Delete Files From Windows Foldernewnevada

It’s important to keep your system clean from junk or irrelevant files occupying unnecessary space on the drive. Despite having admin privileges in Windows, users sometimes face this issue where they are not able to delete some files or folders.

Files Folder Windows 10
Delete File Folders Windows 10
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Windows Delete Folder From Cmd
Delete Files From Windows Folder

This can be caused by a virus, malware, spyware, adware, Trojan horse, or corrupt/damaged system files and permissions that locks the files, thereby making them undeletable.

On Windows 10, sometimes you need to delete folders that may contain a large number of files, and using File Explorer can take a long time. The reason is that during the delete process, Windows 10 needs to run calculations, analyze, and show updates as files and folders are deleted on the screen, something that usually takes time when deleting a large folder with thousands of files and subfolders. Jul 18, 2017 The two commands that users require are Del, for deleting files, and Rmdir, for removing directories. Tap on the Windows-key, type cmd.exe and select the result to load the command prompt. Navigate to the folder that you want to delete (with all its files and subfolders). Use cd path, e.g. Cd o: backups test to do so.

In few cases, the file can’t be removed or deleted as it is being used by another application or essential program. Some frequent errors that appear in Windows when trying to delete undeletable or locked files are:

The file is in use by another program
There has been sharing violation
Cannot delete file: Access is denied
The source or file destination is in use
The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable.

This could be frustrating when you are struggling to free up some space and a few troublesome files stop you from proceeding. These files can vary from a few bytes to sometimes gigabytes.

How to Delete Undeletable Files

If you have also come across a similar situation, you can forcibly delete and get rid of these undeletable files and folders either manually or by using a software.

Reboot the System

First, try a reboot. It’s possible that the file or folder location might be in use by a software or essential Windows programs in the background. When you shut down the system, these processes stop. After reboot, open File Explorer and browse the file or folder location. Try deleting it. If this doesn’t work, boot into ‘Safe Mode’ in Windows by following these steps:

In Windows XP & 7

Shutdown your system and then press power button to turn it on.
Immediately start pressing ‘F8’ key on the keyboard until you see the ‘Advanced Boot Options’ screen.
From ‘Advanced Boot options’ select Safe Mode by using arrow key and hit ‘Enter’.

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In Windows 10, 8.1, and 8

Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and click the ‘Get Started’ button under Advance Startup.
From the available options, go for Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
After the restart, press 4 or F4 to boot the system into Safe Mode.

When you have successfully booted in Safe Mode, open the File Explorer and try deleting the files or folders or proceed to the next solution if this doesn’t work.

Using Command Prompt

Command Prompt or cmd can help you get rid of most troublesome files and folders from your Windows PC. Follow these instructions to permanently delete undeletable files and folders.

WARNING: Be very careful with these commands. Confirm the location of the file or folder at least two to three times before executing these commands. You may accidentally delete some important files.

Press ‘Windows+S’ and type cmd.
Right-click on ‘Command Prompt’ and select ‘Run as administrator’. A cmd window appears.
To delete a single file, type: del /F /Q /A C:UsersDownloadsBitRaserForFile.exe
If you want to delete a directory (folder), use RMDIR or RD command. Type: rd /S /Q C:UsersDownloads
Hit the ‘Enter’ button after typing the command in the cmd window.

/F	Force deleting of read-only files.
/S	Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
/Q	Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
/A	Selects files to delete based on attributes Followed by the location of file or folder

Using a Software

If command prompt fails to delete undeletable files and folders, you can use a reliable tool like BitRaser File Eraser that can delete undeletable and locked (or infected) files and folders from your PC and helps you free up unnecessarily used space on your system. Follow these steps:

Download and install BitRaser for File software.
Run the software.
In the left-pane, click on ‘Erase Now’. In the right-panel, all drives and partitions are displayed.
Double-click (or click on ‘+’) on the drive to expand it. Keep expanding until you locate the undeletable or locked file or the folder that you want to get rid of.
Click the file or folder checkbox to select it. You can select multiple files and folders/subfolders.
Click the ‘Erase Now’ button at the bottom right corner. Confirm when prompted.
After cleaning selected files and folders, a popup appears where the BitRaser for File asks you to reboot the system. Click ‘Reboot’ to restart the system.

The selected undeletable files and folders are permanently removed from the system after reboot.

Moreover, this tool can also help you to clean up your internet activities, system traces, application traces, and other files and folders permanently beyond the scope of recovery and helps safeguard your privacy.

It erases data securely using 17 International erasure standards like NATO, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD Standard 5220.22-M) 3 Pass/7 Pass, etc.

Conclusion:

Remove or delete your files cautiously and securely or else you may regret deleting some important files or folders accidentally. Use a reliable and trusted antivirus and anti-malware program to protect your system and files from infection.

It will also help you avoid data loss situations due to virus or malware attacks like Ransomware. Also, run schedule cleanup tasks to remove unnecessary files and folders from your system.

You can use BitRaser File Eraser to delete undeletable files and folder and to schedule or automate erasure process (once, daily, weekly, monthly, on first boot, or on every boot).

Windows can’t seem to shake its legacy off. After evolving to a point which looks very modern and nothing like the comical Windows XP or the super stoic Windows 7, there are still some things that won’t leave Windows 10 alone. Corrupt files being only one of them.

I’ve already seen a few users facing an error message while deleting unwanted files on their systems. Files that insist that they are ‘In Use’ when clearly nothing is open on the users system. How can you get rid of such undeletable files? No need to google, we are here to make your life easier.

Cool Tip for Windows 10 Users: The Digital Citizen blog has an interesting post that compares browsers to see which one saves battery on Windows 10. Check it out.

1. Try Killing the Task

I spoke about Window’s legacy for a reason. Sure, it has its cons, but it’s got it pros too. One great thing that I’ve always liked about Windows is the great Task Manager. This not only gives you an idea of running apps and services at any time on your computer, you can also use it to kill services that might be stopping you from deleting certain files.

So, for example, if you can recognize the type of file yourself (say Excel), then hunt for the locked file or process in the Task Manager window and right-click on it. Then, click on End task. Not to worry here, if it’s a system based task, you won’t be able to kill it anyway. Even if you have administrator access.

2. Delete File Using Third Party Tool

Administrator access denied? Don't worry. There is a neat 3rd party solution that can help getting rid of files and even folders that Windows won’t let you delete. It’s called Unlocker and once you’ve downloaded and installed it, all you gotta do is right-click on the files/folders and then select Unlocker.

Here, you might get a list of processes which are associated with a certain file or folder. Click on Unlock All and this should free up the file/folder to be removed. If it doesn’t work, try Kill Process.

3. Delete File Using Command Prompt

This option is for those who have some experience with Microsoft Windows command prompts. Go to Start menu or press the Windows button on your keyboard and go to Run or just press Win+R. A tiny box will appear at the bottom right corner of your desktop.

Here, type in Cmd and press Enter to open command prompt. You will now see a black window, enter the command line del /f filename there. Make sure the ‘filename’ is the name of the file you want to delete. You can also force delete multiple files that you can specify using commas.

You can also delete a folder using command prompt. Do the above steps till you find the command window and type in the command line RD /S /Q <Folder Path>. Here, the file path would be what the address bar on windows explorer is showing when you go to the folder that you want to delete. For example, RD /S /Q C:UsersXXXPremiumFolder X.

Files Folder Windows 10

4. Safe Boot if All Else Fails

If nothing works out, then Safe Boot is the ultimate savior. Do this step only if you’ve tried all else and not had any luck. There are plenty of ways to go in Safe Mode, but the one I like most if by typing msconfig in the search box of Windows 10 and then heading over to the Boot tab of the window that pops up.

Delete File Folders Windows 10

Here, select the Safe boot option and once you click Apply you will be prompted to reboot the system.

It will now automatically take you to the Safe Mode, where you can delete the file. To get back to the regular mode, go back to the MSCONFIG window and uncheck Safe boot from the boot menu and the PC will reboot back to its normal state.

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Any Alternatives?