Can't Delete Files

[Pete]

I upgraded from ME to XP Home Edition a few weeks ago.
Things were going fairly well, but today I hit a weird
problem. I had a folder containg about 20,000 jpg images.
I wanted to delete the images. I began by deleting a few
hundred to a thousand at a time, but that was taking so
much time that I decided to try deleting them all in one
operation. So I Selected All and clicked delete. After a
bit I got an error message saying "Cannot delete
[filename.] The directory or file cannot be created." It
then popped up a dialog box asking me to send an error
report to Microsoft, which I did (twice.) I tried emptying
the recycle bin, but that didn't seem to help. After
trying to delete smaller and smaller subsets of the file, I
finally realized that I am now unable to delete any file
from my system. Every time I try, the same error message
pops up. What do I do now? Pleaswe don't tell me Z have
to reinstall the OS!

To reply via e-mail, remove "nospam" from my address.

 

[E Marek]

Try moving the folder to one of the temp files that
Windows cleanup cleans out and then run Disk cleanup or a
third party cleanup tool. Try deleting the folder in safe
mode. If this fails you could try using System Restore to
restore Windows to a point before where the problem
started and then try and delete the folder. Also in
Windows explorer Tools Folder Options try ticking Do not
cache thumbnails in case having thumbnails of the pictures
cached has something do do with not being able to delete
them. Install all service packs etc so that Windows runs
correctly. If all else fails reinstalling Windows as a
repair is not that big a job and may be less time
consuming than searching for a solution.

 

[Pete]

-----Original Message-----
Try moving the folder to one of the temp files that
Windows cleanup cleans out and then run Disk cleanup or a
third party cleanup tool.

That didn't help. I moved the folder to Temporary Internet
Files and then ran Cleanup. Although everything else was
gone, the folder in question was still there, and the
delete command still didn't work. At the suggestion of a
friend I found that I was able to delete it from the
command prompt. However, the Windows Delete command still
doesn't work.

Try deleting the folder in safe mode.

OK, I didn't try this one, but the folder in question is gone.

If this fails you could try using System Restore to
restore Windows to a point before where the problem
started and then try and delete the folder.

That didn't help. I restored to a date before the problem
arose, but I still can't delete files.

Also in
Windows explorer Tools Folder Options try ticking Do not
cache thumbnails in case having thumbnails of the pictures
cached has something do do with not being able to delete
them.

No effect.

Install all service packs etc so that Windows runs
correctly.

I think I have done this, but I don't know where to look to
check for sure. I have run Windows Update and installed
all the required updates.

If all else fails reinstalling Windows as a
repair is not that big a job and may be less time
consuming than searching for a solution.

Even this didn't help. I reinstalled XP Home Edition as an
"upgrade". The only other thing I can think of is to
reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows again. I
would certainly like to avoid that if at all possible.
Every time I try this I wind up losing all my Outlook
Express mail messages and all my Netscape bookmarks.

Any more ideas?

-----Original Message-----
I upgraded from ME to XP Home Edition a few weeks ago.
Things were going fairly well, but today I hit a weird
problem. I had a folder containg about 20,000 jpg images.
I wanted to delete the images. I began by deleting a few
hundred to a thousand at a time, but that was taking so
much time that I decided to try deleting them all in one
operation. So I Selected All and clicked delete. After a
bit I got an error message saying "Cannot delete
[filename.] The directory or file cannot be created." It
then popped up a dialog box asking me to send an error
report to Microsoft, which I did (twice.) I tried emptying
the recycle bin, but that didn't seem to help. After
trying to delete smaller and smaller subsets of the file, I
finally realized that I am now unable to delete any file
from my system. Every time I try, the same error message
pops up. What do I do now? Pleaswe don't tell me Z have
to reinstall the OS!

To reply via e-mail, remove "nospam" from my address.


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