Unable to delete a file - a very strange one....

[Guest]

This is a strange one...

OS = XP Pro SP2
HDD = NTFS, SATA

I have a seemingly random named file on my desktop that I can not delete:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Abba\Desktop\CAU54J6H."
Size: 0 bytes
Size on disk: 0 bytes

I have had problems where deleting a file can be tough (typically viruses,
spyware, corruption issues on friends/relatives PC's). Typically I go from
trying in safe mode, then recovery console, and at worst booting from a
different O/S accessing the drive with the file and deleting that way.

I have tried all of these:

Safe Mode = "Cannot delete file. Cannot read from the source file or disk"

Recovery Console = "Access Denied" .. which I assume is because it is not in
the \windows dir. I can see the file there though.

Boot from a different OS installed on a different HDD: = "Cannot delete
file. Cannot read from the source file or disk" - this attempt tells me that
it is not virus related at least, and has to be some type of disk corruption
issue.

I did a chkdsk and defrag... still no luck. At this point I would normally
just live with the file existing, but in this case it is on my desktop which
makes it annoying.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - If screen caps of anything
would help, let me know and I can put at a URL and post the location.

Thanks!

 

[decoder]

In the MS KB, I typed: "Cannot delete file. Cannot read from the source
file or disk"
These are the results:
http://search.microsoft.com/results...ile.+Cannot+read+from+the+source+file+or+disk

 

[Guest]

Searched the KB already... nothing helped. Recovery console is the main
"theme" but as it says in my post the file is not in a location that you can
access via recovery console.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Please do not multipost - it wastes everyone's time. Use
cross-posting instead to reach more newsgroups.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

This is a strange one...

OS = XP Pro SP2
HDD = NTFS, SATA

I have a seemingly random named file on my desktop that I can not
delete:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Abba\Desktop\CAU54J6H."
Size: 0 bytes
Size on disk: 0 bytes

I have had problems where deleting a file can be tough (typically
viruses, spyware, corruption issues on friends/relatives PC's).
Typically I go from trying in safe mode, then recovery console, and
at worst booting from a different O/S accessing the drive with the
file and deleting that way.

I have tried all of these:

Safe Mode = "Cannot delete file. Cannot read from the source file
or disk"

Recovery Console = "Access Denied" .. which I assume is because it
is not in the \windows dir. I can see the file there though.

Boot from a different OS installed on a different HDD: = "Cannot
delete file. Cannot read from the source file or disk" - this
attempt tells me that it is not virus related at least, and has to
be some type of disk corruption issue.

I did a chkdsk and defrag... still no luck. At this point I would
normally just live with the file existing, but in this case it is
on my desktop which makes it annoying.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - If screen caps of
anything would help, let me know and I can put at a URL and post
the location.

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

 

[Guest]

is it a file, or a folder?, you might try to create a file with the same
name, say, in 'my documents', then move it to the desktop, where it will
replace the ghost file with a 'real' file that you can delete.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

http://www.petri.co.il/recovery_console_access_to_other_partitions.htm