Can't delete stubborn folder!

[Rory Calhoun]

I'm having a HECK of a time trying to delete a stubborn folder in XP
Pro.
I need a practical solution, and I've exhausted all ideas I could
find.
It's an empty folder called "SurfStream" (in my All Users Start Menu),
and I get "Can not delete file. Can not read from the source file or
disk".
I can not go into the folder, even through CMD (DOS window), and I can
not delete it through RD /S. This is a FOLDER, so none of the stubborn
FILE deletion tips will work.

I've tried:

- safe mode
- chkdsk /f
- renaming, copying, moving it (none of which work, but I can copy and
delete a file to the SurfStream folder)
- moveonboot
- dellater
- process explorer
- killing explorer in task manager and trying to del it
- using ATTRIB (it won't work, and the folder shows no attributes
anyway)
- and finally, praying to Bill Gates

Needless to say, nothing worked. I know its not a permissions problem
because I'm not getting that kind of error, and that its not a busy
handle problem,
otherwise, Process Explorer and MoveOnBoot would have worked to
correct it.
So exactly what the heck am I dealing with here, a folder possessed by
the devil? I considered the possibilty that the "great horned one"
(possibly Bill Gates, I'm not sure) added a secret hidden character to
the end of the filename. Because when I renamed it, the colored bar
goes exactly one character longer than the name itself - like a space.
Well, that's the best I've been able to come up with. Any sound ideas
here, that don't require reformatting my file system?

 

[Michael Cecil]

I'm having a HECK of a time trying to delete a stubborn folder in XP
Pro.
I need a practical solution, and I've exhausted all ideas I could
find.

Boot with your Windows PE disk and delete it.
If you don't have one, you can make a facsimile using:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

[Teresa Fair]

greetings,
Try looking in your registry for any entries pointing to that folder
and deleting them. After this you should be able to delete the folder with
no problems.

 

[Rory Calhoun]

Okay, I've tried deleting all references to this
stubborn folder in the Registry, deleting it from
within ERD Commander 2003 (similar to WindowsPE),
starting the recovery console and doing a chkdsk /r
as well as chkdsk /f, and just to say I tried it
all, I even ran Ad-Aware 6. So far, NOTHING has
been able to remove this possessed folder from my Start Menu!! I can
add files to the folder, but
yet still, file deletion operations keep saying it
doesn't exist!! What else can I try that I haven't
already, besides having to reinstall windows again?