Typically, you will come across messages detailing that the file is still in use. Hence, follow all the steps carefully to resolve the issue successfully. Skip to content. Order Download Blog. Download Long Path Tool — Version 5. Unfortunately, this didn't work for Tom, either.
With respect to the above scenario - another thing that pops up sometimes is if the folder name contains a special bit character that prevents the system from being able to recognize the folder name and successfully delete it. For example, you may have a folder whose name does not contain any letter in the alphabet, but instead looks like a series of symbols.
Attempting to delete such a folder often from the command line may result in a 'file not found' error. The solution here is to rename the folder to something else using the Windows graphical user interface via the desktop and then try to delete it. Unfortunately, this did not apply to Tom's case - but it's worth mentioning.
The last thing that I tried was to enable the Administrator user account, then sign on as the the Administrator, then open up an administrative command prompt. From there, I reset the discretionary access control lists and ownership using the Administrator user, then recursively deleted the folders.
Strangely enough, I received multiple "file not found" errors while carrying out this task, however, the files and folders were deleted successfully.
The lesson to learn here is that even if you are signed in as your user and even if you open up an administrative command prompt to carry out a task such as resetting file permissions - it takes signing on as the Administrator user to actually make it happen - especially when it comes to flaky permission issues. Below I'll explain step-by-step how what I did using simple English - in case anyone else has the same issue.
As you can see by these instructions, deleting files and folders with an error message that says "The system cannot find the file specified" can be tricky - because the system is essentially telling you that the files and folders you're trying to delete don't exist, when in fact they do.
If you find these instructions too technical or otherwise need help deleting some files and folders with the "The system cannot find the file specified" error - I can help using my remote desktop support service for a nominal fee. Simply contact me briefly describing your message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
I need more computer questions. If you have a computer question -- or even a computer problem that needs fixing - please email me with your question so that I can write more articles like this one.
I can't promise I'll respond to all the messages I receive depending on the volume , but I'll do my best. About the author: Dennis Faas is the owner and operator of Infopackets. With over 30 years of computing experience, Dennis' areas of expertise are a broad range and include PC hardware, Microsoft Windows, Linux, network administration, and virtualization.
For technical support inquiries, Dennis can be reached via Live chat online this site using the Zopim Chat service currently located at the bottom left of the screen ; optionally, you can contact Dennis through the website contact form. I ran into this same issue when trying to remove a borked box. Box will allow for absurdly long file names, and I suspect this was the root cause as well. This technique literally gave me back about 40GB of hard drive space!
I was about to do a clean install or buy a new drive. Thank you so much. This is not a Windows 10 bug. Beginning with Windows 95, when Windows began allowing long file names, it has always restricted the full path name to characters.
Windows 10 - as of the Anniversary Edition aka version - actually allows you to disable this restriction, effectively giving you unlimited path name length technically, it's still limited to 32, characters by the NTFS file system itself, but no one in their right mind will ever come anywhere close to that.
The problem with this is that many older programs, particularly bit programs, still won't respect or recognize anything longer than the old character limit, so enabling long path names could end up causing you more problems that it solves.
Hey, new guys here. You have the most comprehensive solution to this trouble that I've been able to locate AND it's relatively recent. I have a scheduled task running some VBScript running a snapshot backup process. Originally, I mapped drives to the source and target folders so I worry less on whose computer it's running, meaning the mapping is a hold-over from the original code, partially in place to reduce the characters needed to reference the filename s.
I have confirmed, the following:. These are the short names for their respective folders The overall lengths of the filenames without the shortnames never exceeds chars, Even if I substitute the full path instead of the drive letter.
Not all filenames include the 'safe' special characters, so even that's covered. So there it is. A simple trick to get around those pesky files that windows says are too long — no special tools needed. So please think carefully before you use it. One more thing…Subscribe to my newsletter and get 11 free network administrator tools, plus a 30 page user guide so you can get the most out of them. Fantastic tip. I have run into this quite a few times, and so far this is the easiest solution I have ever seen.
Robocopy is much better, I think. For such a problem I simply rename the parent folder to a shorter name; Simpler and safer. You can rename the parent folder back to its original name once you delete the target folder or file.
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