Delete an empty file that is not deleted. How to delete a file that won't delete from your computer
As information accumulates on a computer's hard drive, files and folders appear whose information is outdated and no longer used. To free up disk space, such files must first be moved to the Recycle Bin and then permanently deleted. No matter how simple the procedure for deleting unnecessary information may seem, many users of the Windows operating system often have problems deleting it. This article provides a detailed description of the solution to this problem.
Reasons for undeleted files
If you cannot delete a file or folder in the Windows operating system, then one of the following reasons occurs:
- a file or folder is used during the operation of some operating system process;
- the folder contains other hidden files or folders;
- the file or folder only has read permissions;
- the file system on the hard drive has errors;
- the operating system is infected with some kind of virus;
- the hard drive is physically damaged;
- the non-deletable object belongs to another user, and you do not have access to it, and therefore do not have the rights to delete it.
When trying to delete a file or folder that cannot be deleted, Windows will show one of the following messages:
- “An error occurred while deleting a file or folder”;
- "Unable to delete file: access denied";
- "Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected, and that the object is not currently in use."
If you find in the lists above the answer to the question of why you cannot delete a non-deletable object, then use one of the solutions to this problem that are presented below.
How to troubleshoot problems deleting a file or folder
How to show all files in Windows
To make all system and hidden objects visible in the Windows operating system, click on the Start menu > My Computer. Go to Tools > Folder Options and click on the View tab.
In the Additional configuration section, check the box next to the words Show hidden files and folders. Uncheck the box next to the words Hide extensions for known file types, and uncheck the box next to Hide files protected by the operating system (recommended). Click Apply to all folders and then Accept.
After completing these steps, restart your computer in Safe Mode and try to delete the non-deletable object again.
To boot your computer into safe mode, use the F8 key if your computer is running a Windows operating system (7, Vista or XP). After restarting the computer, follow the BIOS instructions by continuously pressing the F8 key (F5 if F8 does not work) until the BIOS menu appears. If you press the F8 key too quickly, a “keyboard error” message may pop up; in the latter case, restart your computer and try again.
Once you are in the BIOS menu, use the up and down arrows to get to Safe mode and press Enter.
Copy and paste a file/folder to delete him/her
Go up one level in the directory tree and create a folder or file with the same name as the item you can't delete. Then copy and paste it into the folder with the item that is not being deleted.
For example, if you want to delete the object C:\movies\my_file.avi, go to the folder C : , create a new text file named my_file.avi (the system will ask if you want to change its extension, answer yes). Drag this created object into the C:\Movies folder. When the system asks you, answer that you want to replace an existing object. Now try to remove it again.
Stop the explorer.exe process to delete the object
Another possibility for deleting a non-deletable object is to simultaneously pressing the Ctrl keys+Alt+Supra and stopping the execution of the explorer.exe program. All icons and the taskbar will disappear. After that, click on File > New Task and run the command cmd. Go to the folder with the object using the cd command and delete it using the del command. Click File > New Task again and run explorer.exe. If the last program started working, then the desired object was deleted.
Run a hard drive check
Check your hard drive using the program scandisk. To do this, click on the My Computer icon, then right-click on the image of the hard drive and select Properties. Then click on the Tools tab, and in the Error Checking section, select Check Now. This check allows you to find bad disk sectors and use this information to reconcile it with the file system.
After this, try to delete the non-deletable object as soon as the disk analysis is completed. If it was not possible to delete an object using this method, then using the same analysis program scandisk, execute checking the hard drive for errors, only this time in safe mode. Then try deleting the item again.
Use an antivirus program to remove an undeletable object
A virus may not allow you to remove the object, so you need to analyze your software using some anti-virus program with updated databases.
Currently, there are a huge number of programs that allow you to find and remove viruses from your computer. These can be both paid and free programs. Most popular antivirus programs are the following:
Each antivirus program has its own advantages and disadvantages, and is designed to perform a specific range of tasks. You can read more about these and other antivirus programs in the review http://softcatalog.info/ru/obzor/reyting-antivirusov.
Use special tools to remove an unremovable object
If none of the above suggested methods help, then you will need to use a special tool, e.g. Unlocker program. By simply clicking on the right mouse button, Unlocker allows you to unlock a file or folder that is locked by the Windows operating system. If the object being deleted is not in use by any current process, then this program can rename it, delete it, or move it. If the object is used by any program or process, then you need to close this program and stop the current process. The Unlocker program performs its functions from the context menu of the explorer.exe program in Windows.
You can also use other programs to delete files that won't delete. Additionally, these programs are tools that can be used when answering the question of how to remove a program that won't uninstall. The following programs allow you to do this:
If you don’t know how to delete a folder that cannot be deleted, then our material will help you figure it out.
Everyone periodically deals with “undeletable” folders on their PC.
It is stupid to blame anyone for this, even the system, which tells us that a given directory is currently occupied by some process.
As a result, all liquidation manipulations end in fiasco. Let's get to the main topic: how to delete a folder that cannot be deleted on (win8)?
There are 5 options to solve the problem:
Let's try to figure out the situation.
Reboot
So, you intend to delete the ill-fated directory, but the system claims that it cannot do this for one reason or another.
The main reason is the use of files by some application or process that is currently running.
The example shows that it is impossible to liquidate the “screenshots” folder, since one or more files are currently being used by one of the Windows programs.
Since most people don’t know which one it is, they have no choice but to restart the machine.
Click “Start” (1), then click on the small square (2) next to the “shutdown” button. Select the item with reboot (3).
System check
If you do not want to restart, but decide to get to the bottom of the truth, check if the application currently running is in the folder.
Let's say you decide to get rid of Skype for some reason, not by uninstalling, but by barbarously deleting the folder in which all the contents of the program are located.
Let's consider this option.
First, let's open the folder. We follow the path: Drive C – Programm Files – Skype.
We see this picture.
And this is what the system produces if you press “Delete” on the keyboard.
Firstly, the program is running, so the ability to uninstall is blocked by the system. Secondly, it “hangs” in the task manager, namely in processes.
You need to close the program and, just in case, “kill” the process so that the notification does not appear again.
How can I delete a folder that cannot be deleted from a flash drive? That’s right, by first scanning it with an antivirus.
Open the antivirus and scan the drive. Then we try to delete the folder. If that doesn't work, you'll have to format the flash drive.
The procedure is as follows. Right-click on the drive and select “format”.
Before us is a menu with settings.
- Flash drive capacity;
- File system;
- Volume label (drive name);
- Formatting method;
- Start the process.
The main focus is on the file system. FAT 32 should be selected by default. This way, the contents of the drive can be “read” by any PC.
You can give any name, since it does not affect any parameter.
But for better formatting, it’s better to uncheck the “quick cleaning” box. Click “start” and wait.
Folder Settings
This technique is good for network directories. In other words, several PCs are combined into a single subnet.
The administrator creates one or more public folders where various information can be dumped. To prevent anyone from accidentally deleting it, it sets access rights.
This is done as follows. First, open the folder properties with the right button.
Go to the “security” section and click “advanced”.
We select a group or user whose rights we are cutting.
We select the group again, and now we configure the access level.
If you check the two boxes related to deletion, a user over the network will not be able to delete either the folder or its contents.
In all other cases, everyone will have full access to the data.
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 occupied by 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 a program is running in the 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 program you need in Task Manager, try a third-party utility that removes file locks. The free LockHunter app is suitable. 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. To completely remove it from your computer, be sure to empty the Recycle Bin.
If your computer says you are denied access
Sometimes you cannot delete a file because your account does not have rights to do this. In such cases, Windows 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 your current account from the list and click OK.
After doing this, you will most likely be able to delete the file as usual. 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 while holding down the 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. Therefore, launch “Disk Utility” in the Finder → “Programs” → “Utilities” section and check the disk on which the file is located using the “First Aid” service.
After checking, restart your Mac and try deleting the file.
You can delete a folder by right-clicking on it and selecting delete in the context menu. But sometimes this method does not help and I cannot delete the folder, so I will describe several ways to delete the folder.
Deleting a folder using the command line
To delete the Windows folder, do the following. Click “Start” - “All Programs” - “Accessories” - “Command Prompt”. A window will appear in which if you add Help and press “Enter”, a list of commands and a description of each command will appear, the RMDIR command is deleting a folder via the command line. To find out how to write the command you need, for example deleting a folder, you need to add Help RMDIR. The system told us how to write a command to delete a folder. RMDIR [drive:]path. I want to delete the remains of the game paradise in the RAI folder and I got this command. RMDIR /S /Q C:\Games\RAI.
Delete a folder via command line
Press “Enter” and the folder will be deleted immediately.
Deleting a folder using the bat file command
So we found out what the command to delete a folder looks like. There are folders that appear again after some time. To remove them, you can create a BAT file on your desktop because this folder, which we do not need, will be deleted when you run the bat file.
How to make a bat file
Right-click on an empty space on the desktop and select “Create” - “Text Document” from the context menu. Open this text document that appeared on the desktop. Enter the command RMDIR /S /Q C:\Games\RAI there, where C:\Games\RAI is the path to your folder. The entire path must be in English because the bat file will not run if there are words in Russian in the written bat file. Now click “File” - “Save As”. In the window that appears, in the file name line, write 1.bat and click “Save”.
In 1.bat rename the file An example bat file will appear on your desktop. Now run 1 bat file and bat delete the folder instantly.
Removing the Windows old folder
Some install the system without formatting the disk and they end up with a folder with old Windows system files, usually called this Windows old folder. Many people do not know that the Windows old folder can be deleted. You can delete the old windows folder by using Disk Cleanup in Windows 7. Click “Start” - “All Programs” - “Accessories” - “System Tools” - “Disk Cleanup”. A window will open in which you need to select the drive on which the Windows old folder is located and click “OK”. The disk will be scanned and a window will appear in which we click “Clean up system files.” In this window, check the box “Previous Windows installations” and click “OK”. The message “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files” appears? Click “Delete files.”
Removing windows old System files will be deleted from the Windows old folder and now you can simply delete the Windows old folder.
Delete a folder with administrator rights
Sometimes the folder is not deleted and the message “You need permission to perform this operation” appears. In order for the folder to be deleted, you need to allow full access in the folder properties. To do this, do the following. Right-click on the folder and select “Properties” from the context menu. Go to the “Security” tab and click “Advanced”. In the new window, go to the “Owner” tab and click “Change”.
We will change the owner of the folder The owner window will open in which you need to select your administrator name (but not administrators), check the box “Replace owner of subcontainers and objects” and click “Apply”.
Changing the owner of a folder In the message that appears, we confirm and become the owner of this object. From the “Owner” tab, go to the “Permissions” tab and click “Change Permissions”. In the window that opens, select the name of your administrator and click “Change”. A window will open in which we put a tick in the “Full access” item and click “OK”, this window will close, and in the open window we put a tick in the following items:
"Add permissions inherited from parent objects."
“Replace all permissions of the child object with permissions inherited from this object” and click “OK”.
Allow full access to the folder A message will appear again with which we agree by clicking “OK” and close all windows by clicking “OK”. Now the folder can be deleted.
Deleting a folder in Total Commander
It's very easy to permanently delete a folder in Total Commander. You need to find the folder you need to delete and click on it with the left mouse button, and then click the delete button at the bottom of Total Commander or press F8 on the keyboard and a message will appear in which we click “Yes” or “Delete”, depending on whether the folder is empty or there is something in it that is.
Finding and deleting empty folders in total commander The folder will be deleted along with all its contents.
Program to force folder deletion
I like the Unlocker folder deletion program.
Install and the program for deleting non-deletable folders will be in the context menu. Right-click on the folder to be deleted and select Unlocker from the context menu. A window will appear in which set the action to “Delete” and click “Unblock all”. The folder will be deleted.
Often, when trying to uninstall a program, users are faced with the fact that the program is not uninstalled. When trying to uninstall a program through the Control Panel, the user receives an error that interrupts the uninstallation process. After which the program remains on the computer.
If you also don't know how to remove a program that won't uninstall, then this article should help you. Here we will look at three simple and effective ways to solve this problem.
Method number 1. Stop all processes that are associated with the program.
If the program is not uninstalled, then most likely it is currently running. In order to stop the program, open “ ” (for example, using the key combination CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and go to the list of processes. In the list of processes you need to find those processes that are associated with the program and stop them.
If you have Windows 8 or Windows 10, then you need to right-click on the process you want to end and select “End task” from the menu that appears. In Windows 7 and older versions of Windows, the menu item you need will be called "End Process".
After all processes associated with the program have been stopped, you need to try to remove the program again. If this method does not help you remove the program, then try restarting your computer and try again. Perhaps something is frozen on your computer and thus blocked the program from being uninstalled.
Method number 2. Use a special program to remove programs.
If the program is not removed even after a reboot, you can try to remove it using a special program. The most popular program of this kind is. This program allows you to remove any other programs. Moreover, uninstallation is possible even in cases where the uninstaller does not work or the program is not displayed in the control panel.
Using Revo Uninstaller is quite simple. First you need to run this program and wait until it scans your computer and displays all installed programs. After this, you need to right-click on the program you want to remove and select “Delete”.
After this, a window will appear in which you need to select how to remove the program. In most cases, the Moderate option will do.
Here you can click on the “Select All” button and confirm the deletion by clicking on the “Next” button.
Method number 3. Uninstall the program through safe mode.
If none of the above helps you remove the program, then you need to boot your computer into and try again.
In safe mode, only the main components of the operating system are loaded; other programs that may block uninstallation are not loaded. Therefore, in safe mode, deletion should proceed without problems.
