how do you delete undeleteable files?

[dogfeet]

i backed up a friend's hard drive onto my own when i formatted her computer for her. i kept the files for several weeks afterwards in case there were any that she realized she needed. now i'm getting rid of them all and everything but one file deleted. i cant get rid of it. i tried restarting in dos mode, couldn't delete it there. i tried right clicking on the file to see if it was protected, but there is no "properties" option in the right click menu. this file is irritating me, any ideas on how i can get rid of it?

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[SnakeBite]

try safe mode, or format your HD :P

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[WindHydra]

When I got that problem in Win98, I moved every file out of the folder in which the invincible file is in then type "del *.*" for that folder then run scandisk. Might want to give it a try.

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[JAZ]

A friend of mine had trouble deleting a file the otherday & we fixed it by opening command prompt and typing "fsutil dirty set c:" then rebooted.
There was some error with the file & doing that sorted it out allowing us to delete it.

[Kane]

Select the folder properties > Security > Advanced > Owner, and assume ownership of the files.

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[Kabuto]

Try deltree in DOS mode and delete the directory (it has works a lot of times to me)

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[Grv]

Possible solutions are:

For Win9x OS's:
-Restart in DOS, and use deltree to remove it. If you don't succeed here, you're not doing it right. (deltree [filename]) If it can't find deltree, try to do it like this: c:\windows\command\deltree [filename] (where c:\windows is your OS partition and Windows directory).

For Win2k/XP:
-Restart in safe mode with command prompt, and delete it in the same way you would in DOS. Del [filename] will only suffice when it's not read-only.

I could explain how attrib works to remove read-only status in dos prompts in case you can't find deltree for some obscure reason, but if you can't find deltree, you can't find attrib either. Then there's always the properties acquired with a right click to remove read-only status.

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[dogfeet]

snakebite - in xp dos IS safe mode... and formatting of course would be a little extreme
windhydra - good idea but i had already tried that
jaz - never heard of that before, tried it anyway and it didn't help. i tried another command as well "fsutil dirty query c:", it said that my c drive was NOT dirty. thanx though.
kane - i'd like to try your idea, but those options aren't readily visible when i check the folder's properties. (maybe i'm not looking in the right spot)
kabuto - i just tried deltree and it's not recognized
gaurav - i tried it your way too, still not recognized

i hope some of you have other ideas, i might just add a little info right now. when i right click one of the folders that it's in it's set to "read only". i uncheck the box, do the apply and ok and whatever else it needs and everything seems fine, but then the next time i check the properties it's set back to "read only". also, when i try to delete the file it doesn't say it's protected, it says it can't find the file. in addition, i can't browse all the way through the directories to get to the file in dos, it doesn't show all of them for some reason. this is just getting stranger by the minute.

note, i have attached two screenshots of what's happening. you'll notice that the commands in dos are not working and that the folders are not showing up in dos whereas they are in explorer. you'll also see the right click menu that's popping up in explorer... strange indeed.

oh, and before everybody starts saying it, i know the command prompt screenshot was taken from within windows and it's not the same as the command prompt in safe mode. i did that so i could get the screenshot, and i assure you, it did exactly the same thing when it was in the safe mode command prompt.

Attached Images

	explorer.gif (38.1 KB, 61 views)
	dos.gif (24.0 KB, 80 views)

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Last edited by dogfeet; June 19th, 2004 at 04:13..

[Raziel]

To do what Kane said, you need to deactivate Simple sharing, go to Tools > Folder Options (should be the english name I guess ), and it's the last option.
If it still doesn't work, close a maximum of processes, even explorer, and from a command prompt, try deleting the file (or just reboot in safe mode with command prompt )

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[Grv]

Oh.. it's an old Temporary Internet Files directory? When you copied it, it took it's system status with it I suppose. If you can't turn off read-only status permanently through properties (try the old temporary internet files directory first), and can't assume ownership if you didn't already have it (see Kane's and Raziel's posts)..then try the following.



Good chance you don't have deltree, if it isn't a Win9x OS. Do a search through Windows Search Files & Folders, and search for attrib.exe. It should be located in your windows' system32 folder. When you're sure it is, try rebooting in Safe Mode with Command Prompt again, and go back to the Windows OLD directory, which appeared empty to you as shown in your screenshot.

Try this command:

attrib tempor~1
It should show the directory with status like A, R, S, and/or H. If it doesn't; ignore all of this post but the last bit. If it does show it, try the following command just to be sure of everything:

attrib -r -s -h tempor~1 /d /s
Now try dir again, and see if it's there. If it is, you should be able to get to the file, delete it by using del, and then removing the directories one at a time (subfolders first) with the rm command (rm [directory name]). Using the rm command only works if nothing is in the directory.

I'm not sure what the filename will look like in command prompt, but try to type the first 6 letters only, followed with a ~1 like in the examples of the attrib command.

If the attrib commands don't work, you could also try and type the full directory name instead of tempor~1, but I doubt that will work if the others don't. You could also try and not use the /d and /s switches, but without the /s switch, you'll have the chance you need to do it for each sub-folder aswell, one at a time. If all goes well but the file itself still doesn't show or doesn't want to get deleted, do the exact same attrib command for the file.





If everything fails, you could always find yourself a Win98 or ME boot-diskette, and use the deltree command from there to delete the entire WINDOWS OLD directory. (Meaning you should boot from it). If the partition is NTFS however (which it most probably is).. this won't work either. In this case you could try copying the deltree command to your harddisk first in windows, and see if it works in Safe Mode with Command Prompt. I have no clue whether the Safe Mode allows use of that file seeing it's not NT native, as I've never tried it.

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Last edited by Grv; June 19th, 2004 at 10:01..

[Shadow Lady]

mmm, i had a few of those, restart normally dont open the folder which contains the file, go into a command prompt, then from here just go to the dir and type "erase *.*" it has work for me like always, if doesnt work, there must be sometehn really twisted on ur pc

[dogfeet]

success at last! thanx tons gaurav. the attrib -r -s -h tempor~1 /d /s command worked to let me see the temporary internet files directory so i did it again to get into the next directory and so on until i got the file (which deleted with a simple del command). unfortunately the rm command was also not recognized so i couldn't get rid of the folders in dos mode, but i was able to delete them in explorer, subfolders first.

thanks again, and thanks to everyone who was giving their suggestions. a minor irritation is now gone.

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[Grv]

Originally Posted by dogfeet

success at last! thanx tons gaurav. the attrib -r -s -h tempor~1 /d /s command worked to let me see the temporary internet files directory so i did it again to get into the next directory and so on until i got the file (which deleted with a simple del command). unfortunately the rm command was also not recognized so i couldn't get rid of the folders in dos mode, but i was able to delete them in explorer, subfolders first.

np.

The reason I told you to do the subfolders first though, was that the "rm" command can't remove a directory if another one or a file exists within. In explorer, you could just have deleted the WINDOWS OLD directory, and it would've taken every single file or folder in it with it to to deletion, after the whole attrib thingy you did.

You know.. I just realized, I'm such a fool.. rm isn't a DOS command... rd is the one I meant.



Been such a long time since I've done anything worthwhile in DOS. My Linux habits are taking over.

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Last edited by Grv; June 19th, 2004 at 23:27..

[Sephi]

hmmm oke im stuck with a file to... its a Movie file wich just cant be deleted... I didnt tried all the things u said yet... But most of it i dont even understand..

I never worked with dos before so can some1 explain to me how to delete a file true dos ?

im using XP and i coudnt even remove the file true safe mode

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[KillerShots]

The attrib command above should fix your problem. If not, run scandisk and let it find that there's a problem on the disk, and it will remove the file. Otherwise, there's some funky things that can be done to make a file near impossible to delete without a format being done (for example, try deleting command.com... or don't because if you manage to change its environment somehow by fiddling around, you could be SOL). I once tried simply to not have to reformat my drive and yet get rid of all traces on Win95... and failed.

Also, make sure that you're not watching it when you're trying to delete it. Windows is kinda funny about removing files that are currently in use (sarcasm).

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[Grv]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth[TR]

I never worked with dos before so can some1 explain to me how to delete a file true dos ?

im using XP and i coudnt even remove the file true safe mode

If it's just a movie file and not some funky system file, reboot in Safe Mode With Command Prompt. All you need to know is the following:


------------

[drive letter]: = change to the [drive letter] partition. (example: H:)

cd [directory name] = change directory to [directory name]. (example: cd winnt)
cd.. = go to previous directory.
cd\ = go to the root of the partition.

dir = list all files & directories in working directory.

attrib -r -h -s [filename] = removes read-only, hidden, and system status on [filename] if any.

del [filename] = remove the file [filename] if present in the working directory.

------------



Note¹: If a directory- or filename is very long, you can type the first 6 letters, followed by ~1. If there are more files/dirs with the same first 6 letters, this might not get you the file/dir you want.

Note²: The [filename] in the above examples should always include the extension. The extension consists of the last 3 characters after the last dot.

Note³: Do not include the brackets [ and ] in the actual commands above.

(example: Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit.avi would be Nirvan~1.avi)

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