deleting reserved file names: con

[Guest]

When i upgraded from 98SE, I had a folder named "con". While 98 had no
problem with it, XP thinks it's ugly. It is causing no problems, just the
anal side of me wants to get rid of it now that it's empty ( Luckily the
abbreviation for pro is, uh, well, pro, so I didn't have a problem deleting
it. Could have been nasty if it was prn.).

Is there some way to remove the "con" folder?

I've tried a few solutions before I found out it was a reserved name:

Attempt to delete folder: con
Get error pop up:
Cannot delete con: Cannot find the specified file.
Make sure you specify the correct path and file name.

Attempt to use dos prompt:
C:\CANCER>dir
Colume in drive C is SLAVE120G
Volume Serial Number is 7C90-CB1C

Directory of C:\CANCER

12/30/2004 11:12 AM <DIR> .
12/30/2004 11:12 AM <DIR> ..
12/30/2004 11:36 AM <DIR> con
0 File(s) 0 bytes
3 Dir(s) 6,544,474,112 bytes free

C:\CANCER> del con
The system cannot find the path specified.

C:\CANCER> rmdir con
The system cannot find the file specified.

Ran chkdsk with /f from CMD and no problems found.

Trying to save as the file name: con.txt
At the same level at the problematic folder: con
Get error pop up:
con
This file name is a reserved device name.
Choose another name.

Trying to save as the file name: con.txt
In the problematic folder: con
Get error pop up:
con
Path does not exist. Please verify correct path was given.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Delete Undeletable Files:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_undeletable_file.htm

 

[Guest]

Mark,

didn't work. even with explorer.exe stopped, it still cannot find the file
(system cannot find the path specified). essentially files and folders are
the same, but apparently in this case my FOLDER con is not the same as FILE
con.

still looking for help
ken

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I would try a glob (wildcard) delete from a dos prompt.

cd c:\cancer
rd co*

 

[Guest]

Mark,
that didn't work, but i followed your link to geocities and fumbled my way
to the answer:
dos prompt using the full path, this command removed the folder.

rmdir \\?\c:\cancer\con

thanks for your help

ken