Can't delete a file!

blue powder

I have a folder which I would like to delete, but whenever I try to delete it, or any of the files inside of it I get an error:



I thought perhaps go into safe mode and delete then? Do I just press f5 in start up or something for this? Thanks in advance.

Sir Headless VII

How to start in safe mode

blue powder

OK, I just tried deleting the files in safe mode, no go. So what the hell? I am perplexed.

How?

DrFrylock

Try this, it will install a little hook that will delete the file while Windows is booting next time but before it has a chance to lock the file.

Otherwise, you would probably be able to do it through the XP recovery console.

telcus

There's a little program called Unlocker that has helped me before with stubborn files. Might be worth giving that a whirl and seeing if it can remove it.

blue powder

Neither of those two worked, but thanks for trying. There has to be someway of getting rid of this, this is ridiculous!

DrFrylock

blue powder wrote: »

Neither of those two worked, but thanks for trying. There has to be someway of getting rid of this, this is ridiculous!

What was the error message you got in the recovery console? Can you post a screenshot?

telcus

I was doing some googlefu on this and this popped up:
Some guy with deletion problems.

His solution was eventually:

I searched the forum for the phrase "cannot delete files" and found a thread entitled A different kind of deleting problem.. This guy had basically the same problem as me, and one of you showed him "Unlocker". I downloaded it and, although it couldn't delete the files individually, I could delete the folders they were contained in.

If possible try moving all the other files out of the directory and deleting the directory through unlocker.

Brynj

I don't know if this'll work considering the error you're getting, but when I've had files or folders I couldn't delete *the computer kept saying they were in use even though they weren't or were write protected* I'd do this:

Bring up a command prompt window. Go into task manager and the processes tab and kill explorer. Use the command window to delete the files/folder. When done, just type 'explorer' to relaunch your taskbar.

This always worked for me, but like I said, never received that error you are getting. Might be worth a try though.

Everywhereasign

You could always make a Ubuntu bootable CD, boot off that and delete away.

PirateJon

Rather than $random_freeware, try this.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/pendmoves.mspx

PirateJon

Oh and if that also fails, you can use another sysinternals utility to look at the delete attempt in real time for determining the source of the error.

DISKMON - I CHOOSE YOU!

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/Diskmon.mspx

Ruckus

Also you could run chkdsk on the drive (it will most likely have to be scheduled to run on next boot).

I've seen errors like this occur occaisionally due to disk errors.

Nova_C

Guys, that's not a file in use error. It's shortening the filename to oldschool 8.3 and the system can't find it.

Did you try command prompt? Open up command prompt and go into the directory. Try "del *.*" or "del *.mp3". See if that empties the folder before you try deleting it.

a penguin

I've had this problem before.

My solution was to boot the machine up to a DOS prompt and delete the file from there.

Easy peasy. Don't need no newfangled 'hooks'. Kids these days!