Directory Filename is a space

[Guest]

Hello,

In the process of an application installation, a directory in the root of my
C drive has a filename of a single space. I cannot delete, rmdir, rename, or
move it. I went into safe mode, still no joy. I can list its contents by
calling it c:\" " (it is empty, no hidden files). I tried a cmd window where
it tells me that it is being used by another process. I went into the
registry and found and removed a single call to that directory name (gee,
from the original application install), and also removed it from the
environment variables, still no joy.

I am truely stuck..... Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

In the process of an application installation, a directory in the
root of my C drive has a filename of a single space. I cannot
delete, rmdir, rename, or move it. I went into safe mode, still no
joy. I can list its contents by calling it c:\" " (it is empty, no
hidden files). I tried a cmd window where it tells me that it is
being used by another process. I went into the registry and found
and removed a single call to that directory name (gee, from the
original application install), and also removed it from the
environment variables, still no joy.

I am truely stuck..... Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

You said you tried Safe Mode.
You said you tried the command prompt (assuming : erase " " or deltree "
")..
But did you try Safe Mode Command Prompt?

 

[billious]

Hello,

In the process of an application installation, a directory in the root of
my
C drive has a filename of a single space. I cannot delete, rmdir, rename,
or
move it. I went into safe mode, still no joy. I can list its contents by
calling it c:\" " (it is empty, no hidden files). I tried a cmd window
where
it tells me that it is being used by another process. I went into the
registry and found and removed a single call to that directory name (gee,
from the original application install), and also removed it from the
environment variables, still no joy.

I am truely stuck..... Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

from the DOS prompt, try

DIR /x /a:d c:\

which will show you the long name for the directory and the short name. I
can't reproduce your problem, but it's likely that the short name will be
different.

If it is, then

ren shortname somethingvisible
will allow you access

or

rd /s/q shortname

will delete the rogue directory and its tree.

HTH

....Bill

 

[WM]

Hello,

In the process of an application installation, a directory in
the root of my C drive has a filename of a single space. I
cannot delete, rmdir, rename, or move it. I went into safe
mode, still no joy. I can list its contents by calling it c:\"
" (it is empty, no hidden files). I tried a cmd window where
it tells me that it is being used by another process. I went
into the registry and found and removed a single call to that
directory name (gee, from the original application install), and
also removed it from the environment variables, still no joy.

I am truely stuck..... Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

ISTR that SysInternals free Rootkit Revelear utility looks for this
sort of naming. I don't know if the util has a remove feature
though.

 

[Guest]

Awesome Bill! You're the man. I knew there had to be a way to get to 8.3.
I'm saving this thread to send to others.

Thank you very much, and have a great Holiday
Bob