Monday, November 10, 2008

How to delete an undeletable file in Windows?

As you might have already faced this issue many times, somehow Windows (XP or Vista) always has a problem to delete files or folders occasionally. What is wrong with Windows? I have no idea… It shouldn’t happen if we have close all the programs but somehow it doesn’t work.




Here are the few versions of our friend:
  • Cannot delete file: Access is denied
  • Cannot delete folder: There has been a sharing violation
  • Cannot delete file: It is being used by another person or program
  • Cannot delete folder: Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
So what we normally do is to “restart” our PC and delete the file or folder after restart but it is not efficient. So you may want to try the following method to delete the locked files or folders by Windows:

(1) Close all open programs

(2) Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
  • Start->Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt
(3) Kill the Windows Explorer (i.e. explorer.exe)
  • Select “Shut Down..” from the Start menu.
  • Hold CLTR+SHIFT+ALT and press the CANCEL button.
  • Go back to the Command Prompt Window and CD to the directory where you want to delete your files or folders (i.e. del /f, rd /s)
(4) Run again the Windows Explorer (i.e. Explorer.exe)
  • Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to run the Task Manager
  • Click File->New Task(Run…)
  • Type Explorer Open text box and click OK.
  • Close the Task Manager
Does it work? I hope so…

3 Comments:

Unknown said...

One of the common error messages is There has been a sharing violation that can be
easily fix. Use "LongPathTool" guaranteed fix for your problem.


ChampDog said...

But sometimes the problem is not due to the long path, will that still fix the problem?

Unknown said...

here are some error messages that can be fix by Long Path Tool:

Do you have error messages?, like :
Path too long
Error cannot delete file: cannot read from source file or disk
Cannot delete file: Access is denied
There has been a sharing violation.
Cannot delete file or folder The file name you specified is not valid or too long. Specify a different file name.
The source or destination file may be in use.
The file is in use by another program or user.
Error Deleting File or Folder
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
Error Copying File or Folder.
Cannot remove folder.
The filename or extension is too long.
Path too deep.
Destination Path Too Long.
Could not find this item.
Filename is not valid.
The file could not be accessed.
Windows Delete Path Too Long
Source Path Too Long Delete
The path you entered, is too long. Enter a shorter path.
File Name could not be found. Check the spelling of the filename, and verify that the file location is correct.


hope this helps..


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