Deleting the Non-Existent Directory in Windows
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So I'm posting this as reference for anyone having a similar issue.
I just did a copy from my NAS to my PC of a couple movies. I went to rename one of the folders to my standard naming convention after the move and couldn't rename it. I was somewhat confused. I could open it, browse inside it, create a new folder inside it, but I couldn't rename it. Okay, so I created a new folder with the name I wanted and moved the file inside to the new folder. However, now I have this ugly folder mucking up my clean list of folders.
Here is where it gets interesting. I try Shift+Del, so I can delete it, and it doesn't give me the prompt to confirm I want to permanently delete the file. Simply put, nothing is deleting. Ok, let's go CMD. I try an RMDIR on it. Nope. It keeps telling me it cannot find the specified folder. When I tried deleting it, I get the same error, with the "Try Again" option listed. However, if I cancel out, I can open the directory. I run a dir command at CMD and the directory does indeed show. However, I still cannot, by any means under heaven, delete the directory.
I run a Google search and came across what worked out to be the solution. On the same folder, I ran
dir /x
...which shows the 8.3 naming. My folder was "Despicable Me 2 2013 extra garbage here". The 8.3 name was "DESPIC~1". Running a...
rmdir "DESPIC~1"
...finally allowed me to delete the folder! I had tried rebooting, to see if there was some weird caching issue. Besides, when Windows acts weird, rebooting is always your first step.Anyways, I got it fixed but it was a real pain! Hope this helps someone else!
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CMD FTW!
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@nadnerB said:
CMD FTW!
Yuppers! I was afraid I was gonna have to pull out UBCD and fire up Mini XP or get a Live CD of some flavor of Linux to delete it. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
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Thanks, now to remember that I've read this
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It seems interesting that anything would still 'default' to the old 8+3 naming of eons ago. But I suppose it's possible I know that certain programs on UBCD seem to do that,.. but it's mainly due to the build and the XP structure...
I'll have to try to remember this, though I don't know if I have seen this or not.
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@g.jacobse said:
It seems interesting that anything would still 'default' to the old 8+3 naming of eons ago. But I suppose it's possible I know that certain programs on UBCD seem to do that,.. but it's mainly due to the build and the XP structure...
I'll have to try to remember this, though I don't know if I have seen this or not.
It was a weird situation I've never encountered before either.
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It is not so much that it defaulted to it, but that windows always has the short name available still. So when something whacke dout happens in explorer, you can always drop to a prompt and look at the short names to see what/where things are.
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AJ, this was caused by the length of the path of the folder. At least through Windows XP, the total path must be less than 254 characters to have Windows copy, move, or delete or even backup files.
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@dengelhardt said:
AJ, this was caused by the length of the path of the folder. At least through Windows XP, the total path must be less than 254 characters to have Windows copy, move, or delete or even backup files.
That makes sense. The folder I was trying to delete had a crazy long name and it was at a root + 2 directories deep level.
