Can't Delete Files From Recycle Bin - Can't Find The Bin!!

R

Ray

Hi All

When I ran Norton AV recently it detected two infected files but was unable
to delete them. The location of the files was given as
C:\RECYCLER\verylongnumber\......... where verylongnumber is a security ID
beginning S-1-5-21-

The normal recycle bin is on my desktop but there is no sign of this
"secured" recycle bin, which I presume is hidden in some way.

Does anyone have any idea how I can delete these files?

Thanks, as always, for you time.

Ray
 
R

Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers

Hi Ray,

That is a recyle bin for another user profile in all likelyhood. Emptying it
from all user accounts is the easy solution.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
R

Richard Urban [MVP]

It depends upon how you perform the emptying of the recycle bin.

1. If you right click on the bin and choose "open", you will be in the
standard recycle bin. You can highlight files and choose delete from there.
This will not touch the files in the Norton Protected Recycle Bin. In fact,
they are not even seen from here.

2. You can empty the recycle bin by double clicking the recycle bin icon,
and emptying from the "UnErase Wizard". Look at the bottom option in this
window.

3. Alternatively, you can right click on the recycle bin. You will see an
option to "Empty Norton Protected Files"?

You have to empty the recycle bin in two stages for it to be really cleared,
the system recycle bin and the Norton Protected Recycle Bin.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"
 
N

Nightowl

Ray wrote on Thu, 28 Jul 2005:
Hi All

When I ran Norton AV recently it detected two infected files but was unable
to delete them. The location of the files was given as
C:\RECYCLER\verylongnumber\......... where verylongnumber is a security ID
beginning S-1-5-21-

The normal recycle bin is on my desktop but there is no sign of this
"secured" recycle bin, which I presume is hidden in some way.

Does anyone have any idea how I can delete these files?

Thanks, as always, for you time.

Ray


Hi Ray

The folder with the "very long number" name *is* the Recycle Bin and
where files awaiting "final" deletion are stored. You can see this for
yourself by putting a test file in the bin and then opening Explorer and
looking at C:\Recycler\very_long_number. You have to have set the
options for viewing System and Hidden files to do this.

Sometimes a file can get corrupted and "stuck" in the bin, though it's
not visible when you look inside the bin from Windows. If the solutions
already posted don't fix it for you, try this: (please don't be put off
by the length, it's really easy to do. The parts in brackets describe
what you should see.)

Click Start > run, type cmd, click OK. (Command Prompt opens)

Type cd C:\recycler <enter> (directory changes to C:\recycler)

Type dir /ah <enter> (shows hidden files)

You should see 3 entries with <DIR > next to them. One is a dot, one is
2 dots, and one is the very long number, starting S-1-5-21. I'm not sure
if the name of this file is always the same, so you need to look at your
own one.

Type cd <the very long number, without these brackets> <enter>
(directory changes to C:\recycler\very_long_number)

Type dir (you should get a listing of any files in the Recycle Bin)

Files in the bin have their names (but not extensions) changed and they
normally look something like this: Dc22.TTF, for example, is a font file
I deleted. But if there are any corrupted files they may look different
from that.

If you can see them, try deleting them from there:

Type del *.* (star-dot-star) <enter>
If asked: Are you sure Y/N type y <enter>

Or if they are not files but folders (with <DIR> by their names in the
directory listing) try typing RD <foldername> <enter>

The type dir <enter> again to see if they're gone.

If you can't see them or they won't delete, try doing the whole thing
again in Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

Hope this helps some.

(P.S. If you try this and empty your bin, but find when you come back to
Windows that the bin icon is still showing full and doesn't change even
with F5 refresh; fix it by putting a test file in the bin and then
emptying it. :)
 
R

Ray

Thanks for the suggestion, guys. I suspect it's more likely to be what Rick
suggested, as I'm not using a Norton Proteced recycle bin (I think that
comes as part of Norton System Works - I'm only using Internet Security) but
I'll check out both ideas more fully. Maybe, as you both say, it's probably
easiest just to empty everything!

Ray
 

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