Can't delete 0 byte file, with no file type

  • Thread starter Thread starter michaeld121@hotmail.com
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michaeld121@hotmail.com

I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”. I created it
as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
properties doesn’t give me much info.

It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.

I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
other things … but no joy.

Any ideas?

Michael
 
<michaeld121@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7f3400a0-e49c-4eca-a8ef-3ec87c3214cc@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”. I created it
as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
properties doesn’t give me much info.

It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.

I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
other things … but no joy.

Any ideas?

Michael

*** *** ***


Does the phantom file have a name?

You might try creating a text file in Notepad and then saving it with the
same name as the unwanted file. Hopefully, this will bring up a dialog box
which says:

H:\DirectoryName\TextFile already exists. Do you want to replace it? YES/NO.

If you get this far, click YES.

Now maybe you can delete the phantom file which has been replaced by a real
file.
 
On May 28, 5:31 pm, "One Shot Scot" <so...@gun.com> wrote:
> Does the phantom file have a name?
>
> You might try creating a text file in Notepad and then saving it with the
> same name as the unwanted file. Hopefully, this will bring up a dialog box
> which says:
>
> H:\DirectoryName\TextFile already exists. Do you want to replace it? YES/NO.
>
> If you get this far, click YES.
>
> Now maybe you can delete the phantom file which has been replaced by a real
> file.

Yes it does have a name - 76 chars long, but with no file extension at
the end.

I've gave your (useful) suggestion a go - but still no joy. I got the
same error message I normally get (ie "Cannot find the specified
file...").

It's weird as when I go to the folder from a cmd line & type DIR it
shows the file (at 0 bytes) and the creation date & time. However
when I use DEL (or anything else) to try and get rid of it - it then
tells me "The system cannot find the file specified."

It almost seems like there's some metadata somewhere that thinks
something exists, although it doesn't.

Michael
 
michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:
> On May 28, 5:31 pm, "One Shot Scot" <so...@gun.com> wrote:
>> Does the phantom file have a name?
>>
>> You might try creating a text file in Notepad and then saving it with the
>> same name as the unwanted file. Hopefully, this will bring up a dialog box
>> which says:
>>
>> H:\DirectoryName\TextFile already exists. Do you want to replace it? YES/NO.
>>
>> If you get this far, click YES.
>>
>> Now maybe you can delete the phantom file which has been replaced by a real
>> file.
>
> Yes it does have a name - 76 chars long, but with no file extension at
> the end.
>
> I've gave your (useful) suggestion a go - but still no joy. I got the
> same error message I normally get (ie "Cannot find the specified
> file...").
>
> It's weird as when I go to the folder from a cmd line & type DIR it
> shows the file (at 0 bytes) and the creation date & time. However
> when I use DEL (or anything else) to try and get rid of it - it then
> tells me "The system cannot find the file specified."
>
> It almost seems like there's some metadata somewhere that thinks
> something exists, although it doesn't.
>
> Michael
Try dir /x
it should give you the short name. Try using DEL on that name.
 
Does the file exist in a sub-directory of another folder ? ( Not in
the Root folder of the Drive ). If so, Use Windows Explorer to
move ( Drag and Drop ) the file into the Root Folder and then
try to delete it. Also from a Command Prompt try to remove the
file by using Quotation marks around the path/filename.

<michaeld121@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a028c649-92d2-4691-9545-48444ea91e88@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On May 28, 5:31 pm, "One Shot Scot" <so...@gun.com> wrote:
> Does the phantom file have a name?
>
> You might try creating a text file in Notepad and then saving it with the
> same name as the unwanted file. Hopefully, this will bring up a dialog box
> which says:
>
> H:\DirectoryName\TextFile already exists. Do you want to replace it?
> YES/NO.
>
> If you get this far, click YES.
>
> Now maybe you can delete the phantom file which has been replaced by a
> real
> file.

Yes it does have a name - 76 chars long, but with no file extension at
the end.

I've gave your (useful) suggestion a go - but still no joy. I got the
same error message I normally get (ie "Cannot find the specified
file...").

It's weird as when I go to the folder from a cmd line & type DIR it
shows the file (at 0 bytes) and the creation date & time. However
when I use DEL (or anything else) to try and get rid of it - it then
tells me "The system cannot find the file specified."

It almost seems like there's some metadata somewhere that thinks
something exists, although it doesn't.

Michael
 
On May 28, 6:04 pm, Big Al <Bi...@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Try dir /x
> it should give you the short name.  Try using DEL on that name.- Hide quoted text -
>


Thanks. I tried dir /x and it did giveme the short name
(ADDTOM~1.TXT). I then tired using DEL, but got the same error as
before: "The system cannot find the file specified."

I got the same results when I tried REN and various other alternatives
with wildcards

Michael
 
Have you tried right clicking, rename change the name to something shorter
and add the .txt extension.


<michaeld121@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a028c649-92d2-4691-9545-48444ea91e88@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On May 28, 5:31 pm, "One Shot Scot" <so...@gun.com> wrote:
> Does the phantom file have a name?
>
> You might try creating a text file in Notepad and then saving it with the
> same name as the unwanted file. Hopefully, this will bring up a dialog box
> which says:
>
> H:\DirectoryName\TextFile already exists. Do you want to replace it?
> YES/NO.
>
> If you get this far, click YES.
>
> Now maybe you can delete the phantom file which has been replaced by a
> real
> file.

Yes it does have a name - 76 chars long, but with no file extension at
the end.

I've gave your (useful) suggestion a go - but still no joy. I got the
same error message I normally get (ie "Cannot find the specified
file...").

It's weird as when I go to the folder from a cmd line & type DIR it
shows the file (at 0 bytes) and the creation date & time. However
when I use DEL (or anything else) to try and get rid of it - it then
tells me "The system cannot find the file specified."

It almost seems like there's some metadata somewhere that thinks
something exists, although it doesn't.

Michael
 
On May 28, 8:58 pm, michaeld...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
> get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”.  I created it
> as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
> now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
> properties doesn’t give me much info.
>
> It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
> I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
> things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.
>
> I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
> in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
> other things … but no joy.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Michael

Have you tried using DelinvFile.exe available in
http://dl10.filekicker.net/private/$adv-rgn3$1212082938$f0252b24b6b5d62591e6e3598a3d137b$/id/$FK29722$172697-LWGI$/cache/609e29cde4166c5f06656bd844f3361e8318a24dfd44f6ed27ff20fe69d2f8cc1466cb7d203d0d/delinvfile.zip
from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm ?
I have successfully used the older completely free version several
times. It says on the web site that the current version has retained
as "free" all the features of the older version, but you have to pay
to get additional features.
 
I had a similar problem with an undeletable file and I fixed it by
restoring a file over it with a file that I created with the same name
using Acronis True Image.


Instructions:

1. Create a text file and write in it a couple of letters
2. Save that file in your root drive (C: for example) with the
same exact name and extension as the file you want to delete
3. Now make a backup your new file (I used Acronis True Image)
4. Open your backup program and restore the file you created to
the folder where the undeletable file is, overwriting it
4. Now you can delete it!
5. Run chkdsk


ju.c


<michaeld121@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:7f3400a0-e49c-4eca-a8ef-3ec87c3214cc@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
> get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”. I created it
> as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
> now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
> properties doesn’t give me much info.
>
> It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
> I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
> things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.
>
> I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
> in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
> other things … but no joy.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Michael
 
michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote on Wed, 28 May 2008:

>It's weird as when I go to the folder from a cmd line & type DIR it
>shows the file (at 0 bytes) and the creation date & time. However
>when I use DEL (or anything else) to try and get rid of it - it then
>tells me "The system cannot find the file specified."

Hi Michael

Instead of typing DIR at the command line, try DIR /X . This should show
you two names for the rogue file the normal one and a "short name"
usually consisting of the first 6 letters of the file name, a tilde (~)
and a number. Try deleting it using the short name.

--
Nightowl
 
Dear Michael & friends:

I remember that many years ago, some person had the same problem
reported to a newsgroup, and the solution was to use an UNC name for
delete.

Try the following:

DEL \\<ComputerName>\<DriveName>\<FolderName>\<FileName>\

Replace all the names with the appropriate ones, normally <DriveName>
will be C: etc. Try with the short and the long name of the file.
Maybe it will work for you too. If not, boot from a Recovery Console
CD and try to delete it from there.

michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:

>I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
>get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”. I created it
>as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
>now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
>properties doesn’t give me much info.
>
>It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
>I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
>things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.
>
>I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
>in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
>other things … but no joy.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Michael
Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
 
<michaeld121@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7f3400a0-e49c-4eca-a8ef-3ec87c3214cc@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
> get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”.

Does this help any: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320081
 
Can you rename this file, set its FNE as '.txt' and then get rid of it that
way?

((:o)x

"witan" <tsr1936@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b3b83f39-743b-45d6-89f2-77406b272596@s33g2000pri.googlegroups.com...
On May 28, 8:58 pm, michaeld...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I’ve got a file that appears to exist, but when I try & delete it I
> get: “Cannot delete …. Cannot find the specified file”. I created it
> as a.txt with a long-ish file name (76 chars) as a reminder, but it
> now has no extension & is zero bytes. I can’t open it and the
> properties doesn’t give me much info.
>
> It’s on a drive (h:) that’s sync’d to a network and only appears when
> I’m not connected to the network. This makes it difficult to use
> things like ccleaner, deletefxpfiles, chkdsk etc.
>
> I’ve tried deleting it from a command line (tells me it doesn't exist)
> in safe mode (couldn't log on) deleting the folder and a bunch of
> other things … but no joy.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Michael

Have you tried using DelinvFile.exe available in
http://dl10.filekicker.net/private/$adv-rgn3$1212082938$f0252b24b6b5d62591e6e3598a3d137b$/id/$FK29722$172697-LWGI$/cache/609e29cde4166c5f06656bd844f3361e8318a24dfd44f6ed27ff20fe69d2f8cc1466cb7d203d0d/delinvfile.zip
from http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm ?
I have successfully used the older completely free version several
times. It says on the web site that the current version has retained
as "free" all the features of the older version, but you have to pay
to get additional features.
 
On May 29, 7:06 pm, "Jeff Johnson" <i....@enough.spam> wrote:

> Does this help any:http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320081

Many thanks for all the suggestions. I've worked my way through most
of them ... with no joy. Broadly the same thing happens - I can see
the file and it shows up in Windows Explorer or when I type DIR from a
command line. But when I try to delete, rename or move it - I get
"Cannot find the file". Using quotes, the short name or the UNC
doesn't make a difference.

I tried Delinvfile, which looked promising as it allowed me to
navigate me to the h: drive - but when I tried to delete it I got
"File Not Found". I also tried to use Delinvfile to rename it or
delete on boot - same thing.

I've read the Microsoft article and I think running Chkdsk is what's
needed as it seems like an index or metadata is out of sync. However
I can't run chkdsk on the drive as it thinks it's a network drive
(even though it's actually a sync'd drive, held on my c: drive). I
ran a full chkdsk on my c: drive overnight - no joy.

I'll try the back-up file idea this evening.

Michael
 
michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:


> I've read the Microsoft article and I think running Chkdsk is what's
> needed as it seems like an index or metadata is out of sync. However
> I can't run chkdsk on the drive as it thinks it's a network drive

Try deleting all the network drives, at a command prompt issue:

net use * /delete /y


> (even though it's actually a sync'd drive, held on my c: drive).

What is a "sync'd drive"?

John
 
On May 30, 11:36 am, "John John (MVP)" <audetw...@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>
> Try deleting all the network drives, at a command prompt issue:
>
> net use * /delete /y
>
> > (even though it's actually a sync'd drive, held on my c: drive).
>
> What is a "sync'd drive"?
>
> John


Apols – I’ve probably got the wrong phrase. What I mean is that I
have an h:\ drive which, when I'm working online is a normal network
drive. This is then sync’ed (using the standard MS Synchronisation
Manager) so that it’s available offline (still appearing as my h:
drive).

This problem file is only there when I’m offline, not when I’m
online. If there’s a way of deleting what’s held offline & forcing
everything to re-sync that might be an answer.

Michael
 
michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:
> On May 30, 11:36 am, "John John (MVP)" <audetw...@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>
>>Try deleting all the network drives, at a command prompt issue:
>>
>>net use * /delete /y
>>
>>
>>>(even though it's actually a sync'd drive, held on my c: drive).
>>
>>What is a "sync'd drive"?
>>
>>John
>
>
>
> Apols – I’ve probably got the wrong phrase. What I mean is that I
> have an h:\ drive which, when I'm working online is a normal network
> drive. This is then sync’ed (using the standard MS Synchronisation
> Manager) so that it’s available offline (still appearing as my h:
> drive).
>
> This problem file is only there when I’m offline, not when I’m
> online. If there’s a way of deleting what’s held offline & forcing
> everything to re-sync that might be an answer.

Try re-initializing the offline cache.

John
 

>
> Try re-initializing the offline cache.
>
> John


Guess what ... that worked. Many thanks. I had tried to find an
option to delete the sync'd files but couldn't, I guess I was
searching on the wrong thing.

I some problems with my profile after I'd done it, but I think that
was the fault of my laptop & the way it's set-up.

Thanks for all the suggestions

Michael
 
michaeld121@hotmail.com wrote:

>>Try re-initializing the offline cache.
>>
>>John
>
>
>
> Guess what ... that worked. Many thanks. I had tried to find an
> option to delete the sync'd files but couldn't, I guess I was
> searching on the wrong thing.

You're welcome, thanks for the follow-up.

John
 
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