Stubborn Misplaced File

N

NJITGS

Recently I attempted to backup my Outlook Express using the Windows NT
Backup Utility and when I tried to restore the files to the new directory
they did not properly restore to the correct location and when I try to
delete the misplaced folder it will not allow me to, it gives the following
message:

X Cannot delete Outlook Express: The file name you specified is not valid
or to long.
Specify a different file name.

It is located in the following location:

C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}\jkl

The last three letters at the end of the file path is what I renamed the
file to in attempt that it would then delete but no such luck.

Now I have 6 years worth of emails with attachments (over 1Gb of data)
erroneously located on my computer and fearing that it will cause problems
later on.

Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack
2

Could anyone please help?

Frantic in New England
 
A

Alister

Recently I attempted to backup my Outlook Express using the Windows NT
Backup Utility and when I tried to restore the files to the new directory
they did not properly restore to the correct location and when I try to
delete the misplaced folder it will not allow me to, it gives the following
message:

X Cannot delete Outlook Express: The file name you specified is not valid
or to long.
Specify a different file name.

It is located in the following location:

C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}\jkl

The last three letters at the end of the file path is what I renamed the
file to in attempt that it would then delete but no such luck.

Now I have 6 years worth of emails with attachments (over 1Gb of data)
erroneously located on my computer and fearing that it will cause problems
later on.

Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack
2

Could anyone please help?

Frantic in New England
Click to expand...

The Maximum length of a file path, including the filename and extension
is 260 characters in 32bit Windows.

However, the path you have specified is only 133 characters in length,
although I would guess the files and folders you wish to delete would
make it longer.

There are two things you can try.

First, open a command prompt and navigate your way to the offending
folder you specified (ie one step above the folder you wish to delete),
then use the command del <foldername> /f /s
This will delete the folder, forcing deletion of read only files and
deleting the contents of sub-folders.

Sometimes it is possible to delete things using the command prompt which
you can't using Windows Explorer.

If that doesn't work, try sharing a folder lower down the path (for
instance "Identities" in your example), and then access the folder via
the share - so you would browse to \\MachineName\Identities

This shortens the path, and may allow you to delete the files.

HTH

Alister
 
N

NJITGS

This part of your instruction had me a bit confused:

"then use the command del <foldername> /f /s"

Would you care to elaborate or be more specific?

Not sure exactly what I was supposed to do there but I browsed to the
location of the folder and copied the file path from the address bar, then
pasted into the RUN Command line and it brought me to the folder. Then as
an alternate measure I opend the commad prompt and typed "command del <then
the file path> and pressed Delete but nothing, said there were too many
parameters, then when reattempting it said "command is not recognised as an
internal or external command"...
 
A

Alister

This part of your instruction had me a bit confused:

"then use the command del<foldername> /f /s"

Would you care to elaborate or be more specific?

Not sure exactly what I was supposed to do there but I browsed to the
location of the folder and copied the file path from the address bar, then
pasted into the RUN Command line and it brought me to the folder. Then as
an alternate measure I opend the commad prompt and typed "command del<then
the file path> and pressed Delete but nothing, said there were too many
parameters, then when reattempting it said "command is not recognised as an
internal or external command"...
Click to expand...
<snip>

Open a command prompt - go to Start -> Run and type "cmd" (without the
quotes) and then press the enter key.

in the window that opens, you will need to navigate to the desired
folder by typing "cd" (without the quotes) followed by a space and then
the full path of where you want to go to (I believe it was
C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Local
Settings\Application Data\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}

If when you open the command prompt you are already at
C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator
then you need to type "cd Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}" (without the quotes)

Once there type "del <foldername> /f /s" (without the quotes, and
substituting your folder name for <foldername> without the <>) and press
enter.

Alister
 
N

NJITGS

Thank you PA bear for the links to instruction for backing up email.

Problem remains that I still have a misplaced file that I would like to
remove.
 
A

Alister

NJITGS said:
This didn't work either. It kept saying that it could not find the
specified path.


news:[email protected]...
Click to expand...

Which bit didn't work?

The cd command or the del command?

You must type them exactly as I have with correct spaces, or the system
will not recognise the commands.

OK, as you are obviously struggling with the command line, why not try
my second suggestion of sharing a folder lower down the path.

Do you know how to do that?

Alister
 
N

NJITGS

the del command is what did not work, everything else you instructed I got.

As for you other suggestion of sharing the folder that I want to delete,
that was my last ditch effort before posting to this group.
 
A

Alister

NJITGS said:
the del command is what did not work, everything else you instructed I got.

As for you other suggestion of sharing the folder that I want to delete,
that was my last ditch effort before posting to this group.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok, fair enough.

In that case I'm afraid I don't have any further solution for you.

Alister.
 
D

dadiOH

NJITGS wrote:

Each of which are subfolders with .dbx files that were misplaced when
restoring.
Click to expand...

What makes you think they were misplaced?

OK, try this...
1. Open OE
2. Click on a folder, click on "Properties", make note of where the
folders are stored.
3. Browse to that location and copy all dbx fies in the folder to a new,
temporary location.
4. Go back to OE, Tools, Options, Maintenance tab, Store folder button.
5. Tell OE the new store location is your flaky folder...
C:\Documents and
Settings\Compaq_Administrator\LocalSettings\ApplicationData\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}

NOTE: There are normally subfolders there: 1st is Microsoft which has an
Outlook Express sub-folder. If those exist, assure that you are including
them in the path

6. Close OE and reopen. Do #2 above again...is the store folder now
your flaky folder? Is everything OK?

7. If so, you can just delete the folder from #3 and leave the flaky
folder alone as long as you don't mind your mail being stored there.

You could also keep your temporary folder, renaming it to somethng
appropriate such as "OE Mail Backup". Periodically, delete everything in it
and copy *ALL* dbx files from OE's normal store folder to it to serve as a
backup. If you need/want to restore, reverse the procedure; i.e., delete
*ALL* dbx file in OE's normal store folder and copy *ALL* files in your
backup folder to it.
_______________

I would like to suggest a (IMO) less troublesome way of backing up your
mail. But first a bit of info about email "files" and "folders"...

Email messages do not exist in OE as separate, discreet files; instead, all
messages within an OE (pseudo) folder are chained together into one big
file. Doing that saves a lot of space because everytime a file is created
or extended a certain amount of disk space is allocated to it. That
allocation unit can range from around 4000 byes to around 32000 bytes
depending on the size of your hard drive. That means that a lot of small
files consume a HUGE amount of disk space; that unneeded space is greatly
reduced by chaining together many small files into one large one.

The one big file is displayed to you as individual email messages because OE
keeps an index of the big file (pseudo-folders) layout in Folders.dbx. If
that file gets messed up, all your email messages in all the other dbx files
(pseudo-folders) are toast.

My suggestion is this...
1. Create a folder somewhere named "OE Email Backup"

2. Create subfolders under it, each named correspondingly to OE's
pseudo-folders.

3. In OE, click a folder you want to back up, selet all, drag into the
appropriate backup folders. You now have individual, discrete emails in
your backup folder(s). Delete the ones in OE (you do have OE set to dump
deleted items on exit, right?).

4. Those individual messages are taking up scads of room so zip up the
whole group of backup folders. If/when you want to read one, open the zip
and click on a message...OE will open it. Same thing if you burn the zip to
a CD/DVD.

Of course, you don't need individual folders in your backup zip, all could
be in one folder.
_______________

No more worry with the need to compact, no more export/import, no more
confusion about dbx files.



--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
N

NJITGS

Thank you very much for all your feedback. However, that seems like a bit
much when all I really would like to do is get rid of the misplaced folder.
After several attempts I finally was able to get NT Backup Utility to
restore the OE files in the store folder of the new location so I don't need
to redirect where OE stores or retrieves messages.

Perhaps there is a way to remove this folder at the level of the
registry...?
 
D

dadiOH

NJITGS said:
Thank you very much for all your feedback. However, that seems like
a bit much when all I really would like to do is get rid of the
misplaced folder. After several attempts I finally was able to get NT
Backup Utility to restore the OE files in the store folder of the new
location so I don't need to redirect where OE stores or retrieves
messages.
Perhaps there is a way to remove this folder at the level of the
registry...?
Click to expand...

Assuming it is NOT OE's store folder - or in use in some other way - and you
have admin rights I can think of no reason you can't just delete it.
Although mine is not named exactly the same, it is/was in the same path and
deletes in the regular manner. I just did.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
D

dadiOH

NJITGS said:
Thank you very much for all your feedback. However, that seems like
a bit much when all I really would like to do is get rid of the
misplaced folder.
Click to expand...

It was to help you avoid the same problem in the future.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
3

3c273

Download Ubuntu live cd. Boot using Ubuntu cd, navigate to folder, delete,
remove cd, reboot.
Louis
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

1. Create a new identity.

2. Import all folders from the old identity EXCEPT the folder-in-question
into the new identity.

3. Delete the old identity.
 
N

NJITGS

LOL! Good thing I ordered the Ubuntu CD just in case and had it on hand
because strangely enough out of all the replies that were posted this thread
the Ubuntu trick did the job!

THANK YOU! and thank you to all that replied...
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

stubborn paging file 5
Office File Converter Pack 10
Backup can't locate file 2
How to delete a stubborn file? 6
Office File Converter Pack 2
Stubborn File 7
Cannot Delete Hidden File 9
792 File 3

Top