How to delete the undeletable files?

Ender

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2001
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I asked this a while ago but nothing worked, so I ask again. I have two executables that I'm trying to delete and nothing works. I've attempted to cut and paste - access denied. I'm attempted to take off the read-only property but I also get access denied. These two executables dis-allow me to properly uninstall a program, and it's very annoying! Any advice?
 

HappyPuppy

Lifer
Apr 5, 2001
16,997
2
71
You don't say what OS you are running. If you can boot to DOS, delete them from there. If you can't, then get yourself a good DOS bootdisk and do it.
 

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Super Moderator
Nov 27, 1999
65,128
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Merkon, I never read your original thread, but if you close all running applications, you should be able to delete any file that you wanted to. I hope this helps :)
 

Zim Hosein

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Super Moderator
Nov 27, 1999
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HappyPuppy, he's running XP Pro, it's in his "My Rig" sig :)
 

Dudd

Platinum Member
Aug 3, 2001
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Copy all the other files in that folder to a temp folder, then delete the original folder? I've had to do that to get rid of a file once.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,855
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Create a bootable floppy disk or CD, boot from that then delete all the C: files you want.
 

Ender

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2001
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I've tried closing all apps and then deleting, but it still does not work :(

I'm not all that familiar with DOS commands so I'm not fully aware on how to delete files from the console :eek:
 

MacBaine

Banned
Aug 23, 2001
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Originally posted by: Merkon
I've tried closing all apps and then deleting, but it still does not work :(

I'm not all that familiar with DOS commands so I'm not fully aware on how to delete files from the console :eek:

C:\

cd directory

C:\directory\

del file.exe

 

Mrburns2007

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2001
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I've had numerous problems with not being able to delete files on XP. I recommend just using the command prompt.
 

Ender

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2001
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Crap! I go into the proper folder, and type in del <file name>.exe and it gives me access denied?! :confused:

EDIT: Well one of them was deleted, but one continues to resist. Any advice?
 

kduncan5

Golden Member
Apr 22, 2000
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Shut down/reboot. After memory gets done counting up, tap the F8 key (usually). That should bring up a Menu giving you the option to boot into Safe Mode. You should be able to delete the offending files in Safe Mode. -kd5-
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
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Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Originally posted by: silverpig
su
rm -rf whatever.exe

:)

:confused: silverpig, please elaoborate [sp?] , thanks :)

It was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion to run linux.

su is the command to be the "superuser", basically god of the computer. You can delete anything you want (the kernel even) while the computer is running.

rm is the remove (delete) command
-rf means to do it recursively, and without prompting for errors
whatever.exe is whatever file he wanted to delete :)
 
Apr 5, 2000
13,256
1
0
Type this in: attrib -h -r -s FILENAME.EXTENSION
then del FILENAME.EXTENSION

That should work unless it's currently in use (If you're in a MS-DOS prompt window, boot to DOS and then do it)
 

NogginBoink

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
5,322
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If you're getting access denied, then the reason is that the filesystem permissions have denied you delete permissions to that file. It's pretty simple.

Assuming this is NT4/W2K/WXP, right click the file and select properties, go to the permissions tab, and ensure that you've got Full Control permissions on the file.

You may need to take ownership of the file to do that.

Yes, even administrators can be denied permissions to a file. But admins can take ownership of the file and give themselves permissions to the file.

The other option is that the file may be encrypted. If it is, you'll have to log in as the user who encrypted the file or perhaps as the recovery agent to delete the file.
 

lowtech1

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2000
4,644
1
0
md merkon
copy filename.ext merkon
deltree merkon

You mean:

md merkon
move filename.ext merkon
deltree merkon

But it will not work if the program is running or the account doesn't have enought right to the file. What you need to do is boot to safe mode or use a boot disk to erase the file. The best bet is to use silverping suggestion via a linux boot disk.