A Folder Windows Cannot Understand/Cope With

[Ken Hall]

I have a folder Windows won't let me get rid of. When I try to delete
it I get this:

"Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to rename it I get:

"Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to delete the parent folder I get:

"Cannot delete <problem folder>: Cannot find the specified file
Make sure you specify the correct path and file name"

It looks like the problem folder name my have a blank/space added
after the name. The name is only 5 characters long.

I can go into the problem folder and I have deleted all sub folders
that were in it, but I cannot do anything with the folder itself or
delete it's parent folder.

Ken

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE]

Can't Delete a File or Folder in XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_d.htm#del
You Cannot Delete a File or a Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

It would be best to boot into Safe Mode, search for the folder,
then delete it.

A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315222&Product=winxp

How to Delete A File That Is Seemingly "Undeletable"
http://www.theeldergeek.com/delete_undeletable_file.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:
|
| I have a folder Windows won't let me get rid of. When I try to delete
| it I get this:
|
| "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."
|
| When I try to rename it I get:
|
| "Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."
|
| When I try to delete the parent folder I get:
|
| "Cannot delete <problem folder>: Cannot find the specified file
| Make sure you specify the correct path and file name"
|
| It looks like the problem folder name my have a blank/space added
| after the name. The name is only 5 characters long.
|
| I can go into the problem folder and I have deleted all sub folders
| that were in it, but I cannot do anything with the folder itself or
| delete it's parent folder.
|
| Ken

 

[Gordon]

I have a folder Windows won't let me get rid of. When I try to delete
it I get this:

"Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to rename it I get:

"Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to delete the parent folder I get:

"Cannot delete <problem folder>: Cannot find the specified file
Make sure you specify the correct path and file name"

It looks like the problem folder name my have a blank/space added
after the name. The name is only 5 characters long.

I can go into the problem folder and I have deleted all sub folders
that were in it, but I cannot do anything with the folder itself or
delete it's parent folder.

Ken

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode and deleting it there?

 

[DanS]

I have a folder Windows won't let me get rid of. When I try to delete
it I get this:

"Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to rename it I get:

"Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I try to delete the parent folder I get:

"Cannot delete <problem folder>: Cannot find the specified file
Make sure you specify the correct path and file name"

It looks like the problem folder name my have a blank/space added
after the name. The name is only 5 characters long.

I can go into the problem folder and I have deleted all sub folders
that were in it, but I cannot do anything with the folder itself or
delete it's parent folder.

Ken

another option, open a command prompt, CD to the parent folder (of the
problem folder), do a DIR /x. this will give the 'real' name of the
folder if it is a malformed folder name. i can't remember how this is
created, or how it doesn't conform to a 'proper' name. you can then try
an RD to remove it from the command prompt.

just another possibility.

regards,

DS

 

[Ken Hall]

another option, open a command prompt, CD to the parent folder (of the
problem folder), do a DIR /x. this will give the 'real' name of the
folder if it is a malformed folder name. i can't remember how this is
created, or how it doesn't conform to a 'proper' name. you can then try
an RD to remove it from the command prompt.

Thanks very much for your reply. If I'd have started with your post I
could have avoided trying all the other suggestions in the other
messages. I tried every one including the links and sublinks and none
of them worked -- your suggestion worked.

PS I also appreciate that you didn't bitch about me posting my
question in another group. I appreciate the other replies, but not
the bitching about my later post to the XP "general" group.

When I posted here I didn't realize 'general' was a MUCH more active
group. I do understand about cross posing and always try to use it
when I'm aware there's another appropriate group. I don't spend a lot
of time in these XP groups so, in this case, I didn't realize in time
there was a more appropriate group when I posted here. A few minutes
later I discovered my error, but there's no way to unpost from this
group and I though (and still think) it more appropriate to the other
group. Apparently others here think I should just have to suck it up
and live with my error even if it means not getting the answer I need.
I don't.

Ken

 

[DanS]

Thanks very much for your reply. If I'd have started with your post I
could have avoided trying all the other suggestions in the other
messages. I tried every one including the links and sublinks and none
of them worked -- your suggestion worked.

PS I also appreciate that you didn't bitch about me posting my
question in another group. I appreciate the other replies, but not
the bitching about my later post to the XP "general" group.

When I posted here I didn't realize 'general' was a MUCH more active
group. I do understand about cross posing and always try to use it
when I'm aware there's another appropriate group. I don't spend a lot
of time in these XP groups so, in this case, I didn't realize in time
there was a more appropriate group when I posted here. A few minutes
later I discovered my error, but there's no way to unpost from this
group and I though (and still think) it more appropriate to the other
group. Apparently others here think I should just have to suck it up
and live with my error even if it means not getting the answer I need.
I don't.

Ken

Ken, I'm glad I could help, but more importantly, I appreciate that you
came back and posted that it worked. Many many different people post
questions asking for help, are offered a suggestion or 15, and are never
heard from again so you never know what happened. It's kind of a sad
thing on 2 fronts. One is sometimes it makes you wonder if you're wasting
your time. The other is that I learned a lot from these groups just
reading through all the post's every day, every other day, whenever, and
reading about other people's problems, even though I've never suffered
from them and had to fix it, I know of issues and fixes for thing's that
other have to deal with.

I actually had to deal with the problem you had though, when I took over
the IT department for a prior employer, which was after the system was
hacked and someone was using one of the harddrive's in a server for an
FTP dumping zone.

I don't really reply to a lot of posts here, because there are many
regular's here that answer questions daily, which I'm sure have standard
answers in text files that are just pasted into a post. While I do read
through almost all of the posts, I more or less reply to the one's that
either weren't answered, or that I know of possible answer that wasn't
mentioned, like in this case, mostly oddball problems.

I'm just happy that noone replied with 'it's time to do a clean install',
which is totally unnecessary 99% of the time.

The only thing I ask in return is that if you have the opportunity to
help out someone in the future with any knowledge you gain here, take it,
it's good Karma.

Regards,

DanS

 

[Guest]

Dan,

I tried that also & it still would not delete the folder. the same folder
was in the AIM95 dir & I was able to delete it your way from there, but can't
get it off my desktop.

Any further suggestions? Very Frustrated,