Recycle Bin Error-"Cannot delete file; cannot read from the source file or disk"

[Faith Risa]

HI all,
About a week ago, I started to get this message when emptying the Recycle
Bin--"Cannot delete file; cannot read from the source file or disk". I seem
to have 2 unknown items in the bin that I cannot remove. I have no real
idea what items they are as they do not show in the recycle bin. I have
added test items to the bin and if there are 3 new items, I am asked if I
want to delete the 5 items, I choose "yes" and then get the message above.
I have googled and tried many of the suggestions but still no luck. I am
using XP. Any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Faith

 

[Richard Urban]

Open a command prompt window. Run chkdsk C: /f - if your operating system
in located on drive C: You will have to reboot for this to run. Then try to
empty the recycle bin again.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[S.Sengupta]

How do I delete an "undeletable" file?
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tip­s/xp_undeletable_file.htm

Run chkdsk to check bad sectors as well.

regards,
ssg MS-MVP

 

[Faith Risa]

Thank you for the messages. I've tried the chkdsk suggestion twice with no
luck. I cannot seem to do the other suggestion as I do not know the names
of the files which are in the recycle bin. The bin shows zero files but
when I add new "trash", it shows 2 items more than what is really in there.
Now what? All ideas welcome.
Thanks again,
Faith

 

[Faith Risa]

Thank you for the messages. I've tried the chkdsk suggestion twice with
no luck. I cannot seem to do the other suggestion as I do not know the
names of the files which are in the recycle bin. The bin shows zero files
but when I add new "trash", it shows 2 items more than what is really in
there. Now what? All ideas welcome.
Thanks again,
Faith

Any other suggestions?

 

[Rock]

Go to Kelly's site, http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm, click on
"R", then scroll down to recycle bin for some troubleshooting tips.

 

[Nightowl]

Faith, you could try this to see if you can see the names of the mystery
files in a Dos box (the bits in brackets just explain what you should
see). Don't be put off by the length of this, it's really easy to do.

Click Start > run, type cmd, click OK. (Box 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 a very long number, probably 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 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>

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. In trying this out I just emptied my bin in Dos but when I came
back to Windows the bin icon was still showing full and didn't change
even with F5 refresh. I fixed it by putting a test file in the bin and
then emptying it. Now icon is correct again

 

[Faith Risa]

Faith, you could try this to see if you can see the names of the mystery
files in a Dos box (the bits in brackets just explain what you should
see). Don't be put off by the length of this, it's really easy to do.

Click Start > run, type cmd, click OK. (Box 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 a very long number, probably 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 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>

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. In trying this out I just emptied my bin in Dos but when I came back
to Windows the bin icon was still showing full and didn't change even with
F5 refresh. I fixed it by putting a test file in the bin and then emptying
it. Now icon is correct again

Nightowl,
You rock--your directions were EXCELLENT. I quickly located two very long
items in the recycler directory. I was not successful using the del *.*
instructions so I used the help file and wound up using "rmdir" -- I learned
that I needed to delete the newest file and then the initial file. It took
a while but I am so pleased to see the recycle bin is finally empty. Your
instructions were by far the best. Thanks again for your assistance and
your response! Have a great day!
Faith

 

[Richard Urban]

Nice bit of help. Congrats!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Nightowl]

Faith Risa wrote on Wed, 29 Jun 2005:

Nightowl,
You rock--your directions were EXCELLENT. I quickly located two very long
items in the recycler directory. I was not successful using the del *.*
instructions so I used the help file and wound up using "rmdir" -- I learned
that I needed to delete the newest file and then the initial file. It took
a while but I am so pleased to see the recycle bin is finally empty. Your
instructions were by far the best. Thanks again for your assistance and
your response! Have a great day!

Hey, Faith, you made my day!

Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm so glad you managed to nuke those
pesky files at last.

Happy bin-emptying

 

[Nightowl]

Richard Urban wrote on Wed, 29 Jun 2005:

Nice bit of help. Congrats!

How nice of you, Richard -- thank you very much. I have to admit I'm
thrilled when something works

Best wishes to you,

 

[Guest]

Hey!!! I have been struggling for weeks trying to fix a corrupt Recycle Bin
that appeared after a disk restore and your recipe finally did the trick.
Thanks a lot Nightowl!!!

Zenon

 

[Guest]

Your recipe did fix the recycle bin for the administrative (power) user, but
it remains for the Limited User. In fact when I delete a file on the limited
user account it does not even ask if it is okay to move it to the recycle
bin, it only asks if it is okay to delete it (and the empty bin option is
grayed out). The "delete without moving to the recycle bin" option is NOT
selected. When I first switch to the limited user account it tells me the
recycle bin is corrupted. The trick of finding recycled and deleting its
contents does not work as no recycled folder appears in the cmd window.

 

[Nightowl]

Xenophile wrote on Sat, 13 Aug 2005:

Your recipe did fix the recycle bin for the administrative (power) user, but
it remains for the Limited User. In fact when I delete a file on the limited
user account it does not even ask if it is okay to move it to the recycle
bin, it only asks if it is okay to delete it (and the empty bin option is
grayed out). The "delete without moving to the recycle bin" option is NOT
selected. When I first switch to the limited user account it tells me the
recycle bin is corrupted. The trick of finding recycled and deleting its
contents does not work as no recycled folder appears in the cmd window.

Hi Zenon

I'm glad to hear it worked for one, and sorry it didn't for the other
:-(

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "no Recycler folder appears in
the cmd window" -- do you mean there doesn't seem to be a folder called
Recycler, or that there is one but it doesn't seem to have any contents?

In the meantime you could try this to attempt to get rid of the
corrupted folder (Windows should recreate it when you reboot):

Open a Command window.
Type cd \ <enter> (Folder changes to C:\)
Type rd /s /q recycler <enter>
Type exit <enter> and reboot.

Good luck -- let us know how you get on.

 

[Guest]

I never tried to delete the recycler foloder, just empty it. When I said I
could not find it that was because I had not used the /ah switch at first
(nor the del <filename> /ah delete switch). But anyway that didn't work.
What did work finally was the kelly register tweak (line 64) so it is now
fixed, thanks.

 

[Kelly]

Great, glad to hear it. Thanks for the feedback. )

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Guest]

Click Start > run, type cmd, click OK. (Box 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 a very long number, probably 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 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>

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. In trying this out I just emptied my bin in Dos but when I came
back to Windows the bin icon was still showing full and didn't change
even with F5 refresh. I fixed it by putting a test file in the bin and
then emptying it. Now icon is correct again

Nightowl, great in depth instructions! My problem seems to have deeper, more
twisted pyschotic roots, however.
The file recycle bin keeps trying to delete seems to belong to one of the
four partitions on my external hard drive. (It only has the problem when the
hard drive is on)
I found the file in dos, I've deleted it, I've erased it, i've deleted the
hidden directory it is in, it disappears the next time I look at the
directory, but when I quit to Windows and test it, the *^&%&$ thing is still
there! I go into the Cmd promt again, look at the directory again, and its
baaaaacckk!
specifics: when I look at the initial "recycler" directory, it has five
directories: three s-1-5-21- followed by three separate looooooonngg numbers.
I've done the process in all three, one after another, and though they're
gone before I close command prompt, once I test MR RECYCLE BIN they return.
What the pluperfect heck is going ON?
(and YES I am operating in safe mode.)
Any Help is Greatly Appreciate and I welcome a chance to grow!

 

[Nightowl]

Nightowl, great in depth instructions! My problem seems to have deeper, more
twisted pyschotic roots, however.
The file recycle bin keeps trying to delete seems to belong to one of the
four partitions on my external hard drive. (It only has the problem when the
hard drive is on)
I found the file in dos, I've deleted it, I've erased it, i've deleted the
hidden directory it is in, it disappears the next time I look at the
directory, but when I quit to Windows and test it, the *^&%&$ thing is still
there! I go into the Cmd promt again, look at the directory again, and its
baaaaacckk!
specifics: when I look at the initial "recycler" directory, it has five
directories: three s-1-5-21- followed by three separate looooooonngg numbers.
I've done the process in all three, one after another, and though they're
gone before I close command prompt, once I test MR RECYCLE BIN they return.
What the pluperfect heck is going ON?
(and YES I am operating in safe mode.)
Any Help is Greatly Appreciate and I welcome a chance to grow!

Hi Lara

Try this:

[1] Open a Command window and shut down any other running programs.
Ctrl-Alt-Del to open the Task Manager.

[2] In Task Manager look on the Processes tab and select Explorer.exe,
Click on the End Process button. (Your desktop and taskbar will
disappear and you'll be left with just Task Manager and the Command
window. Don't panic! Leave Task Manager open and return to the
Command window.

[3] Now at the prompt type:
rd /s /q X:\Recycler <enter> where X: is the name of the problem
partition on your external drive.
Type: exit <enter> to close the Command window.

[4] Go back to Task Manager and on the Applications tab click the button
for New Task. In the box that pops up type: Explorer <OK>. Your desktop
should return to normal. Close Task Manager and reboot.

[5] When you return to Windows don't worry if the bin icon still shows
full. Put a test file in the bin and then right-click to empty it.
Hopefully now it should all be working.

If you still don't have any luck: I haven't done this myself (have only
one drive) but I'd try going to Recycle Bin Properties, setting drives
to be configured independently, then disabling the bin on all the
external drive's partitions. Reboot, and if that's cured it, you can re-
enable the bin as you like.

Good luck! Do please let us know how you get on.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the instructions!
Unfortunately, dos would not allow me to get rid of the recycle bins, no
matter if they were configured independently or not; the problem was with two
of the partitions, which after I tried your second suggestion to no avail, I
just ended up reformatting- don't fret, the partitions were the small ones
with files easy to backup- both and now MR RECYCLE BIN is happy again.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT INSTRUCTING A DOS LEARNER!

 

[Nightowl]

Thanks for the instructions!
Unfortunately, dos would not allow me to get rid of the recycle bins, no
matter if they were configured independently or not; the problem was with two
of the partitions, which after I tried your second suggestion to no avail, I
just ended up reformatting- don't fret, the partitions were the small ones
with files easy to backup- both and now MR RECYCLE BIN is happy again.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT INSTRUCTING A DOS LEARNER!

Hi Lara

Sorry the suggestions didn't work, but glad to hear you've solved the
problem. Thanks for letting us know!