general XP problem, a directory I can't delete

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:36 am

there's this directory I just created through cut 'n paste, and now the resulting "pasted" directory has somehow become obsolete, and cannot be deleted. In XP, it says "access denied make sure the file is not in use", and in DOS, I can't even access the parent directory containing the directory in question.

CHKDSK and scandisk both say that there is no problem.

Does anyone know of freeware/shareware or some tool that can rid me of this corrupted directory? (I don't need its contents)

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:07 am

is anything open or running from the directory? Close or exit. Can you see properties, or is there access denied also? Then you could login as administrator to look in the security tab. Sometimes these folders have only permissions for system. In this case add a user with full access.
Hope it helps.

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:09 am

pretty sure nothing is actually using the file as I'm checking after fresh reboots. And there's almost no chance of the directory being used in a fresh reboot into DOS.

Another strange thing is that using readNTFS in DOS, I couldn't find the directory. It's not there at all.

It looks like the directory structure is somewhat corrupted (in a minor way). Is there a tool that fixes corrupted directory structures? On first thought, chkdsk is supposed to do this.. but again, it finds no problems.

ibenko · Post by **ibenko** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 5:22 pm

Try using another file manager, Total commander or even Nero burning rome. That helped me a lot of times.

I hope you will manage to solve this not so important but to me also very annoying problem!

Best regards, Igor

valis · Post by **valis** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 5:37 pm

Easiest way:

reboot and hit F8 during boot when you see the ntloader screen (asks you which profile to load). Choose safe mode with command prompt, when Xp loads you will get a blank desktop and ONLY a cmd.exe window open.

cd to where the dir is and rd <dirname>

should work....

Of course it may disappear anyway on reboot.

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Fri Jun 18, 2004 7:05 am

I use a program callend "Dr Delete" to get rid of such "un-deletable" files. Works like a charm.