Unable to delete a file

G

Guest

I have a file on my computer called "2005-11-02.." and I am unable to delete
it. I am assuming it is because it ends in "..". I am not sure how this
file got saved with these characters, but I am unable to delete it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I have ran chkdsk multiple times and it doesn't fix it. I have also tried
some fixes off of the Microsoft site, with no luck.

Thanks alot in advance!
 
R

Raoul

Have you tried renaming it? Have you tried to delete it in safe mode?

I have a file on my computer called "2005-11-02.." and I am unable to delete
it. I am assuming it is because it ends in "..". I am not sure how this
file got saved with these characters, but I am unable to delete it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I have ran chkdsk multiple times and it doesn't fix it. I have also tried
some fixes off of the Microsoft site, with no luck.

Thanks alot in advance!
 
W

Wesley Vogel

[[Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space
You may not be able to delete a file if the file name includes an invalid
name (for example, the file name has a trailing space or a trailing period
or the file name is made up of a space only). To resolve this issue, use a
tool that uses the appropriate internal syntax to delete the file. You can
use the "\\?\" syntax with some tools to operate on these files, for
example:
del "\\?\c:\path_to_file_that contains a trailing space.txt "
The cause of this issue is similar to Cause 4. However, if you use typical
Win32 syntax to open a file that has trailing spaces or trailing periods in
its name, the trailing spaces or periods are stripped before the actual file
is opened. Therefore, if you have two files in the same folder named
"AFile.txt" and "AFile.txt " (note the space after the file name), if you
try to open the second file by using standard Win32 calls, you open the
first file instead. Similarly, if you have a file whose name is just " " (a
space character) and you try to open it by using standard Win32 calls, you
open the file's parent folder instead. In this situation, if you try to
change security settings on these files, you either may not be able to do
this or you may unexpectedly change the settings on different files. If this
behavior occurs, you may think that you have permission to a file that
actually has a restrictive ACL. ]]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320081#XSLTH3195121122120121120120

You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320081

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
W

Winux P

:I have a file on my computer called "2005-11-02.." and I am unable to
delete
: it. I am assuming it is because it ends in "..". I am not sure how this
: file got saved with these characters, but I am unable to delete it.
:
: Does anyone have any ideas?
:
: I have ran chkdsk multiple times and it doesn't fix it. I have also tried
: some fixes off of the Microsoft site, with no luck.
:
: Thanks alot in advance!

Try deleting it in Safe Mode with Command Prompt and using the DOS keyword
delete command. Usually works.

- Winux P
 
G

Guest

Thanks for your response.

I actually already tried this (forgot to mention everything I tried).
Another person posted about using RD and that worked great.
 
G

Guest

Thank you! The simple Remove Directory (RD /S) worked great! I tried
everything simple and complicated that I could think of, but missed this
simple solution.
 

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