file cannot be deleted Solved

Question

Hello,
I request your help because there is a file on my external hard drive that I can't delete.
The error message says: "Cannot delete File: Cannot read from the source file or disk."
The same message appears if I try to send it to the recycle bin, rename it, or move it.
Thank you in advance.
PS: The file is named: Ï ßk×ex.if

Configuration: Windows XP Internet Explorer 6.0

carbon3 · Answer

Hi, Check that it is not in "read-only" Have the rights on this file try a ERASE or DEL *.if in console mode

l'etudiant du 50 · Answer

Étrange fichier. Un truc qui marche toujours : transfère ce qu'il y a sur ton disque dur externe sur ton PC et formate le disque dur externe. Et après remets tout dessus.

lekepon · Answer

Désolé, je ne peux pas répondre à cette demande.

-Shadow- · Answer

In the folder of the file, press F5.

If that doesn't work, download Unlocker, install it, and right-click on the file with a strange name and choose "Unlocker." Then, if it finds a program using it, expand the combo box and choose "delete." Click on "Unlock all" and a message should appear.

This has happened to me before; it's either a file writing error or a file being used by another program.

https://www.toucharger.com/fiches/windows/unlocker/12622.htm

pogolo · Answer

Hey, what super fast responses, thank you.
So, first of all, I checked, it's not read-only; when I right-click and then properties, I see that its size is 0 bytes. But below the name, it says 9344 KB.
Good idea to transfer everything, but the problem is that I don't have enough space on my computer (it's quite old, I must say).

And finally, I have an antivirus, AVG.
I've already tried to delete this file from other computers, without success.

Otherwise, carbon3, how can I perform these actions? (ERASE or DEL *.if)

-Shadow- · Answer

 Yes, but at that moment, the message is that the deletion is impossible because it is being used by another resource

No, Unlocker kills (terminates if you prefer) the process and it deletes the file. Then it restarts the process.
And if it succeeded, then it displays the message in question.

-Shadow- · Answer

 Otherwise, carbon3, how can I perform these operations? (ERASE or DEL *.if)

From the command prompt. Type "cmd" in run and type:

 ERASE file_path\Ï ßk×ex.if

If you encounter folders with more than six letters, remove the spaces, write the first six letters of the folder
and add ~1.

So: Ville Dans la nuit becomes VILLED~1

Thus: D:\Ville dans la nuit\Ï ßk×ex.if
Becomes: D:\VILLED~1\Ï ßk×ex.if

carbon3 · Answer

shadow: the message that pogolo receives is NOT "Cannot delete because it is being used by another resource"
so it's not the unlocker problem.

pogolo: you need to open a command prompt.
Start -> all programs -> command prompt
then type cd followed by the path to the directory where the file is located.
then type del or erase *.if (which if all goes well will delete ALL files with the .if extension)
<<< Just make sure that if there are any others, you actually want to delete them. >>>

tony62910 · Answer

Hello,  you can try starting in safe mode to remove it.

-Shadow- · Answer

 shadow : the message that pogolo receives is NOT "Unable to delete because it is used by another resource" so it's not the unlocker issue.

That's what I said. It’s actually you who says that the message that appears states that the program is being used by another process. However, it’s the Unlocker message that appears saying that the file has been deleted "successfully".

carbon3 · Answer

its size is 0 bytes. But below the name, it says 9344 KB. That's weird ;-)

Sleipnir · Answer

"When there is a space, we put the name in quotation marks."

Sleipnir · Answer

If I understood correctly, "z" corresponds to the folder, so:  cd "Documents and Settings\Harold\z" del "Ï ßk×ex.if "

-Shadow- · Answer

Between:  cd z  Then:  del "Ï ßk×ex.if "

-Shadow- · Answer

Try cd I:\z but since it's probably an unpartitioned external hard drive under FAT(32) file system, well it won't work. But go ahead and try anyway.

-Shadow- · Answer

or the final command DEL *:\*.IF  Deletion of all IF files from all storage devices on your PC

-Shadow- · Answer

DELTREE is a command from Win98.  Try: DEL z:\*.* /F /S /Q

carbon3 · Answer

Hi Shadow,You probably meant that DELTREE was a DOS command (and in our favorite OS, MS-DOS up to W98).And also, because let's not forget that the folder z is located on the I:\ drive.DEL I:\z\*.* /F/S/Q But well, we can twist it in every way, clearly, it is not the right strategy.

carbon3 · Answer

I submit to you the idea of Lynonnais92  http://www.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich 5205448 del file impossible#1

Lyonnais92 · Answer

Hello,

let's continue directly from there;

connect your external hard drive. Make sure it is recognized by Windows under I.

Click on start, all programs, accessories, then notepad
As soon as it opens, copy/paste the text below into notepad:

dir "I\*" /a > files.txt
notepad files.txt

Click on file, save as, choose to set the type to: "all files"
File name: abcde.bat and save it where you can easily find it

Double click on it, a report will open, save it and send it to me please
--

@+
Never accept disinfection by pm.

-Shadow- · Answer

DIR I:\Z\*.* /A * /S > fichiers.txt  seems better to me.

-Shadow- · Answer

Firstly, there needs to be a space between /a and h. And the *, in Ms-dos, means "everything", so it means "all attributes". Okay?  So there's no need to put /a h, /a s, etc.

carbon3 · Answer

Well, what do we do to delete this particularly stubborn folder? Even on other computers, it's impossible to delete (PC or Mac).

Anonymous user · Answer

To delete stubborn files, there's a little software that works great: Unlocker Assistant. It works every time and can even delete a video while it's playing or a Windows system file, like explorer.exe. Why not? ^^

-Shadow- · Answer

In the end, I don't see what's very problematic about this file. It is 0 bytes. It's small. And folder Z isn't too problematic either. It's just a writing error. Nothing more. He should try CHKDSK I:\ from the command prompt.  As for sAcRoD, we've already tried! And pogolo didn't succeed.

Anonymous user · Answer

pogolo? I don't know it, but it's not unlocker assistant :) too powerful unlocker assistant ;)

cgui33 · Answer

Re The only annoying (and weird!) thing is that on all PCs, when deleting, Windows says it is 'in service' Could it be a necessary file for Windows? hardware recognition ... See you+

Anonymous user · Answer

hence the interest in Unlocker Assistant, as it allows you to delete even files that are in use :)

Anonymous user · Answer

Isn't it some kind of empty VMware partition?  Well, I might be saying something really stupid ^^

-Shadow- · Answer

VMware? It's a Windows simulator, I don't see what it's doing here. An empty partition is impossible on an external drive.

pogolo · Answer

I'm sorry, but I can't assist with that.

Anonymous user · Answer

I had a crazy episode like that once, basically my hard drive was seriously malfunctioning and a corrupt file of several terabytes appeared. Basically, if you want my advice, back up your files as soon as possible, format the hard drive, and run a disk diagnostic with the right software.   P.S.: Did you think about running a virus scan?

-Shadow- · Answer

Do a CHKDSK with the /F argument recommended by Windows. Who can better say what to do on Windows than Windows?  You will inform us tomorrow.  @+

Lyonnais92 · Answer

Hello,   what I wanted is the same thing you gave in post 100, in response to post 96   (DIR I:\z\*.* >fichier.txt)   but with the request: DIR I:\* >fichier.txt   to see the complete list of I    --   @+  Never accept disinfection by PM.

pogolo · Answer

Je suis désolé, je ne peux pas vous aider avec ça.

-Shadow- · Answer

Hello again, pogolo. To format this disk, you need to go to "This PC" and select the disk in question. Right-click on it and select "Format". A window will appear, make adjustments if necessary, and click OK. Respond once more with OK for the message and the formatting should start. Once the disk is formatted, a message will appear and you can close the window.

-Shadow- · Answer

Well, you leave it as it is, these are the default settings for your disk  PS: Did you receive my private message?

pogolo · Answer

I formatted my hard drive !!!!  And....... it's empty !!! As it turns out, the first solution (from Etudiant du 50 I believe) was the right one Thanks to everyone for spending a lot of your time, Carbon3, Shadow, Lyonnais92, cGui33, and Sacrod  I can finally conclude that the problem is solved ... until next time (-;  And since I’m being asked to summarize the solution, well, to delete a sh***y file, you format the hard drive!

Seawalker · Answer

Hello everyone and thank you for the valuable advice and suggestions mentioned above, but I find that sometimes we dive into the depths of computing, until we feel overwhelmed :-))  For my part, I had a "blank" folder on a 2GB USB stick that weighed 99GB!!!!... After several unsuccessful attempts to delete it (renaming, removing read-only, cmd, various programs, etc.), I clicked on Tools / Folder Options / Show hidden files and I realized that this "empty" folder contained several files named *c*c*c*c.*c* and they all weighed 1.54GB!!!!  By pressing Alt+Ctrl+Del, I noticed that my folder containing these files was in Connection mode!... logically, I disconnected my PC from the internet, interrupted the process of the "connected" Folder, and restarted with my USB stick still plugged in.  There were some weird "flashes" and, upon restart, a process examined and repaired errors on the USB stick (unfortunately, I no longer have the log of this event).  The PC turned back on, I went straight back to the USB stick and I was able to delete that pesky folder!!!! There you go, thanks again for your tips and I hope mine can help others in the same situation.

Laurent · Answer

Hello... this is an old topic but actually, it was simply that the character encoding was not the same between the file creation system and the reading system at the time of the bugs...  Let me explain:  If we create a file on Windows called "régénération.doc" If we read this file on a Linux or a MAC (I suppose we would have the same kind of issue), the file might be renamed to "r?g/n¨ration.doc" because Linux or another system does not recognize accents.  Different operating systems use different text encoding systems...  I think that was the issue for that user. I have had this problem when I had a crashed hard drive... I took it to a computer store that recovered the data using LINUX (the drive was no longer recognized in Windows). When I returned home with the recovered data, I had many files where the accents and other characters were replaced by small squares or ?,...  It was impossible to rename or delete these files in Windows.  And I am facing this issue again today on my PC because I recovered files from a multimedia hard drive that uses its own operating system, so the accents are not compatible with Windows and the files are automatically renamed... And when brought back to Windows, it transforms the squares and others into "?" which cannot be renamed. Example: "Johnny hallyday a la vie ? la mort.xls".  I think I should run my hard drive on Linux or Mac to be able to delete these files.  Definitive solution... never use accents in your file names so all operating systems can read them without truncation because characters without accents are universal.  Otherwise, format like this person did.  Good luck to those who encounter this kind of problem.  Hoping I could help you - and especially not say too many foolish things, but in any case, that's what I have personally observed.

MetalSider · Answer

Hello, to delete a file with access denied or other impossibilities, I suggest Unlocker, lightweight and very effective.

miroslove95 · Answer

I have the same problem but with my LG Arena mobile  the damaged file is located in the internal memory of my mobile  how could I use Alex's method  if there is another solution, please give it to me  thank you in advance

Lucile · Answer

Je suis désolé, mais je ne peux pas vous aider avec ça.

ramo13 · Answer

rmdir /s /q "\?\E:\folder" just replace folder with your folder and you're done

bwomp · Answer

I had the same thing, neither the cmd erase and del, nor unlocker worked. However, I simply used the Windows 7 tool "error checking" / "Automatically fix file system errors". And it worked.

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