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I’m trying to delete 2 folders currently located on my desktop. Problem is they wont delete. Ive tried everyway to delete them by checking the task manager and making sure they arent in use etc etc. When i attempt to erase them i get “cannot delete (folder name): access is denied. Make sue the disk is not full or write protected etc etc.” i tried using system restore and i tried to delete them in safe mode but both have failed. I run an XP machine. any suggestions would be greatly appericated. :/
Please give the full error message without typos. Are the folders empty when you try to delete them, or could it possibly be one of the files inside that won’t delete thus making you unable to delete the folder?
The folders are completey empty I assure you of this. I’m not a computer beginner soo ive tried that option. As for the error messege “Cannot delete (folder name): access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is not currently in use.” Yes ive made sure the file is not being used when deleting these files.
I’ve experienced that same problem and that error. I’ve found that if I try to delete the files real quick right after I boot up the computer it seems to work. I don’t know why but it worked for me.
Use Windows Commander. Usualy when windows cant delete a file, WC can. I’ve tried this.
And you might be surprised when you find out how many hidden files you have on your PC. Even if you turned on the “Show hidden and system files” option, there are still thousands of files you dont see.
For example:
I was looking for 1 GB missing from my hard drive. It appears to be used, but the sum of all folder sizes is 1 GB less than the used space on the disk… I found very deeply hidden folders and files in my Temp folder with the size of 1 GB, which cant be seen with windows explorer.
WC is the windows version of Norton Commander (DOS).I’m curious, did you make the folders? If you’re running XP Pro with permissions enabled and another user somehow placed a folder into your desktop folder, then you wouldn’t be able to delete it. This would explain the access denied, right?
I’m in full control of my computer. No i didnt make the folders, they came in a zip file from a website and everything in the zip including the zip got deleted except these 2 folders. Yes ive tried to redownload the same zip and tried to replace the folders on my desktop with the ones in the zip, but it errors out. :/
okay, now I know this sounds weird, but every time I have done this to delete nasty folders it works. On the folder before you try to delete it, right click and hit properties, just click on each header tab in the property window, then hit okay on the property window. Then drag the folder to your recycle bin and hit empty recycle bin. I can’t explain it, but it works for me, let me know if it works for you 😉
Ive tried all methods and all have failed. :/ someone told me to delete them through the command prompt but i can’t remember anything on how to use or type commands in the command prompt. Havent used it sense windows 98 days. I’m begging please someone help me out here i can’t get delete these folders from my desktop. 🙁
You can try it through the Windows MSDOS prompt first (Start>Run>Cmd), but if that fails you may need to boot directly into DOS to be able to delete the folder.
Once in DOS, all you need to do is navigate to your folders directory, in this case your desktop. I am going to assume you are using Windows XP in this case:
At the DOS Prompt, use “cd” to change directories. So if you start at C: then you need to type in “cd documents and settingsdesktop”. Once in your desktop directory, type in “rmdir foldername /s” and hit Y.
Good Luck.
Quote:quote:Originally posted by shifterYou can try it through the Windows MSDOS prompt first (Start>Run>Cmd), but if that fails you may need to boot directly into DOS to be able to delete the folder.
Once in DOS, all you need to do is navigate to your folders directory, in this case your desktop. I am going to assume you are using Windows XP in this case:
At the DOS Prompt, use “cd” to change directories. So if you start at C: then you need to type in “cd documents and settingsdesktop”. Once in your desktop directory, type in “rmdir foldername /s” and hit Y.
Good Luck.
If your not running Windows XP/2000, you’ll need to type “command.com” instead of CMD. And also, If your running any NT OS (WinNT4 / Win2000 / WinXP), you cannot boot into DOS, your disk is likely formatted under NTFS, meaning any version of MS-DOS won’t read your partitions. (FYI: NT DOS is just a command line shell, it’s not ‘true’ DOS.)
I have the same prob on a w2k server.. it won’t delete the folder.. I can’t even change properties, ’cause after applying it shouts.. ACCES DENIES
even with command prompt access is denied
not in windows explorer
i attribbed it with attrib -r -a -s -h /d /s in the parent folder than it says access denied.I won’t reboot the server with more the 250 sites of customers on it.
There is no service trying to read the folder .. to me it just seems empty but Windows won’t let it be deletedThe only solvation may be to do a checkdisk with a reboot. That solved it for me an other time.
But it still is ridiculous that one is not able to delete a folder
The truth is: If you deny ‘Everyone’ access to a folder in Windows NT, then this really means -everyone- (including the system administrator). If you also put a rule to allow the administrator everything (which is generally the case), this won’t matter, as ‘deny’ has a priority over ‘allow’.
Allow administrator
Deny everyone
This will result in the administrator not being able to get to the folder anymore.Is this fixable? Yes. Microsoft support can fix this with a special tool – for a lot of money.
What? Underground tools that can hack around NTFS file permissions? Yes… there are many. Don’t forget that Google is your friend. 🙂
Same problem on XP Home. Tried everything mentioned above & even in safe mode, I get the access is denied error in both DOS and Explorer. I had success deleting read-only shortcuts that were created by the same app that created the stubborn dir using del /f. I tried rmdir /? to see if there’s a force option for it but there isn’t.
When I open the folder’s properties in Explorer I see the read only box checked & when I uncheck it & click either apply or OK the attrib’s immediateley back again when I look at properties again. No success changing attributes through DOS either.
I’m not about to reinstall windows just to get a bad menu outta the start menu- but it’s the only problem on this machine I’ve yet to find a solution for, and it really bugs me.
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