If you ever run across a folder with files that you simply cannot delete, try this

Quandary said:

My solution is to boot a Linux image on my Ventoy USB and delete the protected file/folders.

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hsehestedt said:

I may have referenced this in another post in the past but thought that I would just create a quick post just for this topic.

I do a lot of work with Windows images and on occasion I will interrupt a process working with these images. That can literally result in tens of thousands of files that simply won't allow me to delete them. In the past I had tyo take ownership of the files and take a number of additional steps before I could delete those files. But one day I had a sudden realization: Robocopy can delete those files because it has special system permissions allowing it to delete those files. So, here is an easy way to clean out a folder of "undeletable" files.

Create an empty folder.
Use robocopy to mirror the contents of that folder to the problem folder. It is literally that simple.

Here is an example using a folder called BadFiles that needs to be cleared.

Batch:

md c:\EmptyFolder
robocopy c:\EmptyFolder c:\Badfiles /mir
rd C:\EmptyFolder

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I think if you came across a directory or a file you can't delete? Look at who owns it! If you don't own the object and have no any rights to remove it? You can't!

The proper way always!

Note: You can bypass this by Linux. But without consent of the real owner. If the file is owned by e.q. TrustedInstaller? (Is the highest user inside any Windows system. It is even higher then being an Admin. It is the Windows equivalent of root inside Linux.) Things can go wrong!!

Try to own the object first!

I ran against this problem several times. After an In-Place-Installment I always want to delete the Windows.old directory. Using the explorer as admin and delete dir? Fails because many files are owned by the TrustedInstaller. In this case the is a save workaround for this: Start cleanmgr.exe and mark that Windows.old directory. It wil now erase that directory. Why? Because the owner "TrustedInstaller" is doing this action.

Ik know. Some files are owned by someone else an sometimes not clear by whom...
Only in those cases you can revert to an series of old school and hard to understand DOS commands.

This is just an example I uses to remove a directory that I did not own ("User": S-1-5-21....etc did!!)
(CMD as admin) and execute a series of commands. (files? idem dito) Remove Dir is the dir you want to erase....

Batch:

set rmdir="<Drive>:<Path>\<Remove Dir>"
rem ========================================================================================================

rem >>>>>> 1 - Take ownership of the directory by running this command.
takeown /f %rmdir% /r /d y

rem >>>>>> 2 - Grant the local Administrators group full control over the folder and all subfolders/files.
icacls %rmdir% /grant Administrators:F /t /c

rem >>>>>> 3 - Remove any conflicting read-only or system attributes.
attrib -r -s -h %rmdir% /s /d

rem >>>>>> 4 - Delete the directory forcefully.
rmdir /s /q %rmdir%

rem ========================================================================================================

This is the proper and save way (KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! If it's a important Windows dir? Bye Bye dir and hello Windows Installation! ) to do things. I don't know how many of you can recall these complicated commands? But they are still there.
And as always: Be carefull once gone it is permanently gone!

hader said:

I think if you came across a directory or a file you can't delete? Look at who owns it! If you don't own the object and have no any rights to remove it? You can't!

The proper way always!

Note: You can bypass this by Linux. But without consent of the real owner. If the file is owned by e.q. TrustedInstaller? (Is the highest user inside any Windows system. It is even higher then being an Admin. It is the Windows equivalent of root inside Linux.) Things can go wrong!!

Try to own the object first!

I ran against this problem several times. After an In-Place-Installment I always want to delete the Windows.old directory. Using the explorer as admin and delete dir? Fails because many files are owned by the TrustedInstaller. In this case the is a save workaround for this: Start cleanmgr.exe and mark that Windows.old directory. It wil now erase that directory. Why because the owner "TrustedInstaller" is doing this action.

Ik know. Some files are owned by someone else an sometimes not clear by whom...
Only in those cases you can revert to an series of old school and hard to understand DOS commands.

This is just an example I uses to remove a directory that I did not own ("User": S-1-5-21....etc did!!)
(CMD as admin) and execute a series of commands. (files? idem dito) Remove Dir is the dir you want to erase....

Batch:

set rmdir="<Drive>:<Path>\<Remove Dir>"
rem ========================================================================================================

rem >>>>>> 1 - Take ownership of the directory by running this command.
takeown /f %rmdir% /r /d y

rem >>>>>> 2 - Grant the local Administrators group full control over the folder and all subfolders/files.
icacls %rmdir% /grant Administrators:F /t /c

rem >>>>>> 3 - Remove any conflicting read-only or system attributes.
attrib -r -s -h %rmdir% /s /d

rem >>>>>> 4 - Delete the directory forcefully.
rmdir /s /q %rmdir%

rem ========================================================================================================

This is the proper and save way (KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! If it's a important Windows dir? Bye Bye dir and hello Windows Installation! ) to do things. I don't know how many of you can recall these complicated commands? But they are still there.
And as always: Be carefull once gone it is permanently gone!

Click to expand...

OAT said:

I don't know what you guys are doing to your system but I've never had to delete a problematic file or folder in the decades I have used PCs.
Yes, I have had corruption and drives that have gone bad on me but this is different and expected.
In any case, @hader is absolutely correct, do it the right way.

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hsehestedt said:

I work with Windows images a LOT (every day), and I mount those images, often several images at once. Then I run my latest code for testing purposes. That code will sometimes fail in the middle of an operation due to a programming bug or faulty logic on my part (thus the need for testing). When it fails, it can leave tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of files behind sometimes.

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hsehestedt said:

The whole process of taking ownership is way too slow when dealing with tens of thousands of files. Robocopy gets around all of that because it has special permissions, so it does not matter who owns the files. I used to do it your way, but this works so much faster and easier and it works every single time.

In the meantime, I appreciate the other suggestions on methods of accomplishing this. I just thought that I would shgare this method because it will work on every Windows PC without a single piece of additional software and it is WAY faster than taking ownership (at least that is always the case for me).

TIP: If robocopy has to display every single file it is processing, the time to display all those files can be significant. To make it even faster add " > NUL" at the end of the robocopy line to supress output to the screen.

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chn97 said:

Sounds like you need DISM unmount and clean up commands rather than the force delete commands. But anyway.

Click to expand...

chn97 said:

Sounds like you need DISM unmount and clean up commands rather than the force delete commands. But anyway.

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