command line to delete folder contents

[Sebastian42]

What line in a batch file would delete the contents of
C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\ ?
del /F /S /Q /A "C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\*.*" fails, so does
del "C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\*.*" /q

 

[HonorGamer]

Hello,

Try:

DEL "C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\"

Haven't coded BATCH in awhile, so not totally sure.

-Justin

 

[Sebastian42]

Thanks Justin - NO improvement

 

[HonorGamer]

Okay i looked it up this time:

del "C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\*.*"

You had a /q in there, and there is no need for it. So give that a shot, if not, then let me know.

-Justin

 

[Sebastian42]

Still no better - could it be that \Temporary Internet Files\ is more stubborn than other folders ?

 

[UsernameIssues]

If you open an admin cmd prompt window and type in your command - you will be told that index.dat is in use. You will even see that there are folders that will show in the cmd prompt but do not usually show in windows file explorer.

 

[Sebastian42]

I am not clear what the implication is from your information. Index.dat does not show as a content item in MY TIF folder.
It may be relevant to point out that there is NO difficulty opening that folder, selecting all the contents and deleting them. The problem arises when I try to use code to do it.

 

[UsernameIssues]

The path that you are using is not a real path. It is one of the many places where Microsoft shows you info that is not really located in that folder structure. Also, there are real folders and files under the "TIF" folder that you do not normally see via the Windows file explorer. My suggestion is to not mess with them:

 

[Sebastian42]

Thanks for that advice. My only interest in deleting the files in TIF arises from the advice I was given to do that in order to solve a problem in Windows Live Mail.

 

[UsernameIssues]

you can try:

rd "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\" /q/s

It will still fail because index.dat is in use - but the folders and and temp files should be gone.

 

[Sebastian42]

Still no obvious deletion of ANY files. I repeat that 'manually' I CAN clear the folder, but not by code (in a batch file).

 

[UsernameIssues]

The only way that I know how to do it via a batch file involves messing with folder permissions... maybe someone else knows of a safer way.

 

[F5ing]

I repeat that 'manually' I CAN clear the folder, but not by code (in a batch file).

Pretty sure UsernameIssues is correct on this. If you are using Explorer to manually clean that folder I think all that's really happening is that you are cleaning files from 4 different folders that actually reside one level deeper.

If you look at that folder's contents offline (without Windows running) you'll see it only contains one file (that index.dat file) and a bunch of randomly named folders. I think 4 of those folders contain the temporary files you're deleting. The rest of those folders seem to be "decommissioned" folders containing even older temporary files.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Sebastian42, I don't use a computer with W7. I have a couple of W7 virtual machines that I can play with and learn from and a few W7 computers that I support. I've used a script to clear IE's data for many years, but I don't know enough about W7 to know what needs to be changed in my script tn order to accomplish what you need.

The script calls a line like this: RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351
and then the script handles things that the "ClearMyTracksByProcess" call does not clear.

If you want to run that line inside a batch file, you may see a window popup showing you the progress of the cleanup - it depends on how many files there are to be cleaned and the speed of your computer - you might not see that window.

There are lots of web pages detailing the flags that can be used with this command.
The flag would be the 4351 part of:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351

If you do not want to see the progress window, try:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 23035

None of this clears all of the info inside DOMStore and I don't know if that DOM info is what might be causing you problems inside WLM or not. Clearing the IE data via the regular user interface can clear the DOM info. My attempts to ferret out more knowledge about the flags used with ClearMyTracksByProcess via Process Monitor has not yielded the magic flag for clearing that DOM data yet.

 

[Layback Bear]

This might do what you want.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/76383-disk-cleanup-extended.html

 

[UsernameIssues]

....I repeat that 'manually' I CAN clear the folder, but not by code (in a batch file).

Could you please post a screenshot of the files that you see before you do this manual cleanup.