I can't delete or move a particular file...
July 9, 2017 3:10 PM Subscribe
I'm moderately computer-literate, but I'm flummoxed by this undeletable file.
I've got an album I downloaded from Amazon, I expanded the zip file into my music folder a while back. I still have the zip file. I tried moving a copy of the album to a device and got the error message:
"Copy item
Cannot copy item
The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected" but it's still connected and I can navigate the folders in windows explorer.
So I thought maybe the file is corrupted and tried to delete it, got this error-
"item not found
Could not find this item
This is no longer located in D:\username\music\artistname\albumtitle..."etc. But I can see it there in the folder, I can open up the main folder with the artist name to the folder with the album name but if I try to open the album folder I get the error message-
"Location is not available
D:\username\music\artistname\albumtitle is unavailable. If the location is on this PC, make sure the device or drive is connected or the disc is inserted, and then try again. If the location is on a network, make sure you're connected to the network or internet, and then try again. If the location still can't be found, it might have been moved or deleted."
I can move the folder within the same drive, but if I try to move to C drive it gives the error:
"1 interrupted action
An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the folder..."
with the error code 0x80004005 which most references I see relate to a Windows update problem.
I tried deleting through the command prompt window but though it shows up in windows, it doesn't show up in the folder in the CMD directory.
Probably most significantly- I can use the zip file to make a copy in another location, and that other file has the same problem. So now I've got a few undeletable files floating around the computer. I ran a Windows troubleshooter utility that seemed made for this but it didn't work.
There seem to be some third-party utility apps that may do it but I'm afraid of installing some oddball software.
I've got an album I downloaded from Amazon, I expanded the zip file into my music folder a while back. I still have the zip file. I tried moving a copy of the album to a device and got the error message:
"Copy item
Cannot copy item
The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected" but it's still connected and I can navigate the folders in windows explorer.
So I thought maybe the file is corrupted and tried to delete it, got this error-
"item not found
Could not find this item
This is no longer located in D:\username\music\artistname\albumtitle..."etc. But I can see it there in the folder, I can open up the main folder with the artist name to the folder with the album name but if I try to open the album folder I get the error message-
"Location is not available
D:\username\music\artistname\albumtitle is unavailable. If the location is on this PC, make sure the device or drive is connected or the disc is inserted, and then try again. If the location is on a network, make sure you're connected to the network or internet, and then try again. If the location still can't be found, it might have been moved or deleted."
I can move the folder within the same drive, but if I try to move to C drive it gives the error:
"1 interrupted action
An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the folder..."
with the error code 0x80004005 which most references I see relate to a Windows update problem.
I tried deleting through the command prompt window but though it shows up in windows, it doesn't show up in the folder in the CMD directory.
Probably most significantly- I can use the zip file to make a copy in another location, and that other file has the same problem. So now I've got a few undeletable files floating around the computer. I ran a Windows troubleshooter utility that seemed made for this but it didn't work.
There seem to be some third-party utility apps that may do it but I'm afraid of installing some oddball software.
Is the file path very long (over 260 characters)? I believe zip files can accidentally create paths that are too long for Windows to deal with.
posted by dilaudid at 3:54 PM on July 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by dilaudid at 3:54 PM on July 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
I had a file on our server at work where moving the file caused the filepath+name was too long, I could not even move the file out of that folder into another IIRC I got a message that the name was too long.
posted by rudd135 at 4:03 PM on July 9, 2017
posted by rudd135 at 4:03 PM on July 9, 2017
Response by poster: I should say, I did a full virus scan- no problem- I have Windows 10, I should have mentioned. The filepath is not long, but I just noticed the album name has periods in it?
posted by Red Loop at 5:10 PM on July 9, 2017
posted by Red Loop at 5:10 PM on July 9, 2017
Have you tried deleting from a command prompt?
Assuming the file is in the path you give, I'd open a command prompt and try to remove the whole directory, using the 'rd' command, something like this (bold is what the command prompt would show, italic is what to type):
C:>
C:> cd /D D:\username\music\artistname\
D:\username\music\artistname> rd /s albumtitle
albumtitle, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
That way you're avoiding dealing with the possibly-funky filename.
posted by anadem at 6:28 PM on July 9, 2017
Assuming the file is in the path you give, I'd open a command prompt and try to remove the whole directory, using the 'rd' command, something like this (bold is what the command prompt would show, italic is what to type):
C:>
C:> cd /D D:\username\music\artistname\
D:\username\music\artistname> rd /s albumtitle
albumtitle, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
That way you're avoiding dealing with the possibly-funky filename.
posted by anadem at 6:28 PM on July 9, 2017
Try this Unlocker program. I use it to delete stuck files and it works well. If it works in your case, you won't have to dig into command prompts.
posted by Leontine at 9:57 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Leontine at 9:57 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
The goal is to delete it?
It's been my experience that the robocopy mirroring trick is the least flakey way of dealing with the Windows filesystem cruftery. Essentially you're mirroring an empty directory into the existing directory. Somehow Windows feels this is less egregious than trying to delete a file outright.
posted by Fezboy! at 2:29 PM on July 10, 2017
D:\> mkdir empty
D:\> robocopy empty D:\username\music\artistname /MIR
D:\> del D:\username\music\artistname
D:\> del empty
It's been my experience that the robocopy mirroring trick is the least flakey way of dealing with the Windows filesystem cruftery. Essentially you're mirroring an empty directory into the existing directory. Somehow Windows feels this is less egregious than trying to delete a file outright.
posted by Fezboy! at 2:29 PM on July 10, 2017
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posted by AlexiaSky at 3:25 PM on July 9, 2017