BleepingComputer.com: Unable to delete any files from C drive

Hi All

I am not sure if this is the correct section to post this under as i am not sure what is causing the issue. however i am using Windows XP Pro SP2 so i thought this was as good a place to start as any. I have 3 internal hard drives in my system C, D and E drives. Recently I have not been able to delete any files from the C drive. Either on the desktop, the root of the drive or within other directories. The D and E drives are fine though. Whenever i try to delete anything I get the following windows message: Error Deleting File or Folder - Cannot Delete <filename>: Cannot find the specified path. make sure you specify the correct path.
I am able to rename files and have already run chkdsk on the C drive a number of times with no results

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I am still on SP2 since a work application i have to use has issues with SP3 so upgrading to SP3 is not an option.

Have you tried to do a chkdsk? If not, go to start, run and type in chkdsk c:. If c: is your primary drive, you don't have to put the c: in..Or you can do the same thing with a space and /r (chkdsk c: /r) and you may have to restart your computer for it to run. The only other thing I can think of now is to go to start, run type in sfc /scannow. Don't forget the space before the / you will need your windowsxp disk to do this and probably have to sit there and click on retry quite a bit as it goes through. It takes about 40 minutes for my computer to do this. Hope this helps....

OK. Sorry it took so long to run the tests suggested above. I had already run several chkdsk on the drive to no avail. I have also ran the sfc /scannow and that to did not fix the problem.

Anyone else have any ideas please

Thanks in advance

Strange.

Can you open and edit these files ok?
Are they set to read-only mode?
Can you create new files? If so, create a new file on the root and check if you can delete it immediately after creating it.
You are the administrator? Is it the only account?
Are you sure you have 'full access' permissions?
Try from another admin account and see if the problem persists.

This post has been edited by lowtek_otc: 29 January 2009 - 08:22 AM

I suggest running a manufacturer's diagnostic on that drive...I'd also check Event Viewer for any error messages involving any disk.

Hard Drive Installation and Diagnostic Tools - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic28744.html

How To Use Event Viewer - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic40108.html

Louis

Or use Unlocker.

Updates.

I ran a diagnostic check using the Western Digital tools and no errors were found. I also found out that i am able to cut and paste the files to one of my other drives and then I can delete from there. Using unlocker there was no locks on the file found but i was able to use the delete function from there to delete the files direct from the C drive.

So my conclusions so far are that it can not recognize any of the paths to the files using the Windows delete but only on the C drive. Even though I have a work around i am still intrigued as to what is causing this.

Thanks in advance for any further ideas.

I can understand "Cannot find the specified path" ... that would either be an invalid file/folder OR possibly a disk or partition error, however since you can open and paste/cut these files with no issues, I would have to eliminate those issues.
The only thing left to assume is your permissions are screwed up, however you can CUT.
Honestly never ran into this issue before. I am sure a re-format and re-install would fix but that is drastic.

What if you boot using a BartPE or a live linux OS and try to alter the files?

What if you boot using a BartPE or a live linux OS and try to alter the files?.... This is way beyond my ability :-)

Is it possible to change permissions on a complete drive in Windows?