corrupted file just won't die

I'd like to set some ground rules for all post to follow this one
1) if you find me to be an incompetant computer user who is only fooling himself then please refrain from posting, instead just point at your monitor and laugh
2) I am only asking for help with deleteing this stubborn corrupted file by way of command line prompt through the DOS shell in WinXP therefore I would appreciate all post to be aimed at deleting the file in this manner

I DLed a movie trailer for Harold and Kumar 2 and watched it, then I closed out and shut down the computer. When I rebooted later and went to view the trailer again but it said that the file or directory is corrupted and unviewable. So I decided to delete it but the same message popped up. So I tried to delete it through the DOS shell but I recieved the same message but this time it was DOS that told me this. This is what I did.

I went into the DOS shell and typed:
del "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Downloads\badfile"

it reported back that the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

did I type it wrong? should I try something else?

Please help, thanks in advance.

Fry

 

have you tried doing it in safe mode?

double check its not a virus or malware

 

Could be because your folder is shared thats why it wont delete...there is a command prompt way. Im not sure about purgin files from the command prompt but there are several programs that can purge files for you just use google.

Also im not sure if this works for xp but here is a batch script for purging files.

just type "del your_drive:\path_name\*.*" in any plain text editor and save in BAT extension...this will help you delete all files in that particular folder.

 

reply if it doesnt work. Im pretty sure there are other ways to do so.

 

@Acorn
So If I understand correctly I type:
del C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Downloads\badfile\*.*
Save it as a .BAT
Then what?
will this delete everthing in the path typed or just the one file?
Do I do this and then go to the DOS shell and try again?

Im a bit confused.
Also I double checked, the file is not shared.

 

try xdel command and wipe the folder

 

how exactly do I do that?
could you give me an example?

 

I had a similar problem with a stubborn file that wouldn't delete. Here is a link to a site that explains in detail how to get rid of it.

http://sophy.ca/blog/?p=1

Good Luck!

 

OK I found something that talks about typing C:\…\Desktop> rd Badfile
not sure what to do with it.
EDIT:
OK I tried basically everything in that link to delete the file and no luck
unless perhaps I did something wrong, nothing in that link works

 

. it could be that DOS cannot "see" such a long path
. u can try to set path (and many paths) definition to drill down to the file in a simple c:\afterpath\filename ... note that the foldername is now within 8 chars
. or search the net for DOS Commander tools .. there r simple dos gui tool behaving like explorer

cheers ...

 

side note:
. did u verify that it was the only "bad" file in that particular directory?
. it may well that it stored another copy somewhere and just write new onto the same directory at restart (like windows dll caching)

cheers ...

 

Try the Killbox or Unlocker application. Search Google...

 

yes this is the only bad file
I already converted the file name to an 8 character name and that didn't help to delete it either
I've tried both Kill box and Unlocker, and niether one nor a combination of the two worked.
Killbox said it could not delete it.
Unlocker said it was deleted but the file still sits where it was before.

 

Try MoveOnBoot http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/MoveOnBoot.shtml. This program can delete files BEFORE system boot. Act as chkdsk for example

 

OK so far the following has not worked:
MoveOnBoot
KillBox
Unlocker
Exlporer.exe
normal right click on file ----Delete
DOS Shell
-rd "Badfile"
-erase "Badfile"
-del "Badfile"

Im at a loss for what to do
I can't reformat the drive because I have no way of backing things up, at least not until May 11.

the bad file is not doing any harm that I can tell, it is just epicly annoying that it exists.

Therefore I would very much like to delete it.

Also, I was perusing around and found that a folder on the DT that I keep all media related updates and shortcuts and so on in has been inflicted with the same problem.

I aslo ran the update on my AV today and now it reported back that there was about 5 trojan type viruses on my drive. I deleted them but I am still left with the now two files that refuse to be deleted.

Please if there are any members on this forum who have any ideas on what to do to fix this problem, please post.

Thanks in advance

Fry

 

One avenue you might try is to get a bootable CD/DVD with one of the latest linux distributions, and then use that OS to poke around on the hard drive and see if you can't delete the file that way. Most of the recent linux distributions can read and write to Windows NTFS partitions, e.g., starting with Ubuntu 7.10. If you boot that way into a linux OS, your entire hdd should basically just be a passive data store as far as the OS was concerned. That might also give the opportunity to use the file searching capabilities of the linux OS to search all of the other Windows files on the hdd to see if you can find any other references or links to the offending file that might be the mechanism used to lock the file or restore it after deletion.

 

If you get these errors explained above, and your MFT is corrupted I doubt linux live cd can resolve this problem..I found several programs like Hard Drive NTFS Partition Recovery for example that "can" repair

but nothing freeware.

 

I have both Mint and Ubuntu and neither one will do the trick
I know that a reformat will do the job but I would like to avoid doing that since that is both time cosuming and dangerous when you are in a hurry.

if there are no other options then I guess Im SOL.

Thanks for all your help people, it has been most appreciative.

I will continue to check back on this thread until I have eradicated this problematic file so feel free to continue to post suggestions.

 

Your only option besides reformat, or using some expensive repair program that can screw your partition even more, is using a decent scandisk/chkdsk-like software and repair mft. Microsoft claims that ...

but I doubt chkdsk is the best repair software available
Keep in mind that repair a MFT is risky. For example once I tried to recover it, I couldn't boot in Windows and had to reformat anyway . Best leave it this way until you can backup your data.

 

This may be a totally dumb question, but do you have enough physical room on your hard drive to set up a separate partition, backup your essential data in compressed form onto that separate partition, and then wipe and reformat the original c:\ partition, and then reinstall? It takes a while, but some of the archiving utilities can achieve remarkable compression.

 

well, I do have about 14GB on another partition but Im gonna need about 55GB worth of uncompressed space to do as you suggested.
However, I metioned earlier that I did not want to go about this route since I lack the time to do a thorough job of it and do it safely.

 

Why, if I may ask, are you so bent on getting rid of this file?

 

If I got this file it would've pissed me off and do whatever it takes to knock him out

 

Maybe incorrect permissions/owner is why it can't be deleted?

Safe mode- change name to (xx?)- move it up the folder tree- attempt delete after each move.

Safe mode- right click- properties- security tab- advanced button, bottom right- check permissions and owner tabs

 

So is this 'badfile' a file or a folder? If it is a directory you should be able to remove it using the command
> rd /s "path to folder"
if a file, you should be able to remove it with
> del /f "path to file"

If those don't work in Safe Mode, then you could try removing the entire Downloads folder.

 

@Crim
because it's existance is pissing me off and it's causing troubles with other files and such
@Budding
I will try what you said but one question before I do so:
what does the /s and the /f mean, as in what exactly is that telling the system to do?

 

I actually seem to have a problem with corrupted files as well. Whenever I run a full scan of my system (Kaspersky), it tells me that my C drive contains 14 corrupted files. I have not noticed any problems with anything I use regularly, so it's not a big deal. However, if there is a way to remove them, then I would like to do that. Whenever I try to find the files using Kaspersky, it only opens the C drive folder and that's it. Is there any way that I can find the specific files that are corrupted and remove them?

 

The s flag probably stands for subfolder/files or something. It basically will delete the folder and all its contents. The f flag means forced. It will try to delete, and only fail if there is a security issue or something.

 

my suggestion is to try a program like easycleaner or ccleaner or both. These programs will check the registry and other common locations for corrupted files.

@Budding

OK, I'll try what you suggested now, I'll report back with the results

 

Another source of potentially useful utilities might be the Sysinternals' website on MS Technet, in particular the File and Disk Utilities section. In particular, the PendMoves and MoveFile utility can be used to schedule a stubborn file for deletion at the next boot, before the file gets locked by being put into use.

For reference, Mark Russinovich, the author of many of the utilities on that 'site (I don't know if he wrote all of them, although that may be the case, I just didn't check every one ), is also one of the two co-authors of one of the Windows bibles, Windows Internals, now moving on to it's 5th edition (I've only got 4th, ).

 

Thanks for the info. I've heard some good and bad things about registry cleaners, though. Have you had any bad experiences with them?

Thanks for this information.

 

none so far and I've used them for years now. you just have to know what to look for. plus the two programs I mentioned offer to make a backup before deletions in case you accidentally delete something you shouldn't have

 

@ Budding
I've tried what you recomended in Safe Mode, and still nothing.
I tell it to delete it and then it supposedly deletes it but when I go back to check it's still there.
I have no idea what's the problem.
I just don't have the reformat option so I guess Imgoing to have to just live with it's annoyingness.

 

Just 'cause I'm curioius, did you try with the Sysinternals utility?

 

Uhm how exactly do you use Sysinternals utility?

 

I can't remember off the top of my head right now; I'll try and write something more detailed when I get home tonight. In the meantime, from the Microsoft/SysInternals webpage for PendMoves and MoveFile, here's the following instruction (the utility is a console app, no GUI):

So, in your case, assuming that the file you want to kill is called "Badfile.BAD" with a path of c:\Dir1\Dir2\Dir3\, you would open a cmd console, and type:

Now, since this file is ... stubborn, which suggests that there might be something else protecting it and/or rewriting it if it gets deleted, you could also set up another Sysinternals' utility, Filemon to autoexecute at boot, with it's filters set so that all it's doing is monitoring what happens with Badfile.BAD - if there's something else rewriting that file, or protecting it, then that something may very well show it's hand in Filemon.

I believe that Filemon will remember the settings you use, so the way to do this is probably to d/l it, run it once to set up the filtering, and then make a scheduled task for it causing it to run at the next boot. Filemon itself doesn't (shouldn't) need to be installed as most of the Sysinternals' utilities are portable apps, not installations.

 

Have you tried to delete it in a linux live cd?

 

I had a similar problem recently with a leftover .txt file from a download. The file name was to long for the file system to handle. Try DelInvFile.exe a free utility program that worked for me.

 

@Thomas
I don't have my Ubuntu CD with me but I suppose I could burn another copy of Mint and try that since I have it on my HD.
@ryanpick
I will try that if the linux method does not work.

 

Sounds to be like your HD probably has some bad sectors, which is why the file isn't deleting. Run checkdisk to check if your HD is damaged. If it is, then you should replace it ASAP.

 

bad HD you say, now that just what I don't need.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3300100&postcount=41
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3300100&postcount=42

Looks like deja vu, all over again.

 

none of these utilities listed will delete the file. If it's unreadable and corrupt, a utility that moves a file before it boots won't be able to read it period. If it's unreadable and corrupt, it highly unlikely you can change any settings on it cause it unreadable in the first place.

It sounds like a low level file corruption to me. If chkdsk won't fix it, you are left with very few options. Something the equivalent of a norton disk doctor may work, but if not, you have to resort to formatting

 

That is exactly what I was thinking but trying desperately to avoid.
So here it is, one last time, the sitution in full
I have two file folders, both read as having 0mb sizes
one is on the Desktop
one is in my documents
both have to do with media
both give the following return message when attempting to delete it:
the path or file name is not empty
or
the file or directory is not empty or corrupted
I have tried every form of file delete program imaginable with no luck
I have tried every DOS cmd mentioned here in this thread multiple times and no luck.
I have tried linux, no luck
I have tried every thing listed above in safe mode (if possible)

It would seem that what I figured from the get go is my only option, I will most likely have to reformat.

However if I can muster up the courage, I will not be able to reformat the drive until a few weeks from now.

Thankyou again for all your help.

perhaps I will have learned my lesson and just not DL anything that is a .avi or .mpeg or .mkv and so on no matter how harmless it appears.

 

You are aware that if you have damaged sectors on your HD, a format won't fix them, right? So run some diagnostic test on your HD to check if it is damaged. If it is, get a new one, unless you are not afraid of having your HD die on you (and thereby lose all your files permanently with no way of recovery) sometime soon.

 

EDIT - OK, never mind, the full checkdisk run took care of it seems - my corrupted files are now gone and I just did a restart w/o the automatic checkdisk popping up.

 

OK my mind just went blank, how do you do a normal chkdsk, ie chdsk through windows,not DOS.

 

right click the drive and under tools, it is called error checking.

 

ok, I can't get chckdsk to work, the first time I got a error screen saying that chcdsk couldn't run and the next two times it just didn't run at all.

 

So...what was the exact error message? From the sounds of it, it is time to replace your HD.