Folder won't Delete - ARGH

[Ch@n]

Wat abt from a new user account?

 

[JerometheGiraff]

look at the last post: Can't delete Icon on desktop
He had similar problem and managed to delete it...

I am not sure, if it will work for the folder.

There is nothing in the registry that displays that folder, only the tag default which I won't delete

Have you tried, using the command window approach, to navigate via DOS to the desktop folder for your user account and then using dir to get a listing of objects there? Does the folder appear in that list?

I tried that as well, the folder does appear in with a directory listing but it won't delete even in DOS. The folder has no use, and I can honestly confess to that even for Windows, yet for some very strange reason it won't delete this is becoming frustrating. If there was some program out there, that would just with brute force delete it and it would be gone for good.

 

[clunkfish]

And again, sorry to hammer the point, did you use the rmdir command in DOS to delete the folder? The del command will not delete a folder, only a file.

 

[Frank Hagan]

I had a similar problem and my WHS was "processing" a file in the folder. But usually the tools like Unlocker will tell you what process is hanging onto the folder.

 

[PoPPeR]

slave the drive, as in setting it as a secondary hard drive on a different computer. then from that computer go to c:\users\"youruser profile"\desktop and delete folder\file

 

[JerometheGiraff]

And again, sorry to hammer the point, did you use the rmdir command in DOS to delete the folder? The del command will not delete a folder, only a file.

I tried that, it didn't work. Windows gave me the error "The system cannot find the file specified"

I had a similar problem and my WHS was "processing" a file in the folder. But usually the tools like Unlocker will tell you what process is hanging onto the folder.

Most thought that would work, unfortunately it didn't

slave the drive, as in setting it as a secondary hard drive on a different computer. then from that computer go to c:\users\"youruser profile"\desktop and delete folder\file

No luck with that, suggestion.

 

[jharpj]

I had the same problem & got rid of the offending folder by using "System Restore" and restoring back to a date prior to the appearance of dreaded folder.
Please post if this works.
Jharpj

 

[arkhi]

We'll try using the command prompt again. Open an administrative command prompt.

*Go to the directory it is located.
[ cd /d C:\Users\<account name>\Rogue\Desktop]

->wait, isn't your username Rogue? XD

*now type [ dir /x ]. This displays the shortname of files.

*now use rmdir if it's a folder, or del if it's a file to remove it using the short name

[e.g: rmdir /q /s FILEORFOLDER~1 ]

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55721-folder-delete-command-prompt.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55728-file-delete-command-prompt.html

If it doesn't have a short name, try renaming it in to a long one, and do dir /x again.

 

[GEWB]

I tried that as well, the folder does appear in with a directory listing but it won't delete even in DOS. The folder has no use, and I can honestly confess to that even for Windows, yet for some very strange reason it won't delete this is becoming frustrating. If there was some program out there, that would just with brute force delete it and it would be gone for good.

Re: your post post above and a previous post "I'm going to need something with military force to delete these folders." - the cavalry might be coming.

I "fix" many Windows problems by using Linux, specificly a live Linux disk. You've become frustrated and wasted a lot of time so spend another 20 minutes and burn a CD.

I suggest burning a copy of Puppy Linux or Knoppix Linux (I like Puppy). Boot to the Puppy CD, mount your "C:\" drive (it's easy and obvious) then navigate to the offending directory - delete it. Exit Puppy Linux, remove the CD and boot into Windows.

My best guess is the folder will be gone. If it isn't gone then something else is creating it as part of a process, such as an app that somehow "created" that folder for temp files, etc. - would have to find the offending app.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[gaz]

I have two folders on my desktop, I was able to successfully delete the contents within those two folders, but when I try to delete the actual folder I get this error:

Could not find this item
This is no longer located in X:\Users\<account>\Rouge\Desktop. Verify the items' location and try again.

With the option to TRY AGAIN or CANCEL, Trying again does nothing it just brings the same message up over and over. I've searched in a few places to try to get it to delete, no progress.

The file information under the General tab shows that it opens with Windows Shell Common and it's obviously a 0 Byte file size.

was it an installed program?
if it was ,reinstall, move the folder to the recycle bin then uninstall the program then empty bin

 

[Thorsen]

Since this has not been mentioned, Maybe try downloading Eraser and right click--> erase file. this program overwrites files to delete them.

Eraser

Edit: erase "folder" I mean (I knew it was a folder...) Hope this helps

Another Edit: This program can also erase previously deleted files. by erasing the non-used space on the hard drive, it overwrites all previously deleted information. files/programs/folders/ everything under the sun......

 

[JerometheGiraff]

Problem Solved

The problem has been solved and the folder has been deleted

I want to thank Arkhi for his command prompt (DOS) commands that I had not known about which I have to ask what does the codes /q /s after rmdir do, I hope Arkhi can answer

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55728-file-delete-command-prompt.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55721-folder-delete-command-prompt.html

And I'd also like to thank Thorsen for the Eraser program suggestion

And finally thank you to everyone who pitched in to try to solve this problem, thanks again

 

[Thorsen]

yes Eraser is an awesome program. you should change your avatar to a smiley face avatar now. Glad your problem got resolved. And quoting a webpage: What can the command RMDIR?

/S Removes all directories and files in the specified directory
in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a directory
tree.

/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S

 

[arkhi]

The problem has been solved and the folder has been deleted

I want to thank Arkhi for his command prompt (DOS) commands that I had not known about which I have to ask what does the codes /q /s after rmdir do, I hope Arkhi can answer

And I'd also like to thank Thorsen for the Eraser program suggestion

And finally thank you to everyone who pitched in to try to solve this problem, thanks again

NP. What did you do exactly? =P

 

[lab130]

Thanks--this worked for me!!

We'll try using the command prompt again. Open an administrative command prompt.

*Go to the directory it is located.
[ cd /d C:\Users\<account name>\Rogue\Desktop]

->wait, isn't your username Rogue? XD

*now type [ dir /x ]. This displays the shortname of files.

*now use rmdir if it's a folder, or del if it's a file to remove it using the short name

[e.g: rmdir /q /s FILEORFOLDER~1 ]
Folder - Delete from Command Prompt
File - Delete from Command Prompt

 

[lvsunz37]

Thank you lab130 for the suggestion as to how to eliminate a nuisance empty file that I could not delete from my desktop. This worked great & I appreciate it.

 

[kwilson7770]

Thank you!

I had the exact same issue! I did not do half of the troubleshooting steps because I wasn't able to, but the one that worked was the following DOS commands (I starred out some of the personally identifiable information):

dir /x

Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is ****-****

Directory of C:\Users\***********\Desktop

11/16/2012 09:54 AM <DIR> .
11/16/2012 09:54 AM <DIR> ..
11/16/2012 09:41 AM <DIR> LSV-CS~2.PER lsv-cs-***01 *****_staff_ws ****_staff_ws ******* ***********. Personal Folders Personnel who
11/16/2012 09:54 AM <DIR> NEWFOL~1 New Folder
0 File(s) 0 bytes
4 Dir(s) 2,077,152,612,352 bytes free


rmdir /q /s LSV-CS~2.PER

I could only remove the folder through its short name. I couldn't rename it, move it, copy it, etcetera.

 

[kwilson7770]

Update

I found out the cause of my folder issue.

I have a script that creates a folder based on a file path. Well some file paths are long so I cut it off at 50 characters long. I then added a "..." to the send of the folder so that people can understand that the folder name is not representing that full file path.

Well Windows does not like folders that end with a period. It is interesting that the windows scripting language (vbscript) allows you to create a folder that way

 

[AndrewJNZ]

This thread is still useful. I had the same problem and Google pointed me here

My problem seemed to be that the folder name was too long and Windows Explorer had problems with that. I was able to delete the folder in DOS using rmdir and then the short name of the folder, which I determined with dir /x (e.g FOLDER~1).

Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[ZYZ]

May be of interest.

Bitdefender uninstalled from Win 8.1 64 left a Bitdefender folder and files in Program Files and another folder and files in AppData\Local\Temp.

I noticed this after seeing Bitdefender processes running after the uninstall.

Tried the following:

1. LockHunter: no success and tedious reboots.
2. FileASSASSIN: no success and tedious reboots.
3. Wise Force Deleter: Removed files but could not delete folders.
4. Command line: no success - no access report.
5. Boot from a Linux live DVD, as suggested in a previous post: immediate success.

I did not try booting in safe mode as I had a Linux DVD at hand and needed to get done and move on.