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Thread ID: 70602 2006-07-09 04:49:00 Can't delete folders Mike (15) Press F1
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469578 2006-07-09 04:49:00 I have an odd problem - I have a folder that contains a subfolder, that contains a subfolder, that contains two subfolders that cannot be deleted:

d:
-rubbish
--stuff
---junk
----blah
----myfiles
I think the problem is just with the two final subfolders, the others just happen to contain them.

If I try to delete either "blah" or "myfiles" (these were, at one time, different folder names... I renamed them successfully to try to overcome the problem, and now cannot remember what the original names were - it was ages ago) I get a message saying "Error deleting file or folder. Cannot remove folder blah: The directory name is invalid."

The folders are empty, but I can't delete either of them.

Any takers? :D

EDIT: If I click on either folder in the folder tree, I get a similar message: "D:\Rubbish\Stuff\Junk - D:\Rubbish\Stuff\Junk is not accessible. The directory name is invalid."

Mike.
Mike (15)
469579 2006-07-09 05:06:00 Hi, there are other programs that do this , however you probably have hijack this , do a scan only with hijack this, then click on config, then on misc and select "delete a file on reboot" add your problem files to the box and reboot. jenae (254)
469580 2006-07-09 05:12:00 Hi, there are other programs that do this , however you probably have hijack this , do a scan only with hijack this, then click on config, then on misc and select "delete a file on reboot" add your problem files to the box and reboot.I'll give it a go, but if I understand you properly I don't think it'll work, as there are no programs that are accessing those folders. I just did a fresh reinstall of Win XP a couple of days ago, there are hardly any programs on the computer, and its just those folders (which were there beforehand), named as in my previous post, that I can't delete.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Mike.
Mike (15)
469581 2006-07-09 05:15:00 Hijackthis won't delete them, because I can't select a folder to delete, just files :(

Mike.
Mike (15)
469582 2006-07-09 05:15:00 Have you tried going in to safe mode and deleting them.Be aware tho that
windows has things that are required by the system but are "hidden" in some
folders.
kjaada (253)
469583 2006-07-09 05:23:00 Have you tried going in to safe mode and deleting them.Be aware tho that
windows has things that are required by the system but are "hidden" in some
folders.There is nothing in any of the folders in question. Nothing hidden. Nothing required by the system. Nothing running. Therefore (assumed) not accessed by anything that I've installed in the past 2 days. I can't see why anything would want to lock down those two folders.

They were locked down before my reinstall of Windows, so I am assuming there is another problem other than programs accessing/locking them for whatever reason.

Mike.
Mike (15)
469584 2006-07-09 05:48:00 Hi, if you have your copy of xp then boot with it in the drive and go to the recovery console from the prompt change to the directory where these files are located ie CD D:\ then type delete...... the path to the problem files press enter after each one. jenae (254)
469585 2006-07-09 06:10:00 try ccollomb.free.fr
might work
heni72847 (1166)
469586 2006-07-09 06:16:00 A bit of a wild guess here Mike, but I wonder if taking ownership (support.microsoft.com) of the folder/s might do the trick? FoxyMX (5)
469587 2006-07-09 08:04:00 try ccollomb.free.fr
might workWow nice tool :) There was nothing that had a 'lock' on my folders, but it said it could help anyway ;) and gave them option of deleting (and two or three other options), so I clicked Delete and away it went. Very odd, because I still don't know what exactly happened to those folders, or why I couldn't delete them.

Cheers,
Mike.
Mike (15)
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