Unable to delete file after installing Cygwin

[ysg]

Hello,

I installed cygwin in C:\cygwin\... Unfortunately, for one reason or another, my whole cygwin install became horribly buggered up (my home directory was not recognized and I could not access many of my commands/applications that I had installed/built). Now, I figured that I'm going to nuke everything from orbit (just delete the cygwin directory in my C drive) and start from scratch (besides, I would have loved to make an update or two to some of the apps). This became painfully difficult, as some directories and files could not be deleted. I'm running Win 7 and I am an admin.

This is the error that I get (with an exclamation point) when I try to delete a file:

Invalid MS-DOS function.

nul
Type: File
Size: 3.77 KB
Date modified: 10/30/2012 1:01 PM

Buttons: "Try Again" "Cancel"

If you need more information, please let me know and I'll try to provide it as best as I can. But I'd love to delete this directory and re-install, if you could help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[mitchell65]

Restore your system to a date before you installed the software!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Just out of interest why do you want Window 7 to "look" like Linux? Just curious!

 

[ysg]

Restore your system to a date before you installed the software!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Just out of interest why do you want Window 7 to "look" like Linux? Just curious!

No. I do have extensive Linux experience and for certain tasks find it much easier to accomplish them from a *nix command line. It's a nice addition to Windows that makes the experience overall better.

 

[mitchell65]

Restore your system to a date before you installed the software!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Just out of interest why do you want Window 7 to "look" like Linux? Just curious!

No. I do have extensive Linux experience and for certain tasks find it much easier to accomplish them from a *nix command line. It's a nice addition to Windows that makes the experience overall better.

Thanks for that, nice to add a bit more to my knowledge base. When you said "No" does that mean you can't do a system restore?

 

[ysg]

Restore your system to a date before you installed the software!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

Just out of interest why do you want Window 7 to "look" like Linux? Just curious!

No. I do have extensive Linux experience and for certain tasks find it much easier to accomplish them from a *nix command line. It's a nice addition to Windows that makes the experience overall better.

Thanks for that, nice to add a bit more to my knowledge base. When you said "No" does that mean you can't do a system restore?

Haha, I said "No" to your question asking me if I wanted to make Windows look like Linux .

I'd like to try first in safe mode to delete those files (should work). I can't do it right now because I'm busy at work.

 

[mitchell65]

No. I do have extensive Linux experience and for certain tasks find it much easier to accomplish them from a *nix command line. It's a nice addition to Windows that makes the experience overall better.

Thanks for that, nice to add a bit more to my knowledge base. When you said "No" does that mean you can't do a system restore?

Haha, I said "No" to your question asking me if I wanted to make Windows look like Linux .

I'd like to try first in safe mode to delete those files (should work). I can't do it right now because I'm busy at work.

But just deleting the files/folders will not repair your registry! Do a system restore and be safe!

 

[Sir George]

Hello,

I installed cygwin in C:\cygwin\... Unfortunately, for one reason or another, my whole cygwin install became horribly buggered up (my home directory was not recognized and I could not access many of my commands/applications that I had installed/built). Now, I figured that I'm going to nuke everything from orbit (just delete the cygwin directory in my C drive) and start from scratch (besides, I would have loved to make an update or two to some of the apps). This became painfully difficult, as some directories and files could not be deleted. I'm running Win 7 and I am an admin.

This is the error that I get (with an exclamation point) when I try to delete a file:

Invalid MS-DOS function.

nul
Type: File
Size: 3.77 KB
Date modified: 10/30/2012 1:01 PM

Buttons: "Try Again" "Cancel"

If you need more information, please let me know and I'll try to provide it as best as I can. But I'd love to delete this directory and re-install, if you could help me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

The way you state the situation is you "did not" use an uninstall routine, correct? If that is the case, sometimes, reinstalling the software and then uninstalling it using the proper uninstall process will set things right.

If it were me, I would go with reinstalling and then use the process described in the following link to uninstall;

http://cygwin.com/faq/faq-nochunks.html#faq.setup.uninstall-all

I have no idea what kind of problems you may have self-inflected by what you state in the rest of your post, so good luck.

But that's just my .02 cents.

 

[mitchell65]

I would still opt for a system restore. Then you can install again. Better safe than sorry IMHO!