For the computer gurus - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

11/20/2005 04:36:50 PM · #1

Here's the deal. I have two files in a sub-folder of My Documents that I can't get rid of. They read as 0 bytes and when I try and delete them I get the message: Error Deleting File or Folder Cannot delete file: cannot read from the source file or disk.

For that matter, I can't move or rename them either, and I can't delete the folder they are in so long as they exist. It's driving me insane, and of course Microsoft's help program is next to useless.

They were originally either .doc or .rtf files I was downloading from Blackboard, a site colleges use to post stuff for classes. I guess something went wrong in the download of these two? Their little icon is was the unknown symbol, but changed to the notepad symbol as I messed with getting rid of them. And the file names both have ".." added to the end...strange.

So I'm turning to you all - "Help me DPCers, you're my only hope!"

wewillexplore

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

11/20/2005 04:38:15 PM · #2

Have you tried rebooting in safe mode, deleting them and rebooting normal?

loz1

Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

11/20/2005 04:40:43 PM · #3

I once had an issue of a file that I couldn't delete. I opened up an MS DOS file and deleted it that way.

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF for Pentax

11/20/2005 04:41:54 PM · #4

I'm afraid I'm from the post MSDOS generation, so I'm clueless about that. As for safemode, I've heard of it, but have never actually done it. How do you reboot in it? And then should I try to delete them as usual once in safemode?

Nobody

Pentax K-S2

11/20/2005 04:43:51 PM · #5

either a running process has them open or their read-only and/or system attributes are set to prevent their removal.

Try right-clicking on them, select properties, and uncheck the system and read-only flags (if they are set). If they are not in use by a running process, you should then be able to delete them.

As Mavrik said, if they are in use, working in safe mode should free them up.

Message edited by author 2005-11-20 16:46:22.

justin_hewlett

Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

11/20/2005 05:02:22 PM · #6

Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

To reboot in safe mode:

Restart your computer, and as it starts back up immediately hit F8 three or four times in succession. Then you should be given a few options, and choose "safe mode" (number 3 on the list) using the arrow keys and then hit enter. As soon as you're done deleting the files, reboot again but this time without tapping F8 (to get back to normal mode).

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/20/2005 05:03:12 PM · #7

Thanks so far, but no luck. Just rebooted in safe mode and tried to delete them, got the same message. Any further suggestions?

Canon EOS-20D

11/20/2005 05:06:27 PM · #8

What are the filenames? I'd try googling them and see if they're virus files. The Symantec site, as well as a bunch of others, have instructions for removing specific files that are virus related.

David.C

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

11/20/2005 05:06:48 PM · #9

Another option, should the others not help is file permissions.

I can't help with specific directions since you didn't give what version of Windows you are running, and even if you had I do not have a Windows machine available at the moment.

But as a brief overview, it is possible for a file (or folder) to have different permissions for different tasks that can be done to with it. For instance, and of interest here, it is possible for you to have permission to do a directory listing (which means you can see the files are there), but not have permission to do anything with them (such as read). This can very easily happen when the download messes up as you said.

To fix this, right-click on the file and select the option that says something about 'security', maybe 'sharing and security'. Once you find it and open a dialog box, look for a tab that says 'owner' -- if you don't see it, look for an 'advanced' button and then look for the 'owner' tab again. Just look around, you can't mess up the permission for that file anymore than it already is -- so don't worry about it. The end result you want to achieve is ownership and full permissions for the files in question.

If you try this and get stuck let me know -- screen shots help a lot too (Print-Screen button and them paste into MS-Paint).

David

wewillexplore

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

11/20/2005 05:12:04 PM · #10

If you opened in safe mode and couldn't delete the files it's probably going to be near impossible to remove. lol

You could try editing the registry, but if you don't know what you're doing, that's dangerous. :)

M

Pioneer

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX DG HSM for Canon EOS

11/20/2005 05:20:10 PM · #11

Are the folders bold or faded, and again the names and properties of the folders might help.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

11/20/2005 05:28:42 PM · #12

Originally posted by mavrik:

lol I was afraid of that...
Britannica - I was unable to quicky find the "Sharing and Security" option that you mentioned, but I will keep looking. I am also posting a few screenshots, hopefully they will help a bit.

Keep in mind, they appear to be Notepad files, but that's 'cause I tried to use notepad to open them - they're not really that format.

The files in the folder:

Attempting to delete:

Properties of one file:

Edit - I'm running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2

Message edited by author 2005-11-20 17:30:07.

wewillexplore

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

11/20/2005 05:35:07 PM · #13

Does it error if you try to rename it file.jpg or something?

Also, it's associated with notepad - if you try and open it with a different program, what happens? What if you open in notepad?

Katmystiry

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

11/20/2005 05:38:25 PM · #14

There might be a problem with your file table. Double click on My Computer, right click on C drive, go to Properties, go to Tools and click on Check Now to see if it finds any problems on your drive.

MrEd

Sony DSLR-A100

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for Minolta

11/20/2005 05:41:58 PM · #15

Try this, It's helped me in the past. Try re-naming the file, then deleting it.

Message edited by author 2005-11-20 17:42:14.

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF for Pentax

11/20/2005 05:42:08 PM · #16

Originally posted by mavrik:

Does it error if you try to rename it file.jpg or something?

Also, it's associated with notepad - if you try and open it with a different program, what happens? What if you open in notepad?

When I try and use notepad, this happens:

Tried MSWord, it said it couldn't find the file. Same with Internet Explorer and anything else I try. It's like there's not really anything there, it just thinks there is.

I can't rename it, I get the same message : Error Renaming File or Folder - Cannot rename file or folder: cannot read from the source file or disk

You mentioned working in the registry. I've done a little of this in the past. Do you either know how I'd do it this time, or know a site that will tell me?

Nobody

Pentax K-S2

11/20/2005 05:43:47 PM · #17

did a google search for similar problems. You might want to look at this.

//www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20791525.html

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

11/20/2005 05:49:29 PM · #18

Thank you all! No luck yet, and I'm heading off to dinner, going to try a few things when I restart. I'll check back tonight, in case anyone came up with something new.

CEJ

Canon EOS-40D

11/20/2005 05:49:52 PM · #19

In Windows, make note of the exact file location. Reboot your system in DOS mode and navigate to that location. You should be able to delete them now. Remember that in DOS mode, filenames are 8 characters long, so the last two are always ~1 if more than 8. This includes directories.

I would check msconfig.exe and see what is loading at startup that you don't need or want. Disabling things under the STARTUP tab will speed up boot time as well as avoid monitoring programs to lock temp files they use.

Also, depending on how your system is setup, you may just need to refresh the directory view if you think you had deleted them before.

Message edited by author 2005-11-20 17:53:01.

David.C

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

11/20/2005 08:27:41 PM · #20

Originally posted by OdysseyF22:

... Britannica - I was unable to quicky find the "Sharing and Security" option that you mentioned, but I will keep looking. I am also posting a few screenshots, hopefully they will help a bit.

... I'm running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2

Ok, without an WinXP system to take my own screen shots I went looking for help online. This site [XP file sharing] has information on what I'm referring to -- it's in the context of network sharing, but the principles are the same regardless.

I forgot that you will likely have to disable simple file sharing (instructions in the link above) before the file permissions are available.

Also, since your running WinXP Pro, it is most likely your disks are NTFS formatting -- most likely if preinstalled or installed with default options. The NTFS formatting is not readable by DOS, so using a DOS boot disk won't help.

BTW: the link above contains a lot of information that you won't need for this, but does a reasonable job of showing you where to find the options.

David

Marc923

11/20/2005 08:42:02 PM · #21

you can try and delete them the old fashioned way, the command prompt.

Nuno

Nikon D700

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

11/20/2005 08:47:03 PM · #22

I've got a similar experiense like yours in two diferent situations.

The first and most common one that I've run in to more than once is when you open a file with a program, you then close the program and the registry isn't actualized yet and the pc thinks that you are still using the file in the program and don't let you delete it. in this case restarting the pc will do the trick. It seems it's not your case.

The other (bad) experience is when I got a worm in my system. The worm auto istalled its files in a directory created by him. When I tryed to delete it I coldn't. I got a message that said that was a crucial file or something like it and it couldn't be removed. I went to a lot to get it clean. I've catched a few scares with worms and stuff like that. They run silently in the system making it slower and might make you loose information or even not be able to use your pc after a wile withought formating the drive.

So my advice is:
Get anty spyware or worm/troian program like Adaware or Spyboot. They are for free for home/personal use. Install them (I even have the 2). With Adaware you have to be carefull about registry keys from other programs, but it is quite safe to use. run it and see how it goes. If you don't have any program like this ones youll be surprised about how many trash from the internet is on your pc. The programs let you put the findings in a quarantine, so if you delete anything that you did not ment you can undo the delete.

Search google by hijackthis. This is a small file that checks every single file that is brought up in to the memory when your pc starts up. If there's anything there from a directory that you did not install click in the "fix" box to have it removed. Even programs that you have installed and have enoing updates every day or files that are there to survey your pc can be safly removed and put your pc faster.

If the files aren't gone after all this try to erase them as usual to see what happens.

Because of this malicious virus and worms I know have several programs protecting my pc a t the same time:

-SpywareBlaster
-Spyboot search and destroy
-Adaware
-Spygate personal firewall
-AVG antyvirus

they all have free versions and are much better than most of the payed programs that you can find.