For the Linux Folks

[Thip]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've tried
all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none of them have
worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I need to
mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to mount it as
read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Linux. Can any of
you gurus out there point me to an app that will help me create a boot CD,
mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the file? A file manager of some
sort would be nice (the ones I've tried are read-only, and otherst don't let
me navigate past the CD contents). So would some really, really basic a-b-c
instructions.....

 

[Roger Johansson]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've
tried all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none
of them have worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants
to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I need
to mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to mount
it as read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Linux.
Can any of you gurus out there point me to an app that will help me
create a boot CD, mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the file? A
file manager of some sort would be nice (the ones I've tried are
read-only, and otherst don't let me navigate past the CD contents). So
would some really, really basic a-b-c instructions.....

Download an iso with SimplyMepis linux, burn it to a CD.
Boot from the CD, it is a live-CD which works without touching your hard
disk. From it you can change or delete whatever you like on your hard disk.

I am not sure it will be able to delete your file though. If the problem
is in the NTFS file system itself it might be unsolvable with this
method. If the problem is in the windows OS it should work.

I have used norton ghost to delete a file which could not be deleted.
I created a partition image, used the ghost explorer to look into the
image and deleted the file there. Then I restored the image back to the
C: partition, problem solved.

 

[SkeeBall]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've
tried all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none of
them have worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants to
stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I need
to mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to mount it
as read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Linux. Can
any of you gurus out there point me to an app that will help me create a
boot CD, mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the file? A file
manager of some sort would be nice (the ones I've tried are read-only,
and otherst don't let me navigate past the CD contents). So would some
really, really basic a-b-c instructions.....

You might also be able to use something like a Bart PE disk but you'll
have to make one yourself or possibly download the Ultimate Boot CD for
Windows - regular UBCD only has only RO NTFS tools IIRC. Links:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

But back to your original question - two Linux boot CD products that I
know of off the top of my head that support Captive NTFS are RIP and
Feather. Captive NTFS uses the native driver on your HDD to access the
NTFS partition so it should work - it's not too easy to use but it works.
There are probably other bootable CDs that support it but I know Feather
has been recently updated. Links:

http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/

I would suspect that the easiest method would be a Bart PE disk and it is
a great addition to your toolkit too.

 

[Mel]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've tried
all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none of them have
worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants to stick around.

Did you try the Windows XP Recovery Console? By the way what is the name
of the file?

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I need to
mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to mount it as
read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Linux. Can any of
you gurus out there point me to an app that will help me create a boot CD,
mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the file? A file manager of some
sort would be nice (the ones I've tried are read-only, and otherst don't let
me navigate past the CD contents). So would some really, really basic a-b-c
instructions.....

This path may make XP unusable depending upon the file in question.

 

[Thip]

Did you try the Windows XP Recovery Console? By the way what is the name
of the file?

I've tried everything Windows-related at least twice. The problem is that
the filename is 40 miles long and cannot be renamed, moved, or deleted in
any way, shape, or form.

The file came about when I restored some files I'd accidently deleted. I
evidently just scooped it up along with a bunch of others. Everything
deleted just fine--except this one. It's a Google URL that, when clicked
on, doesn't even open properly--it just opens a normal Google search page.
There is NO Delete, Rename, or any other type of usual option when I
right-click on it--just Open, Edit, View With, etc..

 

[Thip]

Download an iso with SimplyMepis linux, burn it to a CD.
Boot from the CD, it is a live-CD which works without touching your hard
disk. From it you can change or delete whatever you like on your hard disk.

I am not sure it will be able to delete your file though. If the problem
is in the NTFS file system itself it might be unsolvable with this
method. If the problem is in the windows OS it should work.

I have used norton ghost to delete a file which could not be deleted.
I created a partition image, used the ghost explorer to look into the
image and deleted the file there. Then I restored the image back to the
C: partition, problem solved.

I never thought of Ghost--I use Acronis. It will only mount images as
read-only.

 

[Thip]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'm off to do battle again. I'll post
back and report success or failure.

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=BBQ=AB?=]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes,
I've tried all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file
and none of them have worked. There is NO getting rid of this
puppy; it wants to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I
need to mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able
to mount it as read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it
comes to Linux. Can any of you gurus out there point me to an app
that will help me create a boot CD, mount the drive as R-W, and
navigate to the file? A file manager of some sort would be nice
(the ones I've tried are read-only, and otherst don't let me
navigate past the CD contents). So would some really, really
basic a-b-c instructions.....

I'm not a guru, but I've successfully used CaptiveNtfs for this, on
the System Rescue CD. Under Linux, Captive uses WinXP's own API for
dealing with NTFS stuff. I used command line rather than a file
manager.

If you want to try Captive, I'd recommend imaging the NTFS partition
first, in case something goes wrong. And I'd really really
recommending reading the docs for Captive.

System Rescue CD is at <http://www.sysresccd.org/> and Captive
documentation is at <http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/>.

I can probably give step-by-step instructions if you need them; are
you using a single HDD with only one partition?

 

[Thip]

You might also be able to use something like a Bart PE disk but you'll
have to make one yourself or possibly download the Ultimate Boot CD for
Windows - regular UBCD only has only RO NTFS tools IIRC. Links:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

But back to your original question - two Linux boot CD products that I
know of off the top of my head that support Captive NTFS are RIP and
Feather. Captive NTFS uses the native driver on your HDD to access the
NTFS partition so it should work - it's not too easy to use but it works.
There are probably other bootable CDs that support it but I know Feather
has been recently updated. Links:

http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/

I would suspect that the easiest method would be a Bart PE disk and it is
a great addition to your toolkit too.

Thanks, but Bart PE was the first thing I tried when I couldn't solve the
problem using the normal Windows routes. This is unreal. I have never
encountered anything so stubborn!

 

[Thip]

Thanks, but Bart PE was the first thing I tried when I couldn't solve the
problem using the normal Windows routes. This is unreal. I have never
encountered anything so stubborn!

I tried RIP too. It blew me out of the water.

 

[Thip]

System Rescue CD is at <http://www.sysresccd.org/> and Captive
documentation is at <http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/>.

I can probably give step-by-step instructions if you need them; are
you using a single HDD with only one partition?

Awesome! I have 2 HDD's, each a single partition. Both are NTFS.

 

[Thip]

System Rescue CD is at <http://www.sysresccd.org/> and Captive
documentation is at <http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/>.

I can probably give step-by-step instructions if you need them; are
you using a single HDD with only one partition?

Awesome! I have 2 HDD's, each a single partition. Both are NTFS.

 

[Toad]

I've tried everything Windows-related at least twice. The problem is that
the filename is 40 miles long and cannot be renamed, moved, or deleted in
any way, shape, or form.

The file came about when I restored some files I'd accidently deleted. I
evidently just scooped it up along with a bunch of others. Everything
deleted just fine--except this one. It's a Google URL that, when clicked
on, doesn't even open properly--it just opens a normal Google search page.
There is NO Delete, Rename, or any other type of usual option when I
right-click on it--just Open, Edit, View With, etc..

Boot into safe console mode, do a dir /x and get the short file name
and use the short 8.3 file name to delete it. Also, you can try del
abcd*.* if it is the only file that starts with abcd in that folder.

Toad

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=BBQ=AB?=]

Awesome! I have 2 HDD's, each a single partition. Both are NTFS.

Toad has posted what looks like an excellent, simple solution. If that
doesn't work, e-mail me and we'll see what we can do.

 

[Thip]

Boot into safe console mode, do a dir /x and get the short file name
and use the short 8.3 file name to delete it. Also, you can try del
abcd*.* if it is the only file that starts with abcd in that folder.

Toad

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I'd tried *everything* Windows related,
but thanks for th suggestion.

 

[Ben Wylie]

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I'd tried *everything* Windows
related, but thanks for th suggestion.

Have you tried using:
http://www.gibinsoft.net/gipoutils/bin/moveonb.exe
GiPo@MoveOnBoot 1.9.5
Free software for deleting files which refuse to be deleted.

Ben

 

[Roger Johansson]

Have you tried using:
http://www.gibinsoft.net/gipoutils/bin/moveonb.exe
GiPo@MoveOnBoot 1.9.5
Free software for deleting files which refuse to be deleted.

"GiPo@MoveOnBoot
Copies, moves or deletes files and folders on the next system boot. The
utility is very useful when the user needs to replace or delete files
which are locked by other applications, loaded into the memory or just
cannot be changed until next system boot."

I doubt that the file we are talking about is such a system file
which this program is intended for.

This program is intended for files like the swap file or the registry
files, etc.. which cannot be deleted during normal running of windows, so
they have to be deleted/replaced before windows is started.

 

[Thip]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've tried
all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none of them have
worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I need to
mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to mount it as
read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Linux. Can any of
you gurus out there point me to an app that will help me create a boot CD,
mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the file? A file manager of some
sort would be nice (the ones I've tried are read-only, and otherst don't let
me navigate past the CD contents). So would some really, really basic a-b-c
instructions.....

No joy with Feather or MoveOnBoot. :-(

 

[Luigi M Bianchi]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've
tried all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none
of them have worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants
to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I
need to mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to

Have you tried to copy a small file (it does not matter what
type) to the file in question? Then you can delete the stubborn
creature. This usually works.

/luigi

mount it as read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to
Linux. Can any of you gurus out there point me to an app that will
help me create a boot CD, mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the
file? A file manager of some sort would be nice (the ones I've tried
are read-only, and otherst don't let me navigate past the CD
contents). So would some really, really basic a-b-c instructions.....

--
Luigi M Bianchi
Science and Technology Studies
Room 2048 TEL Building
York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J-1P3
phone: +1 (416) 736-2100 x-30104 fax: +1 (416) 736-5188
mail: lbianchi at yorku dot ca http://www.yorku.ca/sasit/sts/

 

[Guest]

I have an undeletable file on my WinXP Pro (SP1) desktop. Yes, I've
tried all the common methods of deleting an undeletable file and none
of them have worked. There is NO getting rid of this puppy; it wants
to stick around.

The only solution I can think of is to boot with a Linux CD, but I
need to mount the NTFS drive as R-W. So far, I've only been able to
mount it as read-only. I am an absolute ignoramus when it comes to
Linux. Can any of you gurus out there point me to an app that will
help me create a boot CD, mount the drive as R-W, and navigate to the
file? A file manager of some sort would be nice (the ones I've tried
are read-only, and otherst don't let me navigate past the CD
contents). So would some really, really basic a-b-c instructions.....

Do you have access to another WinXP machine that you could plug this
drive into (not as drive C? If so, you may be able to do the job
there, with the drive connected as something other than a system drive.

I have a machine that I keep with a couple of IDE cables dangling out the
side, just for this sort of purpose. I can boot into XP or Linux/DOS
from a floppy - I can then use things like OMNIFS (part of Symantec
Ghost) to access NTFS partitions, or various other non-Windows tools to
avoid Windows sillyness.
I also have an external USB enclosure that I can put a drive into so
that I can plug it into another machine (Windows or Linux).
Suse Linux is able to read/write NTFS drives without me having to do
anything but plug the drive in.
I even once accidentally installed Suse on an NTFS formatted drive
(forgot to tell it to repartition an old Windows drive) where it worked
as a dual-boot with Windows that I had left there.