How to delete what I wrote. How to delete a file or folder that won't delete

19.09.2024

Being the rightful owner of our computer, we naively think that it must obey us in everything. But no! Even such a simple task as deleting a file or folder can be quite nerve-wracking. How many times did this window appear when trying to empty an unnecessary/empty folder?

Such files and folders appear as a result of incorrect user actions. They can stay on your computer for a long time, take up space, and it is impossible to open, rename or delete it.

How to delete files and folders that are not deleted?

So, if when you try delete file or folder a dialog box appears, please read the message carefully. Perhaps the file is open in some program, which does not allow the system to delete it. For example, you are trying to delete a movie that is either still running in the player (the process is not stopped), or the file is being distributed via µTorrent. Or you are trying to delete a folder that contains music currently playing in the music player.

First of all, you should restart your computer, usually after this the folder is deleted without problems. If the file is still not deleted, you should carefully review the running programs; perhaps the process is not stopped, or the folder may store encrypted data, in which case you need to uncheck the “encrypt data” box. Another option for the inability to delete a folder is if its name matches the name of the system folder. I hope everyone remembers that deleting system folders is not recommended? Then you need to check for viruses, since some viruses can block files, protecting them from being deleted. Attention! Important information, if you delete a folder, and it appears again and again on your computer, then most likely it is a virus, and you need to either install an anti-virus program, or update it, or install a new anti-virus program and perform a full scan for viruses. Another method for deleting such a folder is to try cutting it out and moving it to a flash drive; later the flash drive can be formatted, the main thing is not to forget that formatting will delete all information from the flash drive, so the necessary files must be transferred to your PC.

So you can use one more method. You should go to the folder properties, and in the “Tools” section, select the “View” submenu, uncheck the “Use simple file sharing” option and save the changes.

In the “Security” tab, you should open “Advanced” and in this menu uncheck all the checkboxes for the reading and execution items. Save the changes and try deleting the folder again.

You can also use the Total Commander explorer to delete; it displays blocked files and folders. If you are using this explorer, you should launch it, then press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to launch Task Manager. Once you find an encrypted file in Total Commander, you should also look for it in the processes displayed in the task manager. If such a process has been found, then it should be stopped, after which delete file.

There are also special programs for folders. One of them, Unlocker, is very popular. Once you download and install it, you can move, rename, combine and delete locked files and folders. When installing the program, you should carefully read the test and remove unnecessary checkboxes, otherwise you risk installing an unnecessary start page for your browser and useless software. After installing the program, you right-click on the file or folder to be deleted, select “Unlocker” in the context menu

Then a window appears

at the top of which all the processes that are currently working with this file are listed, and at the bottom in the context menu you can choose what to do with this file, delete it, copy, rename or move it. For deleting a folder you need to stop processes either through the Task Manager or in the program itself. In the program, after selecting the necessary files, click on “Unblock all”.

Well, that’s all, now the annoying folder can be deleted without difficulty!

I can only wish you success in the fight against folders that cannot be deleted!

Review of the Unlocker program for Windows, as well as its analogues. Detailed instructions on how to forcefully delete files and folders that cannot be deleted: by closing processes that block deletion.

Description of the Unlocker program

Unlocker is an effective program for deleting undeletable files in the Windows OS environment. It bypasses system restrictions and points the user to processes that block access. These processes interfere with deletion, resulting in files and folders that are not normally deleted.

Unlocker is one of the few utilities that has a clear interface in Russian. This is partly why the program is very easy to use. In Unlocker, you can drag files into the window and immediately delete the files, killing unnecessary processes. The right column displays the current status of the file or folder:

"not blocked" - you can delete an undeletable file without forcing other processes to close.
“blocked” - Unlocker will tell you which processes are preventing you from forcibly deleting a folder (file), after which you can force close them and perform the desired operation.

Main features of the Unlocker program

force deletion of files and directories on disk
deleting folders and multiple files at the same time
viewing processes that block removal in the usual way

Scenarios when the Unlocker utility can be useful

access to the file or folder is denied (the program is being used by another process)
there are connections to the file via the local network
the source or destination path is being used by another application
the file is occupied by another system process

In general, if a folder or file is not deleted, Unlocker is a universal and simple tool for forcing deletion.

Further, in the instructions, we will tell you how to delete undeletable files quickly and safely. Note that we are talking about a program called IObit Unlocker. There is an application of the same name on the Internet (Emptyloop Unlocker), but it has not been developed since 2013, and the official website is inaccessible. As for Unlocker from the developers of IObit, this product is in development and can be downloaded from the link below.

Where to download the Unlocker program

You can download Unlocker, a program for deleting undeletable files, on the downloads page. Link on the right.

Although the latest version of Unlocker 1.1 was released in 2015, there are no compatibility issues on newer versions of Windows. The list includes Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP.

The Unlocker program is available in two versions: Portable and standard installation (IObit Unlocker 1.1 Final). The Portable version can be installed anywhere. In this case, the standard version of Unlocker will be installed in the system Program Files folder.

There is no particular difference where you download the program from: in both cases, Unlocker can be downloaded for free.

How to forcefully delete an unremovable file or folder

Let's figure out together how the program works. It consists of one window. To forcefully delete a folder or file:

add files by clicking on the "Add" button at the bottom of the window
Alternatively, you can drag files or folders into the Unlocker window

In the list you will see the added files and the status - "blocked" or "not blocked". Accordingly, unblocked data can be deleted without using Unlocker. We are more interested in the second option.

So, how to delete a folder that won't be deleted?

Select the line with the file or folder.
Check the "Force" option
Click the "Unblock" button.
Unlocker will kill processes blocking access to file operations

How to delete an undeletable file yourself without harming other processes

Advice. The Unlocker program is not omnipotent. If you add a system path, a message along the lines of "I can't delete the folder" will appear. In addition, you must soberly assess the danger of deleting files and clearly understand what you are deleting.

If the file is not deleted, it is not necessary to forcefully kill the processes. Let's say you are editing text and want to delete a certain file. Unlocker will figure out that you need to close the Word.exe (word processor) process to unlock it. As a result, you will lose the file you are currently editing. In fact, there may be other scenarios, but the essence is the same: if you kill processes en masse, this can lead to negative consequences.

The best way to delete a file from your computer is to add it to iObit Unlocker, look at the processes that are interfering with the deletion and complete them correctly: close applications while saving open documents. This is a definite advantage of Unlocker: you can always control the process.

Lockhunter

Developer: Crystal Rich Ltd.
Website: http://lockhunter.com/

Lockhunter is a program for deleting folders and files that are not deleted for a reason unknown to you. Often (as you can see with Unlocker) this is due to processes blocking access to the objects being deleted. Lockhunter is able to identify processes that are blocking access to files. Unlike similar tools, files and folders are deleted into the trash, so you can restore them at the right time. By the way, the main purpose of this utility is to remove viruses and malware: these harmful applications like to block access to themselves for the purpose of self-preservation.

How to force delete a folder or files using Lockhunter

This method will allow you to delete a system folder or file occupied by other processes. The technique will be useful in the accelerated destruction of viruses.

We indicate in the main program window the location of the folder (file) for forced deletion. The list displays the processes that are blocking the items.
We remove processes that block files by clicking on the UnlockIt!
Select the folder and press the DeleteIt! for complete removal.

Malwarebytes FileASSASSIN

Website: https://www.malwarebytes.com/fileassassin/

FileASSASSIN is a useful program for deleting files that are not deleted in the standard way, without stopping processes. Here is a list of errors that this program can solve in your favor:

File not deleted: access denied
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected
The file is currently in use
The source or destination of the file can be used
The file is being used by another program or user

Sysinternals Process Monitor

Website: https://technet.microsoft.com/ru-ru/sysinternals/processmonitor.aspx
Developer: Mark Russinovich

To a large extent, this tool is intended for in-depth examination of Windows processes, and can only be recommended to experienced users. However, this professional task manager monitors not only processes, but also threads, the file system and the Registry. If the file is not deleted, Process Monitor will help identify dependencies and then smoothly delete, for example, a system file or folder.

Removing Undeletable Files: Questions and Answers

The file in the Windows folder is not deleted. What to do?

Answer. If you want to remove an item with a system path from this folder, you will not be able to do this even with iObit Unlocker. As I already said, the program does not know how to delete Windows system files - powerful protection is triggered at the kernel level.

Files from the flash drive are not deleted. Do I need to download Unlocker in a portable version to a flash drive?

Answer. Not necessarily. The standard version of Unlocker is quite suitable for these purposes. You can drag files into the program window, kill processes and then quietly delete the files.

I downloaded Unlocker from the official website, but the program differs from that described in the instructions. What to do, how to delete an undeletable folder?

Answer. The fact is that you downloaded another program (from the developer Emptyloop), although it has the same name. In principle, it’s not a big problem, this program has similar functionality. If you are not satisfied with it, just download iObit Unlocker from the link given at the beginning of the article.

You decide to delete files or folders on your Windows computer. When trying to delete, the system reported an error: “This item could not be found.”

Sometimes the folder name is something like "New Folder". If you look at the end of the title, you will notice a space. If you have Windows 8, 8.1 or even 10, try to create a folder that ends with a space and you will see it automatically disappear.

This is a problem!

In previous versions of Microsoft's Windows, such as XP or Vista, the system allowed users to create a file or folder with a trailing space.

For example, you have a “New Folder” (look at the end of the name!) and you decide to delete it in Explorer. Windows will try to erase the folder (without the space), which will result in a "This item could not be found" error.

Deleting unremovable files or folders: the easiest way

So, let's see how to clean your computer of unnecessary and problematic junk:

Click on the "Windows" button and select "Command Prompt" (open it with administrator rights).
Then find the file folder you want to delete.
Now type "cd", copy the location of the folder or file, and paste it into the command prompt window as follows (just change the username): "cd C:\UsersYourUserNameDesktop". Then press enter.
After this you will see that you are inside the folder because the path has changed. Now type “dir/x” and then press “Enter”.
After this, you will see a list of files in the folder. Find the data you can't delete. In our case it is AFTERE~1.
Now, once you find the file, see if it has a specific name like ABCD~1 rather than the actual one.
Enter the following line, just change the file name, “rmdir/q/s” and then write the name of your file. It should be similar to the one above. Press "Enter".
Finally, you have successfully deleted the folder. Go ahead and check it out.

So, you have decided to remove the hated folder from the system, but the latter, as luck would have it, reports that it cannot do this. There are several reasons for this.

The main one is the involvement of folder data in some running process.

It will not be possible to delete the “screenshots” folder due to the fact that one or more of its files are currently used in the Windows system.

You probably don’t know which one, so the only correct solution is to reboot the device.

Important! We recommend rebooting using the Start button. As a result, you will save important documents that were in progress. If you choose to force a restart using the “Reset” option, you will lose all data.

System check

In case you do not want to restart, we recommend that you check whether the running program is present in the folder.

For example, you need to get rid of Skype. However, you did this not using the control panel, but by deleting the folder with all the contents of the program.

Let's look at this option.

Step 1. First of all, you need to open the folder. Go to this address: “Drive C/Program Files/Skype”. As a result, the following picture will open.

Step 2. When you click “Delete” the system will report the following.

Because the program is open and running, you will not uninstall it. The system blocked this opportunity. In addition, it is present in the “Task Manager”, more precisely in the processes tab.

Step 3. First, close the program and cancel the task. As a result, the message should not appear again.

To do this, log out of Skype, and then open the task manager using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Alt+Delete”. Find the program and select the "End process" option.

A window will appear asking you to confirm the action (it is not available in the latest version of the system). Click on completion again. We hope this option helps you, and if not, then try running a virus scanner.

Note! The advice we offer will be useful in all analog cases.

Viruses

It also happens that it is not possible to delete a folder because the computer has come under the influence of a malware, Trojan, or dangerous code.

It is worth noting that it is not only the Internet that is to blame for this. The virus also infects the device through a flash drive.

What to do with a non-deletable folder on an external drive? As you might have guessed, using the full power of an antivirus scanner.

Launch the program and select the option to check the flash drive. Then try to delete the folder. If unsuccessful, proceed to format the device.

Important! You should know that formatting will permanently erase all data from the flash drive.

This process is simple and involves the following steps:

Step 1. Open the menu by right-clicking on the drive and find the format option.

Open the menu by right-clicking on the drive and find the option “Format…”

Step 2. Then the settings will open:

storage capacity;
file system type;
drive name;
formatting method;
start of the process.

Pay attention to the file system type. By default, FAT 32 is defined. It can be read by any device, and not only those running Windows.

Come up with a name of your own. This will not change the parameters.

To make the formatting process more efficient, use deep cleaning. Then click "Start" and wait.

It seems that you have easily overcome the problem and will no longer have to deal with unwanted files or folders that cannot be deleted.

Video - How to delete a folder if it cannot be deleted

To enable data cataloging in Windows, as well as in other operating systems, a tree structure is used, which is a set of nested special file container objects called folders. In Windows, folders can be system folders, storing files of the operating system itself, or they can be user-defined or program folders, that is, those created by third-party applications.

As a rule, the user can do whatever he wants with folders of the second type; he also has a lot of powers when working with program directories, for example, he can manually delete the folder remaining on the disk after uninstalling the application, but there are cases when the folder cannot be deleted by normal way. There may be several reasons for this. Most often this happens because the user does not have the necessary access rights; the directory may also be held by some process, may have an incorrect name, the path is too long, etc.

The folder is not deleted due to lack of administrator permission

Let's look at how to delete a folder if the action asks for permission from the administrator. This problem is most often encountered by users working under a regular or guest account, but this is also possible when you yourself are the computer administrator.

In the first case, to delete a folder, you will have to enter the password of the PC owner’s account, since the system will constantly ask you for it, or use the universal method, which will be discussed at the end of the article.

But what should you do if the folder is not deleted when working under an administrator account?

The reason may be that you either do not own it or do not have the appropriate access rights. Open the folder properties, switch to the “Security” tab and click the “Advanced” button in the window that opens.

In the new window, opposite the “Owner” line, click on the “Change” link.

In the next window, click the “Advanced” button. Another window will open.

Leave the object type in it as “User”, then click the “Search” button and select the user you want to make the directory owner from the list that appears at the bottom.

Click "OK" and "OK" again.

After the owner has been replaced, check the box next to “Replace owner of subcontainers and objects” and save the settings.

Next, you will need to give the new owner full permissions to the folder. Click “Edit” in the properties window, select the desired user in the permission changes window, grant him full access rights and save the settings.

After this, the folder should be easily deleted.

Note: Folders owned by the system service are deleted in the same way. First, the owner of the folder is changed, then he is granted (if necessary) full rights and the folder is deleted.

The folder is being used by another program

Like any other file system object, a directory may not be deleted because it is being used by some process. How to delete a folder in this case? The first thing you need to try to do is identify the process that is holding it, the second thing is to forcefully terminate it using Task Manager or another specialized utility. In most of these cases, when the folder is not deleted, Windows writes that it is being used by another program, and the name of this program is usually indicated in the message box.

But it may also be that the program name will not appear. In such a situation, the utility can be a great help Process Explorer, included with the Sysinternals administration tools. Run the utility (it's portable), select from the main menu Find – Find Handle or DLL.

Enter the name of the folder to be held in the “Handle or DLL substring” field and click “Search”. In a couple of seconds you will get the name of the process, its PID in the Task Manager and the full path to the object used by the process.

By the way, using the utility, you can end the process and then delete the folder itself.

The system says that it could not find this element

Among the “undeletable” folders there is a special group that belongs to the so-called ghost objects. The difficulty here lies in the fact that it is not always possible to identify the reason for the appearance of such an object. This could be an incorrect (long or reserved) name, the action of a malicious program, another process blocking it, or damage to the file system. We already know how to check whether a process is blocking, now let’s try to figure out what to do if the folder is not deleted from the desktop with the message “this item could not be found.”

If the folder has a system reserved name, such as COM or PRN, you can delete it using the command line. Launch the CMD console as an administrator and run the following command in it:

rd //./Disk:/full path to the folder

To delete a “non-deletable” folder with a too long name, you first need to know its short alias name. This is done again using the command line. Team cd /d (path) go to the parent directory of the problematic directory and print out the names of all the objects it contains using the command dir/x/n.

Note: if the folder is on drive C, the key /d does not need to be used in a jump command.

In our example, a folder with a name consisting of many dots has a short name 782F~1. Knowing the alias, we can safely delete it:

rd C:/Users/compik/Desktop/782F~1

A case that deserves special attention is when a folder is not deleted not because it has the wrong name or is being held by a system process, but because it simply does not exist, which may be indicated by the absence of an object in the command line list or the LiveCD file manager. This may indicate damage to the file system, therefore, before taking any further action, the disk must be checked for errors with the command CHKDSK.

Action of viruses

Less likely, but viruses that have entered the system can create a similar problem. Their action may be indicated by the constant automatic re-creation of the folder after its deletion using LiveCD or special utilities, as well as the presence of suspicious hidden files, executable or configuration, in the folder itself. The solution to the problem in such cases is standard - a full scan of the computer with at least two anti-virus scanners, preferably carried out in offline mode before loading the operating system.

Invalid attributes

Another possible reason why a folder is not deleted is that the system and read-only attributes are set for it. It’s easy to check the presence of such “holding” attributes; just run the command attrib [full path to the folder] in the command line. The presence of the S or R keys will indicate that the folder is read-only or system. To unlock a directory, run the following command in a command prompt running as administrator:

attrib -r -s D:/Private /d /s

In this example, we removed the “Read Only” and “Hidden” attributes for the Private directory at the root of drive D. After changing the attributes, the folder can be deleted.

If the folder is not deleted from the desktop or any other location, you can try using the free Unlocker utility. This lightweight and extremely easy-to-use tool allows you to remove files and folders locked by system and third-party processes, it can also be useful when deleting objects that require higher access rights than local administrator rights, problems sharing files and folders, and other errors .

How to delete a folder in Windows 7/10 using Unlocker? Very simple. During the installation process, the utility is built into the Explorer context menu, so to delete an object you just need to right-click on it and select the “Unlocker” option in the menu. If the object is not deleted immediately, a window will appear in which you can select the desired action, such as deleting, renaming and moving. If a file or folder is locked by a system process that cannot be closed immediately, the utility will offer to delete the object when the computer restarts.

Above, we figured out why a folder may not be deleted from the computer, and at the same time we looked at the main ways to solve the problem. In conclusion, we suggest considering another way to delete locked folders. Its main advantage is its versatility, since it allows you to gain almost unlimited access to the computer’s file system. For this you will need any LiveCD based on Linux or WinPE with a built-in file manager. Having set the appropriate priorities in the BIOS, boot from such a disk, use the built-in Explorer to find the blocked object and delete it.

Any computer user has at least once encountered a situation where, when trying to delete a folder (or file), the Windows operating system does not allow this, displaying a message stating that they are open in another program.

It would seem that nothing could be simpler: just close all active applications and the obstacles to deleting an unnecessary folder will be eliminated. But it often happens that even after closing all programs, the operating system still gives out the same annoying message.

There may be many reasons for this, the main ones being the following:

system error;
actual use of the object by another program;
data corruption;
use of a folder or file by the system;
presence of viruses or malicious files.

And deleting unnecessary objects is often simply necessary, since they take up space and sometimes can even significantly slow down the performance of the entire system as a whole. What to do in such cases?

How to delete a folder if it says that it is open in another program

If, after closing all programs and applications, the operating system continues to believe that the folder is occupied by another process, you will have to use more complex actions to delete it. There are several ways to solve the problem:

using the task manager;

using a special utility;

entering safe control mode;

using the console and special commands.

Since the reason why a folder cannot be deleted is not always obvious, you will have to apply these methods sequentially.

Often the best answer to this question is to simply restart the computer. It’s not for nothing that professional programmers have a saying: “seven troubles – one reset.” Often, after restarting, any version of the operating system can easily delete unnecessary objects.

Using Task Manager

If even after a reboot the notorious message continues to appear when trying to uninstall, then most likely some program or application continues to work in “hidden” or “sleep” mode.

In this case, turning to the built-in system task manager can help. It is called by pressing the key combination “Ctrl”, “Alt” and “Delete”. The window that appears will display all running applications and work processes.

By switching between the corresponding tabs, you can stop the operation of a particular program by right-clicking on it.

If it is not known which program is using the folder to be deleted, then the most effective way is to stop all running applications (“cancel task”). Then you should try to remove it again. There are still questions on the topic of how to delete a folder on a computer if the system says that it is open in another program, then read on.

Pay attention! Sometimes problems with deleting unnecessary objects are associated with blocked rights. Sometimes Windows requires the user to have higher hierarchical authority for operations with certain objects. In this case, you must log in as (or with rights) an administrator and the operation to delete the required objects will be successful.

Application of special programs and utilities

If the methods listed above do not have the desired effect, you can use a specialized program. One of the most popular, powerful and effective free utilities of this kind is Unlocker.

Using this uninstaller is quite simple. After downloading and installing the program, when you select an object to be deleted with the right mouse button, the corresponding line appears in the drop-down context menu. All you have to do is click on it, select the “no action” option, click “delete” and confirm by clicking “ok”.

After the manipulations have been performed, complete deletion of the unwanted folder should become available after a reboot.

Other ways to delete folders and files

There are alternative methods for deleting files and folders that require certain knowledge in using a computer, special programs and system files.

Using Safe Mode. The advantage of this method is that in safe mode, Windows does not load system dialog libraries. This is important in cases where the system is infected with a virus. To log in, you must press the F8 key several times when you turn on the computer. Then you need to select “safe mode”. A black screen should appear, without wallpaper or other embellishments. Now you can try to delete the unnecessary folder in the usual way. After which you need to reboot the system.
System rollback. When you click “Start” - “Run”, a command line appears, into which you need to enter the command “msconfig” and click “ok”. The “System Configuration” window will appear on the monitor. In the “General” tab, you need to select “Run System Restore”, then “Restore the computer to an earlier state”, then “Next”. On the calendar that appears, you need to select a date on which the folder to be deleted did not yet exist. This operation may lead to the loss of some information, but personal and system information will not be affected.
You can try typing chkdsk c:/f/r in the command line and pressing Enter. Here "c" is the drive name. If the non-deletable folder is on another drive, then you need to enter its name. After the disk scan is completed, its results will be displayed on the monitor. Next, enter the command exit and press the Enter key. After the system reboots, you can try to delete the folder in the usual way.

Thus, you can solve the problem of the inability to delete a folder or file when the Windows operating system (latest versions, starting with XP) writes that they are occupied by another program using various methods. Try to perform the operations listed above in order. Most likely, one of the methods will achieve the desired effect!