The system file cannot be specified

[jc]

I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help.
I have XP Home with Service Pack 3.

I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of
its directories:

01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3

Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete
it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified."
It has a file length of 0 bytes.

I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are
just two of the many things I've tried:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then
delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the
entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the
first place.

My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but
just an entry in the MFT.

I could sure use some help to remove this.

tia.

jc

 

[LVTravel]

I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help.
I have XP Home with Service Pack 3.

I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of
its directories:

01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3

Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete
it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified."
It has a file length of 0 bytes.

I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are
just two of the many things I've tried:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then
delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the
entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the
first place.

My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but
just an entry in the MFT.

I could sure use some help to remove this.

tia.

jc

May work but also may not. Try this:

Start the command prompt. (Start, Run, type in CMD and click OK.

Change directory to the directory storing the 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to
hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 file.

Ensure that there are no other files in the folder with the same beginning
as listed below as the command should delete all files beginning with 01 in
the folder. If there are other files copy them off first to another
directory.

Type this exactly. del 01*.* and press the enter key. Do a directory
listing (dir and enter) to see if the file is still there. If gone reboot
and see if it stays gone.

Let us know if this works.

 

[jc]

May work but also may not.  Try this:

Start the command prompt. (Start, Run, type in CMD and click OK.

Change directory to the directory storing the 01 - O 'twas a joyful soundto
hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 file.

Ensure that there are no other files in the folder with the same beginning
as listed below as the command should delete all files beginning with 01 in
the folder.  If there are other files copy them off first to another
directory.

Type this exactly.  del 01*.* and press the enter key.  Do a directory
listing (dir and enter) to see if the file is still there.  If gone reboot
and see if it stays gone.

Let us know if this works.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had already tried that but at your
suggestion I tried it again. Still no luck.

tnx again.

jc

 

[joe]

There is a free program named 'Unlocker" which deletes anything.

May work but also may not. Try this:

Start the command prompt. (Start, Run, type in CMD and click OK.

Change directory to the directory storing the 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound
to
hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 file.

Ensure that there are no other files in the folder with the same beginning
as listed below as the command should delete all files beginning with 01
in
the folder. If there are other files copy them off first to another
directory.

Type this exactly. del 01*.* and press the enter key. Do a directory
listing (dir and enter) to see if the file is still there. If gone reboot
and see if it stays gone.

Let us know if this works.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had already tried that but at your
suggestion I tried it again. Still no luck.

tnx again.

jc

 

[jc]

There is a free program named 'Unlocker" which deletes anything.










Thanks for the suggestion.  I had already tried that but at your
suggestion I tried it again.  Still no luck.

tnx again.

jc

I tried unlocker. A message popped up saying: "The object was
deleted." But the file is still there. The message also said there
was no locking handle, which should mean there isn't another file
trying to use it.

Also, I need to remind those trying to help that the filename has a
forward slash mark in it, causing Windows to think it's part of a
path. The more I play with this, the more I'm starting to think there
is no path and no file. In other words, there's nothing there except
a "path/filename" entry some place.

tnx for the advice.

 

[jc]

I tried unlocker.  A message popped up saying: "The object was
deleted."   But the file is still there.  The message also said there
was no locking handle, which  should mean there isn't another file
trying to use it.

Also, I need to remind those trying to help that the filename has a
forward slash mark in it, causing Windows to think it's part of a
path.  The more I play with this, the more I'm starting to think there
is no path and no file.  In other words, there's nothing there except
a "path/filename" entry some place.

tnx for the advice.

Have also discovered that when I look at the File Properties box,
there's only a General Tab. There's no Summary tab and the file size
is 0.

Also, there is no Created date, no Modified date, and no Accessed
date.

That's why I believe there's not really a file there. Just a listing
of a name whenever I type DIR. That's also why it can't be erased.
There's nothing to erase.

 

[Brian A.]

I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help.
I have XP Home with Service Pack 3.

I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of
its directories:

01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3

Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete
it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified."
It has a file length of 0 bytes.

I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are
just two of the many things I've tried:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then
delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the
entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the
first place.

My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but
just an entry in the MFT.

I could sure use some help to remove this.

tia.

jc

Have you tried booting to Safe Mode and deleting the file there?

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Jose]

Have also discovered that when I look at the File Properties box,
there's only a General Tab.  There's no Summary tab and the file size
is 0.

Also, there is no Created date, no Modified date, and no Accessed
date.

That's why I believe there's not really a file there. Just a listing
of a name whenever I type DIR.  That's also why it can't be erased.
There's nothing to erase.

Give this a whirl:

http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/

 

[jc]

Give this a whirl:

http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/

I tried deleting while in safe mode. I also tried DelinvFile, as per
the previous poster. No joy!

I had hopes with DelinvFile because it claims it can delete files
with a slash mark (/) in the name, which is the whole problem with
what I'm experiencing. But when it tried to delete the file, Windows
popped up an error message that said there is no file. Also,
DelinvFile there was a problem with the name and that delete/rename
functions might not work.

So once again, I'm left with thinking this is just an entry in the
MFT. I could be wrong, obviously, but I'm grasping at straws.

tnx for the advice.

 

[John John - MVP]

I tried deleting while in safe mode. I also tried DelinvFile, as per
the previous poster. No joy!

I had hopes with DelinvFile because it claims it can delete files
with a slash mark (/) in the name, which is the whole problem with
what I'm experiencing. But when it tried to delete the file, Windows
popped up an error message that said there is no file. Also,
DelinvFile there was a problem with the name and that delete/rename
functions might not work.

So once again, I'm left with thinking this is just an entry in the
MFT. I could be wrong, obviously, but I'm grasping at straws.

Did you run a chkdsk on the drive?

The file could also have trailing spaces, did you try grabbing the file
from Windows Explorer and dropping it at the command prompt command?

Open a Command Prompt and type the following partial command:

del \\?\

Now, from Explorer highlight and grab the stubborn file and drag it to
the Command Prompt and drop it at the end of the partial command.

If the folder is empty safe for this file you can also try deleting the
folder:

rd /s \\?\

John

 

[jc]

Did you run a chkdsk on the drive?

The file could also have trailing spaces, did you try grabbing the file
from Windows Explorer and dropping it at the command prompt command?

Open a Command Prompt and type the following partial command:

del \\?\

Now, from Explorer highlight and grab the stubborn file and drag it to
the Command Prompt and drop it at the end of the partial command.

If the folder is empty safe for this file you can also try deleting the
folder:

rd /s \\?\

John

Tnx. I tried both of those. No luck.

Everything I try returns the following error message: "The system
cannot find the path specified."

My thoughts are that the forward slash mark in the name is causing
Windows to check a path, but the path doesn't exist. Neither does the
file. It looks like nothing exists except the name in the MFT. I've
tried using mkdir to create a path then used an editor to create a
zero-length filename that matches this bogus file. Windows is all too
happy to do this for me. But erasing those two once created had no
affect.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[John John - MVP]

Tnx. I tried both of those. No luck.

Everything I try returns the following error message: "The system
cannot find the path specified."

My thoughts are that the forward slash mark in the name is causing
Windows to check a path, but the path doesn't exist. Neither does the
file. It looks like nothing exists except the name in the MFT. I've
tried using mkdir to create a path then used an editor to create a
zero-length filename that matches this bogus file. Windows is all too
happy to do this for me. But erasing those two once created had no
affect.

Thanks for the tip.

This is a music file? Can your music player open it? If yes try to
have it delete it. Or the application that created the file should be
able to delete it. You didn't mention if you ran a chkdsk on the drive.

John

 

[jc]

This is a music file?  Can your music player open it?  If yes try to
have it delete it.  Or the application that created the file should be
able to delete it.  You didn't mention if you ran a chkdsk on the drive..

John

I tried chkdsk /f. Nothing unusual. As far as being a music file, it
is zero-length so it has no contents. However, having said that, let
me add that had everything gone right when this object was created, it
would have been a music file. My guess as to what happened was that I
mistyped the name of the song in my CD ripper program (and Windows
allowed it) and put a slash mark instead of a period as well as typed
"MQ3" instead of MP3. This actually happened so long ago that I can't
remember precisely what happened. I only noticed just the other day
that my fat fingers had created a problem.

Anyway, I tried having Foobar2000 open it. Got the following error
message: "Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported file
format)."

Also, I opened my CD ripper program (CDex 151) but could find no way
to open files. Apparently, it only plays back what it has just ripped
or is about to rip.

Did I mention that the object has no properties, e.g., date created,
modified, accessed? Makes me wonder if it ever go to the actual
creation stage. Maybe Windows tried to create it, couldn't, and so
just left us with a name in the MFT. Is there a program that allows
me to remove this from the MFT? I just on the Internet read that any
file < 1k is stored entirely in the MFT. Don't know how accurate that
is. But if it is, then I'm more convinced than ever that no file
actually exists on the drive and so, there's nothing to delete but a
name in the table. But Windows won't allow erasing it because Windows
tries to follow the path, which doesn't exist.

Thanks again for your suggestions. And thank you for your patience
with my situation.

jc

 

[Elmo]

I tried chkdsk /f. Nothing unusual. As far as being a music file, it
is zero-length so it has no contents. However, having said that, let
me add that had everything gone right when this object was created, it
would have been a music file. My guess as to what happened was that I
mistyped the name of the song in my CD ripper program (and Windows
allowed it) and put a slash mark instead of a period as well as typed
"MQ3" instead of MP3. This actually happened so long ago that I can't
remember precisely what happened. I only noticed just the other day
that my fat fingers had created a problem.

Anyway, I tried having Foobar2000 open it. Got the following error
message: "Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported file
format)."

Also, I opened my CD ripper program (CDex 151) but could find no way
to open files. Apparently, it only plays back what it has just ripped
or is about to rip.

Did I mention that the object has no properties, e.g., date created,
modified, accessed? Makes me wonder if it ever go to the actual
creation stage. Maybe Windows tried to create it, couldn't, and so
just left us with a name in the MFT. Is there a program that allows
me to remove this from the MFT? I just on the Internet read that any
file < 1k is stored entirely in the MFT. Don't know how accurate that
is. But if it is, then I'm more convinced than ever that no file
actually exists on the drive and so, there's nothing to delete but a
name in the table. But Windows won't allow erasing it because Windows
tries to follow the path, which doesn't exist.

Thanks again for your suggestions. And thank you for your patience
with my situation.

Has anyone suggested that you right-click the filename, click Rename,
and change the name?

 

[jc]

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

1> Try this first:

I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the
bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called
'DIRMAGIC.COM'.

Get it here:

http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip

No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box
(%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe)  under XP (or in Start/Run if you list
the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file
name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very
slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

2> If no joy then you might try this:

It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid
of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box
(%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe)  and navigate to the directory where the
offending file is located.  Something like this:

C:

If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then:

cd  \xxx\yyy\

Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if
any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located.
If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the
second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending
directory name.

Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus:

dir/b   *.*   >tmp.txt

dir = directory listing (normally to the screen)
/b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only
*.* = include all files and sub-directory names
 >tmp.txt  = redirect screen output to a an ascii text file

Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every
line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file
name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete
you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you
high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then
restart the editor and select paste.

With the cursor on the file name press the <End> key on your keyboard.
This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any
trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name.

*Append* a closing quote to the end of the line:

"

Press the <Home> key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line
and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line:

del  "

Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now
in quotes.

Resave the file as a batch file,   a.bat   for example in the directory
where the offending file is located.

Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the
batch file to run it.

Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is
still listed.

If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing
del   to   rmdir    to remove a directory.

Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is
located and try again.

If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT)
is where the problem lies.

Good luck,
John

To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to
rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work.

I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have
thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried
it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the
object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm.

As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had
already created several batch files that contained various del and rd
commands. Nothing has worked so far.

I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving
me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips.
Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there
was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that
I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy
structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick
myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short
names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on
future suggestions.

Tnx again for all the advice.

jc

 

[John John - MVP]

To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to
rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work.

I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have
thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried
it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the
object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm.

As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had
already created several batch files that contained various del and rd
commands. Nothing has worked so far.

I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving
me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips.
Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there
was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that
I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy
structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick
myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short
names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on
future suggestions.

Tnx again for all the advice.

Just checking to see if you are still working on this or see if you
found a fix.

Do you have a Windows 2000 machine?

John

 

[WTC]

I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of
its directories:

01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3

Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete
it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified."
It has a file length of 0 bytes.

Try killing Explorer.exe before deleting the file using a bypass for
reserved-words and or characters.


1. Write down the path and filename of the undeletable file.

2. Open a command prompt window. (Start > Run > cmd.exe)

3. Open the Task Manager. (Start > Run > taskmgr.exe)

4. In the Task Manager, find the process called "Explorer" and end the
process for explorer. (This will make the desktop and taskbar disappear)

5. Close the Task Manager.

6. In the command prompt window, type:

del /a /f "\\?\path\filename"

So if the file is called abc.jpg located in c:\pictures then the
command would look like:

del /a /f "\\?\c:\pictures\abc.jpg"

7. To regain your desktop and taskbar, type the following in the
command prompt window:

explorer.exe

 

[jc]

Just checking to see if you are still working on this or see if you
found a fix.

Do you have a Windows 2000 machine?

John

John,

I no longer have a Win2k machine. The one I'm having problems with is
XP with service pack 3.

As for still working on it...it's definitely a challenge so I'm still
working on it. It's an easy fix with formatting. All the contents are
on a backup drive. So that won't be a problem. But I'm convinced
there has to be a way to defeat this hiccup.

tnx again.

jc

 

[jc]

Try killing Explorer.exe before deleting the file using a bypass for
reserved-words and or characters.

1. Write down the path and filename of the undeletable file.

2. Open a command prompt window. (Start > Run > cmd.exe)

3. Open the Task Manager. (Start > Run > taskmgr.exe)

4. In the Task Manager, find the process called "Explorer" and end the
process for explorer. (This will make the desktop and taskbar disappear)

5. Close the Task Manager.

6. In the command prompt window, type:

del /a /f "\\?\path\filename"

So if the file is called abc.jpg located in c:\pictures then the
command would look like:

del /a /f "\\?\c:\pictures\abc.jpg"

7. To regain your desktop and taskbar, type the following in the
command prompt window:

explorer.exe

Thanks, William, for your suggestion.

I tried your suggestion, following your instructions to a T (except
that I put everything into batch file). However, when I executed the
batch file, I had no success in deleting the object. The same error
message came up about not being able to find the "path," this despite
the fact that explorer.exe was out of the picture.

tnx again,

jc

 

[Brian A.]

John,

I no longer have a Win2k machine. The one I'm having problems with is
XP with service pack 3.

As for still working on it...it's definitely a challenge so I'm still
working on it. It's an easy fix with formatting. All the contents are
on a backup drive. So that won't be a problem. But I'm convinced
there has to be a way to defeat this hiccup.

tnx again.

jc

See if you can get rid of it using the recovery console, can't say it'll work
but it's worth a shot.
Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058


--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375