Cannot Delete File On Desktop.

[hcleaveley]

Originally Posted by titch98

Do not know if this information is going to be of any use to you (but may be, that is why I have posted it...!!).

I recently had a similar problem with an .NFO file on my Desktop which I could do absolutely nothing with (or so I thought.......). Kept reporting back "Cannot read from the source file or disk" on tying to delete, rename, move and open. Quite a bit concerned about doing a complete reinstallation of OS considering had done one only a week ago after an unrelated issue. Then thought I would try something........

I Right-Clicked on the file icon and in menu selected "Open with....". Selected Notepad as program to use (.NFO is a system Info text file). The PC returned the following error......."This file does not exist......would you like to create a new one?". Clicked on "Yes" and was given a blank Notepad screen, where I scribbled some text and then tried to save the data......which it did! I now had a working file with data in it which I could, and did, delete.

So, suggestion...........

Try to find a program (if you do not already have one) that will run the extension type of the file trying to be deleted and install on your PC. Go through the method I used for my .NFO file (i.e. Right-click -> "Open With...." -> chooose your program for the file extension etc.) and see if this method works for you.

Hope this helps in some way or another..............

Awesome...full thumbs up to you. I had an email that I was trying to open and it created this ghostlike file on my desktop. Your solution worked great. Thanks!!!

[hcleaveley]

Originally Posted by titch98

Do not know if this information is going to be of any use to you (but may be, that is why I have posted it...!!).

I recently had a similar problem with an .NFO file on my Desktop which I could do absolutely nothing with (or so I thought.......). Kept reporting back "Cannot read from the source file or disk" on tying to delete, rename, move and open. Quite a bit concerned about doing a complete reinstallation of OS considering had done one only a week ago after an unrelated issue. Then thought I would try something........

I Right-Clicked on the file icon and in menu selected "Open with....". Selected Notepad as program to use (.NFO is a system Info text file). The PC returned the following error......."This file does not exist......would you like to create a new one?". Clicked on "Yes" and was given a blank Notepad screen, where I scribbled some text and then tried to save the data......which it did! I now had a working file with data in it which I could, and did, delete.

So, suggestion...........

Try to find a program (if you do not already have one) that will run the extension type of the file trying to be deleted and install on your PC. Go through the method I used for my .NFO file (i.e. Right-click -> "Open With...." -> chooose your program for the file extension etc.) and see if this method works for you.

Hope this helps in some way or another..............

Originally Posted by hcleaveley

Awesome...full thumbs up to you. I had an email that I was trying to open and it created this ghostlike file on my desktop. Your solution worked great. Thanks!!!

And the file reappeared after I rebooted. There was no spyware, malware, adware, or trojan's on the computer. So, next thing was do a system restore. Computer restarted - no file. Completely shut down computer, waited a couple of minutes before restarted and voila....file was gone and still gone after a couple of reboots.

[ialhabbal]

I had the same problem for the past three days, I used the application "delinvfile" its a freeware and it solved the problem. I found out that the directory on my desktop contained a file that no longer exists, the file actually had an attribute of "SA" which a system, and this was why the directory won't delete. I used the "delinvfile" application to delete the file inside the directory and then deleted the directory manually. Hope this works.

[ricbri]

THIS LITTLE PROGRAM DOES THE JOB IN UNDER A MINUTE!

DelinvFile

http://www.purgeie.com/delinv.htm

[vbdbdev]

Try this step:

1) open windows explorer
2) copy everything from your desktop to a temp directory, except the stupid files (you can't copy them anyway)
3) run CMD command
4) it will show your default profile directory in dos prompt "C:\Documents and Settings\[your name]>
5) do CD Desktop in the dos prompt to go to Desttop folder
6) do DEL *.* command. it will prompt wheather or not to del? say Y
7) this will delete the stupid files
8) copy everything from your temp directory back to your desktop directory

9) it Works.....

[jrmcuk]

ok do this: create a new folder on your desktop dont name it then drag and drop it onto the file that wont delete now you should be able to delete it.

[aimeeserene]

The desktop file I could not delete was an exe file, "power_siphon_install_1_9_6_0.exe", but when opened in notepad looked like plain ole html from the download.com Power Siphon description page. I don't know how the mix up occurred. Process Explorer told me explorer.exe was using the file. I used your instructions (except that I used "del" instead of "rm") and they worked flawlessly... THANKS!

Originally Posted by alpharesearch

exporer.exe has locked this file...

you can try this out... just create a new text file on your desktop - but name it text.exe... you won't be able to delete this file.

now do start->run cmd (enter) AND open the task manager; kill exporer.exe (dont close task manager)
use alt + tab to switch between your windows
use rm text.exe to delete this file in cmd window
go back to task manager (applications tab and new task) to start exporer.exe

i hope this helps...

[qazw]

Originally Posted by ricbri

THIS LITTLE PROGRAM DOES THE JOB IN UNDER A MINUTE!

DelinvFile

http://www.purgeie.com/delinv.htm

THX mate....you make my day I spent almost 2 hrs trying to google the solution (because my situation is quite worse....i tried many suggested solutions from chkdisk, safe mode, cmd, open w/ program thing and save as, rename...blah blah blah...NO LUCK) until I come across this post.

Did the job not even a min, but 30 seconds from installing teh program till deleting the file.

Two thumbs up!!!

[otteaux]

Originally Posted by ricbri

THIS LITTLE PROGRAM DOES THE JOB IN UNDER A MINUTE!

DelinvFile

http://www.purgeie.com/delinv.htm

I have renamed all four of my children "ricbri". You are a great, great man.

[jenglish007]

goto run, type in cmd - type cd desktop (shoudl be in the Documents and settings\(account your under)\desktop)

Type edit and the exact file name - type something in, Hit alt and s for file and save as and overwright the file.

then you should be able to delete it. It took me several tries to get the right sequence but it did work and is alot easier than reformating the drive and installing windows again.

[Lain2501]

Originally Posted by vbdbdev

Try this step:

1) open windows explorer
2) copy everything from your desktop to a temp directory, except the stupid files (you can't copy them anyway)
3) run CMD command
4) it will show your default profile directory in dos prompt "C:\Documents and Settings\[your name]>
5) do CD Desktop in the dos prompt to go to Desttop folder
6) do DEL *.* command. it will prompt wheather or not to del? say Y
7) this will delete the stupid files
8) copy everything from your temp directory back to your desktop directory

9) it Works.....

I've had this little bastard file on my desktop for almost a year. I've researched all kinds of stuff to figure out how to get it off. No dice. It just showed up one day and wouldn’t go away. I tried the reg stuff, cmd line stuff, renaming, making a new file with the same name, nothing worked. A lot of the problem was that the file had no extension. It was called something like "CA54GD1." with the period on there. Everything said "file not found" or "can't read from source file or disk". You were my last hope. It worked beautifully! I rebooted a couple of times and it's not come back.

Thank you so much!

-Lain

[PTooti]

get a little program called moveonboot much easier and simple too

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/moveonboot.html

[DJB MASTER]

I had exactly the same problem. I downloaded a program called search and it created a MSDOS batch file on my desktop. Nothing would delete it nor could i rename, cut, paste - nothing.

I don't know actually how i got rid of it but i think it just went on it's own.

Try running a DEFRAG on your Harddrive to see if it can move the file. If it is an empty file defrag could think it as empty space.

You do not have to re-install XP nor do nothing drastic. The worst thing you should have to do is manually delete it through the registry.

[winkley]

This thread is old, but I still found it trying to fix the same problem on my machine. I finally found this: Delete FXP Files - http://www.jrtwine.com/Products/DelFXPFiles/


It was very easy to use, and it worked.

Darren

[Zhe Jin]

may be u can del it at the "safe mode"