Defrag question

[Guest]

Greetings,
Windows XP Pro + SP2 and all current patches. System has one physical hard
drive broken into C: and D: partitions.

Defrag will not complete fully as it will always list a single file it
cannot defragment. The file is:
/ size 2KB

No other real ramifications other than curiosity why this "/" file cannot be
defragmented. Error scans find no errors and this remaining file has
remained unable to be defragmented for months to no avail. Is this something
that can be fixed or otherwise ignored? Thanks!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

/ is an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

See this for trying to delete it...

See...
Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

Note:
The following characters are invalid as file or folder names on Windows
using NTFS:

/ ? < > \ : * | " and any character you can type with the Ctrl key

In addition to the above illegal characters the caret ^ is also not
permitted under Windows Operating Systems using the FAT file system.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Hi Wesley,
You were indeed correct. The file above was simply illegal and defrag
didn't know how to move it.

I have a similar problem on another system but for the life of me can't
figure out how to solve it. This time, the file is \ that cannot be
defragged.

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root, but
it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless remove it.

Any tips? I've tried all sorts of finders on file ?. and other methods as
the file does not appear to be on the root of C: drive but somewhere else..
but due to it's name DEFRAG seems a bit confused reporting it's location
(just 1KB and \ )

 

[Roger]

Hi Wesley,
You were indeed correct. The file above was simply illegal and defrag
didn't know how to move it.

I have a similar problem on another system but for the life of me can't
figure out how to solve it. This time, the file is \ that cannot be
defragged.

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but
it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless remove
it.

Any tips? I've tried all sorts of finders on file ?. and other methods as
the file does not appear to be on the root of C: drive but somewhere
else..
but due to it's name DEFRAG seems a bit confused reporting it's location
(just 1KB and \ )

[snip] Try this cleaner program it is free,and will get rid of rubbish,and
also has a reg cleaner also, which will show up problems. www.ccleaner.com
I have used it for a year now,daily and had no problems. Read its
introduction.

"Roger"
========================== ==========================

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi,

Did this help in getting rid of the / file?

Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

\ is also an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

Typing \ into the Search box and hitting Enter automatically changes the \
to *.* which is a wild card that will find every file on your machine. That
is no help. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that represents one or
more characters. So *.* looks for filename.file-extension.

Start | Run | Type: \ | Click OK. If C:\ is the root then C:\ will
open.

In the defrag log anything on C:\ will be listed as \ I.e. C:\WINDOWS will
be listed as \WINDOWS. You can type or paste \WINDOWS in the run command
and C:\WINDOWS will open. As usual, I discovered that little bit of trivia
by accident. ;-)

How do you know that the \ file is some where else other than in C:\? Maybe
it's a hidden file.

To display Hidden files and folders...

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
and
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide extensions for known file types
and
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
Click Apply | Click OK

When you uncheck: Hide protected operating system files,
you will get this message...

Warning
----------
You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files labeled
System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer.These files are required to start and
run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your computer inoperable.Are
you sure you want to display these files?
----------

Click YES.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Now open C:\ and look fo the \ file.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for the suggestions! I'm still pounding away trying to get to
this file as well as remove it.. still no luck.

I tried CCleaner and it did not detect nor fix this issue. I promptly
uninstalled this tool.

Wesley-
With all hidden and os files set, the file is not on the root of C:\.. it
isn't visible browsing My Computer, C: drive... I can also open a cmd prompt
and perform dir /x and dir /ah or /as or any combination of the above and
there is no file listed in C:\ for this file. There isn't a blank or
unusual slot either/unlisted entry as the root of my C: drive is very clean,
only having:
..
...
Program Files
Documents and Settings
Windows
and some OS files
(boot.ini, io.sys, msdos.sys, ntdetect.com and ntldr)

The defrag log only lists:
2kb \

I believe it's erroneous in it's reporting due to the character in question
confusing it's method or displaying the file.

Using the XP Search, it's also bugged when looking for a filename of "\"...
it corrupts the Look In: entry (invalid) and can not be used at all.

I've been trying to craft a nifty way with the dir \\ methods, and also have
shared the entire drive and using network methods. My last effort may be to
install Unix + Samba, mount the drive over the network in hopes of Unix
finding the file.. once I know where it is, I'm sure then I/we can craft a
way to rid it off the system!

I also tried dir /s /ahs on ?. and other ways to look for a single character
file, but no luck in finding this rogue file...

Any additional insights appreciated! It's frustrating as all get out as the
compact stage of Defrag can only get about 20% done before it quits on this
file...

Hi,

Did this help in getting rid of the / file?

Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

\ is also an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

Typing \ into the Search box and hitting Enter automatically changes the \
to *.* which is a wild card that will find every file on your machine. That
is no help. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that represents one or
more characters. So *.* looks for filename.file-extension.

Start | Run | Type: \ | Click OK. If C:\ is the root then C:\ will
open.

In the defrag log anything on C:\ will be listed as \ I.e. C:\WINDOWS will
be listed as \WINDOWS. You can type or paste \WINDOWS in the run command
and C:\WINDOWS will open. As usual, I discovered that little bit of trivia
by accident. ;-)

How do you know that the \ file is some where else other than in C:\? Maybe
it's a hidden file.

To display Hidden files and folders...

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
and
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide extensions for known file types
and
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
Click Apply | Click OK

When you uncheck: Hide protected operating system files,
you will get this message...

Warning
----------
You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files labeled
System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer.These files are required to start and
run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your computer inoperable.Are
you sure you want to display these files?
----------

Click YES.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Now open C:\ and look fo the \ file.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Hi Wesley,
You were indeed correct. The file above was simply illegal and defrag
didn't know how to move it.

I have a similar problem on another system but for the life of me can't
figure out how to solve it. This time, the file is \ that cannot be
defragged.

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

Any tips? I've tried all sorts of finders on file ?. and other methods as
the file does not appear to be on the root of C: drive but somewhere
else.. but due to it's name DEFRAG seems a bit confused reporting it's
location (just 1KB and \ )

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Try: *\ in Advanced Search. It just struck me that I used to have to
use *~ when searching for the tilde (~) in file names. If I used ~
that acted as a wild card and found every file on my machine. Somewhere
along the line this behavior changed and I no longer have to use *~ when
searching for ~ but it might be worth a try. Or try ?\ in Search.

Something else that I just thought of. Empty all of your temp folders, run
Error Checking (chkdsk) then run Defrag again. Chkdsk may clean out
something.

Error Checking (chkdsk.exe) in XP.
1. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the drive you want to
check and then click Properties.
2. On the Tools tab, click Check Now.
3. Check both boxes:

* Automatically fix file system errors
Runs Chkdsk by using the /f parameter.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking. All files must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is
currently in use, a message asks if you want to reschedule
the disk checking for the next time you restart your computer. Your drive is
not available to run other tasks while the disk is being checked.]]

* Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
Runs Chkdsk by using the /r parameter.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking, locates bad sectors, and recovers readable information. All files
must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is currently in use, a
message asks if you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time
you restart your computer. Your drive is not available to run other tasks
while the disk is being checked. If you select this option, you do not need
to select Automatically fix file system errors. Windows fixes any errors on
the disk.]]

A message will popup.

[[The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs
exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be
accessed only by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule this disk check
to occur the next time you restart the computer?]]

Click YES.

Then reboot.

For a look at the chkdsk log.

Open the Event Viewer...
Start | Run | Type: eventvwr | Click OK |
Look in Application | Listed as Information |
Event ID: 1001
Source: Winlogon
[[Description: This includes file system type; drive letter or GUID, and
volume name or serial number to help determine what volume Chkdsk ran
against. Also included is whether Chkdsk ran because a user scheduled it or
because the dirty bit was set.]]

[[When Autochk runs against a volume at boot time it records its output to a
file called Bootex.log in the root of the volume being checked. The Winlogon
service then moves the contents of each Bootex.log file to the Application
Event log.]]

[[This file states whether Chkdsk encountered any errors and, if so,
whether they were fixed.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Thanks again for the suggestions! I'm still pounding away trying to get
to this file as well as remove it.. still no luck.

I tried CCleaner and it did not detect nor fix this issue. I promptly
uninstalled this tool.

Wesley-
With all hidden and os files set, the file is not on the root of C:\.. it
isn't visible browsing My Computer, C: drive... I can also open a cmd
prompt and perform dir /x and dir /ah or /as or any combination of the
above and there is no file listed in C:\ for this file. There isn't a
blank or unusual slot either/unlisted entry as the root of my C: drive is
very clean, only having:
.
..
Program Files
Documents and Settings
Windows
and some OS files
(boot.ini, io.sys, msdos.sys, ntdetect.com and ntldr)

The defrag log only lists:
2kb \

I believe it's erroneous in it's reporting due to the character in
question confusing it's method or displaying the file.

Using the XP Search, it's also bugged when looking for a filename of
"\"... it corrupts the Look In: entry (invalid) and can not be used at
all.

I've been trying to craft a nifty way with the dir \\ methods, and also
have shared the entire drive and using network methods. My last effort
may be to install Unix + Samba, mount the drive over the network in hopes
of Unix finding the file.. once I know where it is, I'm sure then I/we
can craft a way to rid it off the system!

I also tried dir /s /ahs on ?. and other ways to look for a single
character file, but no luck in finding this rogue file...

Any additional insights appreciated! It's frustrating as all get out as
the compact stage of Defrag can only get about 20% done before it quits

Hi,

Did this help in getting rid of the / file?

Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

\ is also an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

Typing \ into the Search box and hitting Enter automatically changes the
\ to *.* which is a wild card that will find every file on your machine.
That is no help. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that
represents one or more characters. So *.* looks for
filename.file-extension.

Start | Run | Type: \ | Click OK. If C:\ is the root then C:\ will
open.

In the defrag log anything on C:\ will be listed as \ I.e. C:\WINDOWS
will be listed as \WINDOWS. You can type or paste \WINDOWS in the run
command and C:\WINDOWS will open. As usual, I discovered that little
bit of trivia by accident. ;-)

How do you know that the \ file is some where else other than in C:\?
Maybe it's a hidden file.

To display Hidden files and folders...

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
and
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide extensions for known file types
and
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
Click Apply | Click OK

When you uncheck: Hide protected operating system files,
you will get this message...

Warning
----------
You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files
labeled System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer.These files are required
to start and run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your
computer inoperable.Are you sure you want to display these files?
----------

Click YES.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Now open C:\ and look fo the \ file.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Hi Wesley,
You were indeed correct. The file above was simply illegal and defrag
didn't know how to move it.

I have a similar problem on another system but for the life of me can't
figure out how to solve it. This time, the file is \ that cannot be
defragged.

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

Any tips? I've tried all sorts of finders on file ?. and other methods
as the file does not appear to be on the root of C: drive but somewhere
else.. but due to it's name DEFRAG seems a bit confused reporting it's
location (just 1KB and \ )



:

/ is an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

See this for trying to delete it...

See...
Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

Note:
The following characters are invalid as file or folder names on Windows
using NTFS:

/ ? < > \ : * | " and any character you can type with the Ctrl key

In addition to the above illegal characters the caret ^ is also not
permitted under Windows Operating Systems using the FAT file system.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In Confuzzled <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Greetings,
Windows XP Pro + SP2 and all current patches. System has one physical
hard drive broken into C: and D: partitions.

Defrag will not complete fully as it will always list a single file it
cannot defragment. The file is:
/ size 2KB

No other real ramifications other than curiosity why this "/" file
cannot be defragmented. Error scans find no errors and this remaining
file has remained unable to be defragmented for months to no avail.
Is this something that can be fixed or otherwise ignored? Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Sorry for the late reply as I've been trying so many different things but
still cannot hunt this file down.

Thank you Wesley for your continued efforts! I really appreciate it!

ANYTHING I try to do with a \ in the find utility is still messing up the
Search In and errors with a " not a valid folder." and the Look In: gets
wiped out with the special characters. Try it, it's very strange- any kind
of *\, ?\ or anything with a \ in it corrupts the Look In below on search and
yields the " not a valid folder." error..

I've emptied documents and settings, temp and windows temp folders, as well
as cleared all cache and uninstalled about 20 misc. programs so the Program
Files is much lighter. Running chkdsk /r and chkdsk /f (requiring reboot as
this is the C: drive)- neither found nor fixed the problem. Defrag still
quits about about 20% with the mysterious \ file listed as being 2kb and
fragmented.

I tried doing more clever searches... tried file no more than 2kb... this
yielded about 58,000 files in the list, which I tried page-down viewing but
to no avail. Also tried using the \ key on the File list, it didn't jump to
anything there with a \ in the name, so I'm guessing the file finder (and
possibly windows explorer) is somehow unable to display this file. I'm
still trying various dos/cmd prompt expressions to no avail.

Last but not least, I did grab Visual Studio Express (vb, c#, c++) on a
second PC and considering a programatic way to hunt down this file. I may
just have to write a simplistic application in search of this file similarly
to how defrag finds it. I only fear what might happen when I try to delete
it, should I find it! (deletion of \ might not yield a good result! lol).
And almost done with a Fedora box which I plan to get Samba/mount the drive
over the network and use trusty Unix find with escaped \ as the expression.

Any more hints appreciated.. I'm rather perplexed how difficult it is to
find this simply file and hope MS may consider adding some additional ways in
defrag for it to use it's log to guide in removals!

Try: *\ in Advanced Search. It just struck me that I used to have to
use *~ when searching for the tilde (~) in file names. If I used ~
that acted as a wild card and found every file on my machine. Somewhere
along the line this behavior changed and I no longer have to use *~ when
searching for ~ but it might be worth a try. Or try ?\ in Search.

Something else that I just thought of. Empty all of your temp folders, run
Error Checking (chkdsk) then run Defrag again. Chkdsk may clean out
something.

Error Checking (chkdsk.exe) in XP.
1. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the drive you want to
check and then click Properties.
2. On the Tools tab, click Check Now.
3. Check both boxes:

* Automatically fix file system errors
Runs Chkdsk by using the /f parameter.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking. All files must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is
currently in use, a message asks if you want to reschedule
the disk checking for the next time you restart your computer. Your drive is
not available to run other tasks while the disk is being checked.]]

* Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
Runs Chkdsk by using the /r parameter.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking, locates bad sectors, and recovers readable information. All files
must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is currently in use, a
message asks if you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time
you restart your computer. Your drive is not available to run other tasks
while the disk is being checked. If you select this option, you do not need
to select Automatically fix file system errors. Windows fixes any errors on
the disk.]]

A message will popup.

[[The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs
exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be
accessed only by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule this disk check
to occur the next time you restart the computer?]]

Click YES.

Then reboot.

For a look at the chkdsk log.

Open the Event Viewer...
Start | Run | Type: eventvwr | Click OK |
Look in Application | Listed as Information |
Event ID: 1001
Source: Winlogon
[[Description: This includes file system type; drive letter or GUID, and
volume name or serial number to help determine what volume Chkdsk ran
against. Also included is whether Chkdsk ran because a user scheduled it or
because the dirty bit was set.]]

[[When Autochk runs against a volume at boot time it records its output to a
file called Bootex.log in the root of the volume being checked. The Winlogon
service then moves the contents of each Bootex.log file to the Application
Event log.]]

[[This file states whether Chkdsk encountered any errors and, if so,
whether they were fixed.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Thanks again for the suggestions! I'm still pounding away trying to get
to this file as well as remove it.. still no luck.

I tried CCleaner and it did not detect nor fix this issue. I promptly
uninstalled this tool.

Wesley-
With all hidden and os files set, the file is not on the root of C:\.. it
isn't visible browsing My Computer, C: drive... I can also open a cmd
prompt and perform dir /x and dir /ah or /as or any combination of the
above and there is no file listed in C:\ for this file. There isn't a
blank or unusual slot either/unlisted entry as the root of my C: drive is
very clean, only having:
.
..
Program Files
Documents and Settings
Windows
and some OS files
(boot.ini, io.sys, msdos.sys, ntdetect.com and ntldr)

The defrag log only lists:
2kb \

I believe it's erroneous in it's reporting due to the character in
question confusing it's method or displaying the file.

Using the XP Search, it's also bugged when looking for a filename of
"\"... it corrupts the Look In: entry (invalid) and can not be used at
all.

I've been trying to craft a nifty way with the dir \\ methods, and also
have shared the entire drive and using network methods. My last effort
may be to install Unix + Samba, mount the drive over the network in hopes
of Unix finding the file.. once I know where it is, I'm sure then I/we
can craft a way to rid it off the system!

I also tried dir /s /ahs on ?. and other ways to look for a single
character file, but no luck in finding this rogue file...

Any additional insights appreciated! It's frustrating as all get out as
the compact stage of Defrag can only get about 20% done before it quits

Hi,

Did this help in getting rid of the / file?

Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

\ is also an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

Typing \ into the Search box and hitting Enter automatically changes the
\ to *.* which is a wild card that will find every file on your machine.
That is no help. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that
represents one or more characters. So *.* looks for
filename.file-extension.

Start | Run | Type: \ | Click OK. If C:\ is the root then C:\ will
open.

In the defrag log anything on C:\ will be listed as \ I.e. C:\WINDOWS
will be listed as \WINDOWS. You can type or paste \WINDOWS in the run
command and C:\WINDOWS will open. As usual, I discovered that little
bit of trivia by accident. ;-)

How do you know that the \ file is some where else other than in C:\?
Maybe it's a hidden file.

To display Hidden files and folders...

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Folder Options | View tab
Check:
Display the contents of system folders
and
Show hidden files and folders
UNCheck:
Hide extensions for known file types
and
Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
Click Apply | Click OK

When you uncheck: Hide protected operating system files,
you will get this message...

Warning
----------
You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files
labeled System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer.These files are required
to start and run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your
computer inoperable.Are you sure you want to display these files?
----------

Click YES.

[[Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to indicate they are not
typical items.]]

Now open C:\ and look fo the \ file.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In Confuzzled <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Hi Wesley,
You were indeed correct. The file above was simply illegal and defrag
didn't know how to move it.

I have a similar problem on another system but for the life of me can't
figure out how to solve it. This time, the file is \ that cannot be
defragged.

What is more puzzling is- the defrag log shows it as being on the root,
but it's somewhere else. I have no idea how to FIND it, nonetheless
remove it.

Any tips? I've tried all sorts of finders on file ?. and other methods
as the file does not appear to be on the root of C: drive but somewhere
else.. but due to it's name DEFRAG seems a bit confused reporting it's
location (just 1KB and \ )



:

/ is an illegal character for a file or folder name in Windows.

See this for trying to delete it...

See...
Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

Note:
The following characters are invalid as file or folder names on Windows
using NTFS:

/ ? < > \ : * | " and any character you can type with the Ctrl key

In addition to the above illegal characters the caret ^ is also not
permitted under Windows Operating Systems using the FAT file system.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In Confuzzled <[email protected]> hunted and pecked:
Greetings,
Windows XP Pro + SP2 and all current patches. System has one physical
hard drive broken into C: and D: partitions.

Defrag will not complete fully as it will always list a single file it
cannot defragment. The file is:
/ size 2KB

No other real ramifications other than curiosity why this "/" file
cannot be defragmented. Error scans find no errors and this remaining
file has remained unable to be defragmented for months to no avail.
Is this something that can be fixed or otherwise ignored? Thanks!