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I have a file named ENG~1.IN that cannot be deleted. File is located on an 8GB SanDisk USB drive with a FAT32 file system. Windows states that the file has 1,975 bytes attached to it.

Windows explorer states:

This is no longer located in J:. Verify the item's location and try again.

CMD states:

Could not find: J:\ENG~1.IN

Attrib * states:

The target of the symbolic link J:\ENG~1.IN does not exist

I have performed chkdsk /f, /r (and /p from a recovery disk) I have attempted to delete this file from Windows XP, Vista, 7, Mac OS X and Ubuntu (not sure what version). I have tried a trial version of DelinvFile which only states that the file doesn't exist (Waiting to hear back from developer). I have created another file with the same name and windows will list both files side by side with the same name, however when opening or deleting the old file only the new file is affected. I even ran a chkdsk with both files on the drive hoping that it would see the error and link the two, but it did not.

I believe that this file (and three others with the same problem) were created by an embedded machine running UC Linux.

tshepang
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Jared
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  • Is this somehow related to programming? This is programming site after all, not an all things computers site. Please read the FAQ: http://stackoverflow.com/faq and welcome to the site :) – Lysol Jul 23 '12 at 00:56
  • Aidan is right that it isn't a programming question. It did help me to get rid of the file I couldn't delete after following the answer to DelInvFile which was able to delete the file that nothing else seemed able to. That got me wondering how that app did it, and that is a programming question. :-) – Steve Crane Sep 24 '13 at 17:39

5 Answers5

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Since I could not move the file; I moved everything else to a temp directory, used the "rd /s folderX", and finally renamed the temp folder to the original name.

Hope this helps :)

wyzz
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  • This is the only method that worked for me (after trying may other methods), so I'd suggest to mark this as the answer – JCM Oct 20 '17 at 15:22
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two files with trailing periods: file. and ._file. made by MacOS (data and resource forks); both are able to be copied (but one is then permanently stuck)

del \\?\d:\folder\subfolder\file. works to clear the actual data file ending in a period (note: use quotes if spaces "del \\?\d:\some file." in path or file names, or just tab complete)

HOWEVER:

del \\?\d:\folder\subfolder\._file. says could not find (and GUI properties, then security tab says unavailable or can't be displayed)

attrib says the target of the symbolic link does not exist

fso.deletefile (visual basic script) also gives file not found

did chkdsk /r (but again note that copying to a new space then creates the problem on a new space); also, tried holding shift when trying to delete (but the GUI just loops on retry or skip), and even tried saving a text document quoting the filename (so as to not append .txt default behavior) and echo. >._file. and mklink ._file. temp.txt (but they all just save a good ._file alongside; i.e. they drop the trailing period because Windows doesn't like a trailing period or space)

my bandaid right now is to get everything out of the messy folder, then cut and paste that messy folder to the root of the drive, abandoned as a folder named "junk" (but it's like I have machines infected with something--it will be cleared out the next time I have to redo any of the three large arrays I regrettably copied it to); but, I'd still like to hear from anyone who persevered with destroying these unfortunate files; i.e. system and hidden and trailing period

S Hunter Simpson
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You could probably just backup all the data on your USB drive to your hard disk, then format the USB drive and put all the data except for your undeleteable file back on the USB drive.

There is probably some way to fix your file system, but it may simply not be worth the effort in your case.

Jules
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With the help of the developer of DelinvFile and DiskExplorer I was able to modify the file allocation table to delete the file.

Basically I opened the drive in DiskExplorer for FAT and went to the root directory. After locating the entry for the problem file I chose view in hex and modified the first character of the filename to x00 ( please note that you don't type the x when entering the value -- it only shows that the value is in hex ).

After that I dismounted and ran chkdsk /f; and now my drive works good as new, no more mystery files :-)

Jared
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Move the file to a separate folder (e.g. D:\FolderX) then run the command "RD /S FolderX" from an administrative command prompt in D:

  • worked for me.
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