My Computer, Rightclick on the drive, select "properties", then go in the "tools" tab, the first in that list is the disk check button, after you clicked on it tick both boxes in the popup, then off you go).
Isn't the first time something like that (endless nested folders too long to be deleted) is detected as filesystem error and gets nuked by diskcheck.

If that fails and you positively don't care of what is in there, make an ubuntu live cd, boot from it, chose to not install it on the machine, after it loaded everything navigate to the drive with the folders, delete the folders.

If you don't like linux you can grab a partition tool like EaseUS partition master home, then you can resize the hdd's only partition down to minimum possible, then you create a new partition in the unallocated space, then from My Computer you copy all the data to the new partition (leaving the nested folders there), then you delete the old partition and enlarge the new partition to fill all unallocated space.