How to remove it is not removed. Solving the problem with your own efforts. Checking write protection

Inability to delete a folder or separate file applications - a common problem in OS Windows, from old XP version to the new “ten”. If you're trying to delete a file without closing the program, that's one thing. In this case, it is enough to close the running application, for example, a game, and the issue will be resolved. Well, in other cases it will be necessary to use certain actions using system or using software methods.

You often encounter these errors when trying to delete a file or an entire folder:

the file cannot be deleted because it hangs in the task manager (occupied by a process);
the file cannot be deleted because it is open in some program;
Administrator permission is required to perform the action.

There are a number of ways in which you can remove required file or folder. This can be done both by means of the system and special utilities and programs.

Before you begin the process, make sure that deleted file won't be the reason unstable work operating system. When cleaning your computer from unnecessary “garbage”, do not delete system files, without which its stable operation is impossible.

Files occupied by a process can be deleted both using the system itself and third party programs. In the article we will tell you and show with screenshots how such files can be deleted in Unlocker, DeadLock and Live CD. The first two programs are free and suitable for untrained users.

If you are trying to remove files such as hiberfil.sys, the methods discussed in this article will not apply to them. In this case, you need to read the instructions for disabling “hibernation”, energy saving mode PC operating system or by setting the hidden system swap file pagefile.sys. Deleting the Windows.old folder may also help.

Deleting a file without additional programs

If a file cannot be deleted because it is occupied by a process, the system will notify you about this. In this case, the notification will contain the name of the process due to which deletion is impossible. Most often, the files are “occupied” by the main program process Windows Explorer. And if the file is “freed”, it will be easy to delete.

You can close the process in the task manager. To run it, do the following:

If you have Windows XP or Seven, press the combination Ctrl keys+Alt+Del.
If you have "eight" or "ten", press Win+X and select task manager.

See what process is occupied by the desired file. By deleting the task, you can easily delete it.

But to delete a file occupied by the main process Explorer programs, it’s not enough, just remove the task. It will only have to be removed using command line. First, run it, remove the explorer.exe task, and then delete it by typing the del command full_path_to_your file.

Now for the return standard view Desktop, you need to restart the main one Windows process Explorer. This is done in the task manager. On the File tab, select Run new task" and in the window that opens, specify "explorer.exe".

The process is running again, and the desktop looks standard.

Removing a locked file using a bootable USB flash drive or disk

Boot the operating system from any Live CD, such as bootable flash drive, USB drive, from the OS recovery disk. When booting from a Live CD, either the command line or the standard GUI operating system. When you boot the OS from any USB drive, the hard drive partitions may have different letters. To avoid mistakes when deleting a file, it is better to use the dir command. For example, the command "dir d" will show all folders stored on that drive.

If you boot the system from a flash drive or installation disk for “seven” and “eight”, after loading the language selection window or at another stage, launch the command line using the Shift and F10 key combination. But you can also use System Restore. Here you can see a similar situation with changing drive letters, so don't forget to use the dir command as well.

Using DeadLock to Unlock and Delete Files

Many users who previously resorted to using the free Unlocker program are gradually switching to Alternative option- DeadLock. IN Last year together with the Unlocker distribution kit are downloaded and unnecessary programs, which are installed on the computer without the user’s knowledge. The program is also perceived ambiguously antivirus programs and browsers.

The free DeadLock utility works on the same principle: it removes the lock and deletes files. The declared functions also include the ability to change the owner of a file, but we have not tested this.

So, how does the program work? If a file cannot be deleted because it is occupied by a program process, launch DeadLock and select File. Now add your file to the program list and click the mouse. Now you have three actions available to you: Unlock, Remove and Move.

The peculiarity of DeadLock is that after unlocking the file, it does not add this action to the Explorer program.

Free Unlocker to unlock files that won't be deleted

Until some time, as we already wrote above, the Unlocker program enjoyed great love from users. It easily, without problems and quickly deleted any file occupied by the process.

Using the program is easy: click on the file you want to delete and unlock it.

The program works the same way as DeadLock: it kills the process and then deletes the file. But it also has distinctive advantages: the program is able to record even those processes that are not shown by the dispatcher.

Why is the file or folder not being deleted?

The official website of the operating system developer corporation provides little information about why it is sometimes impossible to remove specific folders and files.

What may be preventing you from deleting a file or folder?

You may not have enough rights to edit the file and folder and then delete it. The file may not be deleted also due to certain settings PC administrator.

Another option is also relevant - when the file works in specific program. The problem may be resolved if you close all running applications.

Why when I try to delete a file does Windows say the file is in use?

If, when deleting a file, the system gives an error about its use by the program, you need to close it. For example, you want to delete a folder with Word, but you can’t because this moment you are working with a document from this program. Therefore, if you close the document, the folder will be deleted. Or you are trying to delete files while someone else is working on them (if you have a home network).

After deleting all files, an empty folder remains

The solution to the problem is closing all programs or restarting the PC.

Friends, this often happens when certain files are not deleted. And the system writes that this file or the folder is occupied by another process. This can happen both in Windows XP and in Windows 7, 8, 10. Today we will look at troubleshooting methods similar problem, When files are not deleted.

So, imagine, you installed some program on your computer, used it, and you didn’t like it. What are your actions? Of course, delete it. After uninstallation, the program was allegedly removed, but the folder with some program files remained. When you try to delete such a file, an error appears:

Let's look at ways in which you can delete files that cannot be deleted using standard means.

1st method. Simplest
If the file is not deleted, restart your computer and try deleting it again. In many cases this helps. If the problem persists, then read below.

2nd method. Task Manager
In the operating room Windows system 7 and XP, to get to the Task Manager, you need to press the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del.
In Windows 8 and 10, just press the combination Windows keys+ X and select Task Manager from the menu that appears.

The Task Manager we called will open, where you need to find the process that is using the file and remove the task from it. Then try deleting the file again.

3rd method. Using a boot disk or flash drive
The next method is to start the computer with LiveCD or a bootable USB flash drive and then deleting the file or folder. In the first case, we need to use a standard graphic Windows interface to find and delete the required file, or use the command line. If you are using Windows 7, 8 or 10, then during installation you can open the command line by pressing Shift + F10. There is also “System Restore”, thanks to which you can return the computer to its previous state. By the way, the drive letters may be different, so use the dir c: command to display the contents of that drive. Thanks to this, you can easily understand what kind of local disk it is.

4th method. Deleting files in safe mode
It's very simple here. You need to go to safe mode, find the required file or folder and delete it. In safe mode, only operating system programs are launched, while all your installed third-party utilities (messengers, drivers, antiviruses, etc.) do not start. Therefore, the probability of successful removal required file very high. I already wrote. If you have Windows 7, then read.

5th method. Usage special program Unlocker
This program, called Unlocker, helps delete files that are used by some process. Very useful utility, coping with her tasks with a bang. You can download it at https://yadi.sk/d/PkczjpOKjbeje

When the program downloads, install it.

The essence of the Unlocker program is to unload from RAM the processes that are used by the file. The program can find and terminate a process that is even hidden in the Task Manager. In general, an excellent utility that every system administrator should have.

6th method. Using third-party file managers.
Here, too, I think it’s clear, to delete you just need to use file manager, For example Total Commander or FAR. Similar programs have the ability to bypass some restrictions of the Windows operating system.

I'll show you with an example Total programs Commander. Find it on the Internet, download it and install it on your PC. Let's launch the utility, go to the folder in which the file (needed for deletion) is located, select it and press the F8 key,

Hi all. I propose to talk today about files that are not deleted from the computer. After all, there are always a lot of files on your computer, you download them from the Internet, dump them from a flash drive, and create them yourself. Each user periodically deletes unnecessary files. Some people do this just to free up disk space, others for security purposes, and others just to keep their computer in order. But it happens that the selected file is not deleted. The system writes that there is no access to it or that it is occupied by another process or is being used by another program. Also, sometimes a file is not deleted from the computer due to the fact that you do not have sufficient rights to do this.

Is it possible to delete such files from the computer?

If you are wondering how to delete a file that won't be deleted, then you probably have good reasons to destroy it. But you need to be careful and pay attention to what these files are and in which folders they are located. Often novice users want to free up more space on the hard drive, so they go into the system files and try to remove what is being used by the operating system. Even such files can be deleted, but this will lead to errors in the computer or make it impossible to boot. But in fact it will free up a very small amount of space.

Before deleting a file, you should analyze what it does and how it ended up on your computer. If you downloaded the program, installed it, but now want to delete the downloaded files, then you will not always be able to do this. They can still be used by the system until the next reboot. You can safely delete everything that you personally downloaded from the Internet. But sometimes such files may not be deleted. Let's figure it out.

The easiest way is to reboot

If the file is not deleted from your computer and you see a message that it is being used by a process or program, then you need to restart your device. The main point here is that it is actually being used by a program or process, you don't see it, but the computer is using the file in its operation. For example, you opened a photo in a photo editor and made some changes, then saved the new one and closed the program. But when trying to delete old file problems arise. This is because you closed the program, but the process froze and did not close, the photo is attached to this process and you do not have the opportunity to delete it. In other words, the system is glitched.

As a rule, restarting the computer closes all processes and programs, frees RAM from unnecessary information and you are calm, in a standard way, delete the file from your computer. Therefore, it makes sense to start removing from the very simple way, only after that proceed to further attempts.

Terminate the process manually

It is not always possible to restart the computer, because the programs you need may be open at the moment and you do not want to start your work from the very beginning. In this case, you can try to terminate the open process that is using the file for deletion yourself. The deletion error message usually indicates which program or process is using the file. Therefore, you need to go to the task manager, find this file and complete it.

Press the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del and select " Task Manager».

Launch Task Manager

After this, you need to go to the “ Processes", find the process that was displayed in the error message. If there is such a process, then you right-click on it and select “ End the process" or " Cancel task" Once the process is stopped, you can do another attempt deleting a file, if everything was done correctly, the file should be deleted from the computer without the need to reboot.

Select “End process” or “End task” (depending on your OS)

The file is not deleted due to insufficient access rights

Another common mistake when deleting is that you do not have access rights to perform this operation. This happens quite often, so you may encounter this problem. If a file cannot be deleted from your computer due to lack of access, then you need to analyze what kind of file it is. We decided that you shouldn’t delete everything on your computer; if you didn’t create or download this file, then you don’t always need to delete it.

The thing is that the developers of the operating system foresaw that inexperienced users they will try to delete something that should not be deleted, as the computer will stop working. That is why some system files are in a special legal field; only the system can gain unlimited access to them, only it can change and delete them. Therefore, you can delete such a file only by loading via LiveCD or having received system rights. You can do it, but is it worth it?

In order to make further actions with a file like this, you need to know what you are trying to delete. If there is something in front of you system name file, then you can go online without special problems find information about it and immediately understand whether you can delete it or whether it is better to leave everything as is. Very often, viruses are hidden under such system files, so they must be removed using an antivirus program.

Deleting files via booting from LiveCD

Sometimes reboots and termination of various processes do not give you any positive result; files are still not deleted from the computer. In this case there is a win-win option, but it is accessible to more experienced users. But even a beginner, with a strong desire, can figure it out this method and implement it on our own. Its main essence is to boot under another, independent operating system, enter the file system and delete all unnecessary files.

In most cases it is yours operating system does not allow you to delete this or that file that, in her opinion, she really needs. This is necessary for protection system information. It is the OS that does not give you access rights; it is the OS that uses files in various processes and programs. The file itself is simple information on the disk, so deleting it without an OS is quite easy. But initially you need to do boot disk or a flash drive with LiveCD.

There is a lot of information on the Internet regarding this and the drive, so you won't have any problems. Once you boot from such a system, you can do whatever you want with your files on the disk. But remember that now there is no room for error; if you delete something that was not worth it, the computer will not be able to boot normally or will work with errors.

How to delete a file with Unlocker

If the file is not deleted from the computer and you see various errors, then it can help in solving this problem Unlocker program. This is absolutely free program, which you can easily download from the official website. The program is lightweight and installs in a few seconds. Immediately after installation in context menu, which appears when you right-click on a file, a new item appears.

When you right-click on a file, a new item appears

By clicking on this item, you will see a program window asking you to select what needs to be done with this file. In the drop-down list, you need to select the delete command and then say goodbye to the file. The program bypasses most of the obstacles in deleting a file and completes the task without any problems. But again you need to be careful in what you do. You must understand that this way you can delete system files without problems and obstacles, which is not a good idea.

Also pay attention to the fact that very often such programs spread viruses, which will worsen the performance of your computer. If you download Unlocker program, then do this only on the official website or from trusted sources. Be responsible about what you download onto your computer, and especially what programs you install. Sometimes after installation you don’t get exactly the new functions you expected, and you have to take your computer in for repairs.

You decide to delete files or folders on your computer under Windows control. 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. At availability of Windows 8, 8.1 or even 10, try to create a folder that ends with a space and see it automatically disappear.

This is problem!

IN previous versions Microsoft's Windows systems, such as XP or Vista, allowed users to create a file or folder with a space at the end.

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 from 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 next 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 select forced 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 (in latest version there is no 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 is affected by 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 an undeletable folder on external storage? 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;
type file system;
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 dealt with 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

If the computer reports that the file is open in another program

Most often, the inability to delete a file in Windows is due to the fact that it is busy with some kind of system process. The message “The action cannot be performed because this file is open in “” appears. The name of the program».

In this case, you need to close the program that is using the file and try to delete it again. If you see her window, just close it. If the program runs in background and you don’t know how to close it, launch “Task Manager” (Ctrl + Alt + Del), find this program by name in the list, right-click on it and select “End task”.

If you can't find the desired program in Task Manager, try third party utility, which removes locks from files. Will do free application LockHunter. After installing it, right-click on the file and select What is locking this file?. When the LockHunter window appears, click on the Unlock It! button.

After that, try deleting the file again. If unsuccessful, restart your computer and try again. For complete removal from your computer, do not forget to empty the trash.

If your computer says you are denied access

Sometimes you cannot delete a file because your account does not have rights to do this. Such Windows cases reports that access is denied. To resolve this issue, you need to change the owner of the file. During the process, you may need the login and password for your PC administrator account.

To change access rights, right-click on the file and go to “Properties” → “Security” → “Advanced”. Near the “Owner” item, click “Edit”, then “Advanced” and “Search”. Select the current one from the list account and click OK.

After doing this you will most likely be able to delete the file in the usual way. If it doesn't work, try restarting your computer and trying again.

How to delete a file on macOS

If the Mac says the file is in use

First, manually close the applications in which you used this file and try to erase it again. They can interfere with uninstallation, as happens in Windows. If unsuccessful, restart your computer and repeat the removal.

If it doesn't work, enter safe mode. To do this, restart your Mac by holding Shift key. Try moving the file to the Recycle Bin and emptying it, then restart your computer as normal.

If the file cannot be deleted for other reasons

The file may not be deleted due to disk errors. So run " Disk Utility» in the Finder → “Programs” → “Utilities” section and check the disk on which the file is located using the “First Aid” service.