Strange Folder Behaviour - Cannot Delete File

[TheScullster]

Hi all

One of my colleagues seems to have caused issues in deleting large numbers
of files. The problem could also be caused by the length of the files
names.

He has tried to delete a folder structure (about 10 folders deep) but
something has been "left behind".
At the bottom of the folder structure are three folders at the same level
IYSWIM.
If I attempt to select any of these in explorer, the focus jumps back to
Start Menu.
If I try to delete a higher level folder, I get the reply Cannot Delete File
674DF~1, although there is no sign of a file with this name despite a search
of the folder structure.

Anyone shed light on this please?

Dell Latitude D620 running WinXP Pro

TIA

Phil

 

[Stan Brown]

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:59:35 -0000 from TheScullster

One of my colleagues seems to have caused issues in deleting large numbers
of files. The problem could also be caused by the length of the files
names.

He has tried to delete a folder structure (about 10 folders deep)
but something has been "left behind". At the bottom of the folder
structure are three folders at the same level IYSWIM.

If I attempt to select any of these in explorer, the focus jumps
back to Start Menu. If I try to delete a higher level folder, I get
the reply Cannot Delete File 674DF~1, although there is no sign of
a file with this name despite a search of the folder structure.

Anyone shed light on this please?

I had a similar problem a few months back. I remember which two
things I tried, but I don't remember which one worked:

(a) In the command prompt, use the subst command:
SUBST X: C:\............
Use any available drive letter in place of X, and for the second
argument use the top few levels of the path. The new drive X: (or
whatever) will appear in My Computer, and you may be able to navigate
in X: and delete the unwanted files and folders. When finished, go
back in command prompt and
SUBST X: /d
again using the selected drive letter.

(b) XP does have an absolute limit on path length of a referenced
file. If (a) didn't work, start at the top unwanted level and change
the folder name to a single letter, then delete the tree. If that
doesn't work, go down a level and change folder names to single
letters and delete them.

By the way, 674DF~1 probably is the short name of a file with a long
name. (Are you sure you typed the name correctly? Usually short names
are six characters followed by ~1.) Look for something that starts
with the part before the ~.

 

[TheScullster]

(b) XP does have an absolute limit on path length of a referenced
file. If (a) didn't work, start at the top unwanted level and change
the folder name to a single letter, then delete the tree. If that
doesn't work, go down a level and change folder names to single
letters and delete them.

Thanks Stan

It was the finite file-folder length that caused the issue

Phil

 

[Stan Brown]

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:26:11 -0000 from TheScullster

Thanks Stan

It was the finite file-folder length that caused the issue

Great! Thanks for letting us know.