Can't delete file or folder?

For anyone having a problem with a file or folder that they cant delete, here is some info on that sort of problem. Also, I have provided a list of programs that will help with that problem and also the websites where you can get these programs.
I know that this has caused me grief from time to time so if i can help out just one person, its worth the effort, so here goes.

If it's a file with a huge filename, move everything else out of the directory and then in a command prompt at that directory try:
ren *.* bad.tmp Then try to delete the bad.tmp.

Other times all you need to do is change the name of the file to a small name and then delete it. Other times you also have to right click on the file, go to properties and take the check mark off of "read only".

Or move everything in that folder out of it then just delete the whole folder together.

Or re-start the computer, keep pressing F8 while it's re-starting and select "enter safe mode". Now you can delete the file and restart back into "normal mode"!

Another trick i have learned is that sometimes the file is simply too deep into the system. It amounts to too many folders. Here's and example. You have a folder called archive with files in it, inside of archive is another folder called pics, inside that is another folder called country, inside is another folder called state, inside that another folder called city, inside that another folder called north, and on and on. Sometimes the system cant handle too many folders too deep into the system.
This has happened to me and i think its because i have my win xp pro set up using NTFS and then i have a few external hard drives set up as fat32 and a few thumb drives also as fat32. When these get moved from my main hard drive to an external hard drive i sometimes run into problems not being able to delete a file or set of files.
What i do in that case is to move the folder and files closer to the root of the drive. If the drive letter is f, then i move the folder right to f: and not inside of any other folders, then i delete it and the folder and files are then deleted.


http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm
delinv prog
http://www.downloads.subratam.org/KillBox.zip
killbox prog
http://www.jrtwine.com/Products/DelFXPFiles/index.htm delfpx file prog
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
unlocker prog
http://cyberiapc.com/spywaretools/drdelete.zip
dr delete prog
http://www.gibinsoft.net/ - move on next boot -
i use this prog, works great

I haven't used any of the programs listed above except "move on next boot" and "killbox". Use all of these at your own risk. If you exercise care you should be fine.

Hope this info helps at least one person!

nork

[SallyT]

Hi Nork
I'm having trouble deleting a file called thumbs.db. I am running vista but I back up my files to a server running Linnux. I have a folder that contains my web site on my Vista PC and backed up to the server. On the Linnux server a file appears called thumbs.db that does not appear in the original folder on my PC even though I have hidden files and folders visible. This is not a problem as such as it is only a small file but the problem is I can't delete it as I keep getting a message to say it is open in another program. I have rebooted both my PC and the server but no difference. I don't know how to restart the server in safe mode as it does not have a keyboard attached. I have tried accessing it in DOS but it still won't delete the file for the same reason. Each time I back-up a new version of my web site to the server (I usually keep the 3 last versions) I find I am unable to completely remove an old version as it contains one of these thumbs.db files. What should I do please?

SallyT