Cannot delete desktop folders

[Razgriz panavia]

Hello, I have two folders on my desktop which I cannot delete, It deletes everything apart from a file and folder, one is an executable and the other is also an executable. When the files do dissapear I try removing the folder on the desktop, but it still doesnt go, i go back into the folder and the files are back...also no message appears either. I have also got another folder with files that are marked as read only, which I cannot change. Is there a way of forcing these folders to be removed? It's getting very annoying now.

Edit: just checked the properties of the executables and it says I dont have permission to change/modify the files settings.....I am the administrator....what's going on!?

 

[Mark]

Have you tried to log off and log on again to see if that helps, what is the actual message that you get when trying to delete them?

 

[Razgriz panavia]

As I said.....It doesn't come up with a message, i'll try login off and back on again.

Edit: no change in the situation, there are actually 3 folders, i forgot i hid one so i didn't have to see it. I've tried taking ownership of the files and changing them from read only to norm but it throws up an error "Permission denied"!

 

[MUff1N]

Hello, I have two folders on my desktop which I cannot delete, It deletes everything apart from a file and folder, one is an executable and the other is also an executable. When the files do dissapear I try removing the folder on the desktop, but it still doesnt go, i go back into the folder and the files are back...also no message appears either. I have also got another folder with files that are marked as read only, which I cannot change. Is there a way of forcing these folders to be removed? It's getting very annoying now.

Edit: just checked the properties of the executables and it says I dont have permission to change/modify the files settings.....I am the administrator....what's going on!?

Yea, this seems to be one of the new security features of W7.
What I've done to delete files off the desktop is just reboot then delete them & that works for me.

I've yet to learn how to take possession of an object (file or folder) on the desktop to delete it when I want to without rebooting the PC.

So for the meantime I moved the download location from the desktop so I can deal with files & folders later when I want to & keep the downloads off the desktop altogether.

 

[limneos]

Hello, I have two folders on my desktop which I cannot delete, It deletes everything apart from a file and folder, one is an executable and the other is also an executable. When the files do dissapear I try removing the folder on the desktop, but it still doesnt go, i go back into the folder and the files are back...also no message appears either. I have also got another folder with files that are marked as read only, which I cannot change. Is there a way of forcing these folders to be removed? It's getting very annoying now.

Edit: just checked the properties of the executables and it says I dont have permission to change/modify the files settings.....I am the administrator....what's going on!?

They're probably in use by explorer.exe , whereas they shouldn't be.
It has happened to me with some files /folders in the past, and in several versions of Windows. Don't know the reason, but I did this to delete them and it worked:

1. Start Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
2. Go to Processes and kill explorer.exe (right-click on it, end task)
3. From task manager, go to File - New task (run). Type CMD and press enter. This will open a command prompt window.
4. Navigate to your desktop folder: cd \users\yourname\desktop
5. Find your unwanted folders : dir
6. Delete them : rd /s your_unwatned_folders e.g. rd /s folder1
7. From task manager, start explorer again: File - New task (run) Explorer {enter}

Hope it helps

 

[Razgriz panavia]

Ok thank you for your help, I did a restart and was able to delete the files. Your help is much appreciated

 

[chev65]

Yes I've had the same problem and just rebooting allows you to delate those files for what ever reason.

 

[Mojos]

has anyone found a 'quick' GUI way to solve this problem? Or is there a setting which needs to be checked/unchecked to stop this from happening altogether?