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#16
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The system file cannot be specified
On Jan 21, 7:52*am, John wrote:
jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. *Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. *Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. *It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. *Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1 Try this first: I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called 'DIRMAGIC.COM'. Get it he http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) *under XP (or in Start/Run if you list the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 If no joy then you might try this: It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) *and navigate to the directory where the offending file is located. *Something like this: C: If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then: cd *\xxx\yyy\ Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located. If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending directory name. Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus: dir/b * *.* * tmp.txt dir = directory listing (normally to the screen) /b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only *.* = include all files and sub-directory names *tmp.txt *= redirect screen output to a an ascii text file Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then restart the editor and select paste. With the cursor on the file name press the End key on your keyboard. This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name. *Append* a closing quote to the end of the line: " Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line: del *" Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now in quotes. Resave the file as a batch file, * a.bat * for example in the directory where the offending file is located. Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the batch file to run it. Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is still listed. If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing del * to * rmdir * *to remove a directory. Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is located and try again. If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT) is where the problem lies. Good luck, John To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. Tnx again for all the advice. jc |
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#17
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The system file cannot be specified
jc wrote:
On Jan 21, 7:52 am, wrote: jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1 Try this first: I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called 'DIRMAGIC.COM'. Get it he http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) under XP (or in Start/Run if you list the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 If no joy then you might try this: It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) and navigate to the directory where the offending file is located. Something like this: C: If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then: cd \xxx\yyy\ Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located. If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending directory name. Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus: dir/b *.*tmp.txt dir = directory listing (normally to the screen) /b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only *.* = include all files and sub-directory names tmp.txt = redirect screen output to a an ascii text file Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then restart the editor and select paste. With the cursor on the file name press theEnd key on your keyboard. This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name. *Append* a closing quote to the end of the line: " Press theHome key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line: del " Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now in quotes. Resave the file as a batch file, a.bat for example in the directory where the offending file is located. Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the batch file to run it. Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is still listed. If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing del to rmdir to remove a directory. Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is located and try again. If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT) is where the problem lies. Good luck, John To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. Tnx again for all the advice. jc Sorry it didn't work for you. John |
#18
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The system file cannot be specified
jc wrote:
On Jan 21, 7:52 am, John wrote: jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1 Try this first: I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called 'DIRMAGIC.COM'. Get it he http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) under XP (or in Start/Run if you list the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 If no joy then you might try this: It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) and navigate to the directory where the offending file is located. Something like this: C: If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then: cd \xxx\yyy\ Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located. If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending directory name. Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus: dir/b *.* tmp.txt dir = directory listing (normally to the screen) /b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only *.* = include all files and sub-directory names tmp.txt = redirect screen output to a an ascii text file Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then restart the editor and select paste. With the cursor on the file name press the End key on your keyboard. This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name. *Append* a closing quote to the end of the line: " Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line: del " Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now in quotes. Resave the file as a batch file, a.bat for example in the directory where the offending file is located. Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the batch file to run it. Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is still listed. If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing del to rmdir to remove a directory. Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is located and try again. If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT) is where the problem lies. Good luck, John To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. Tnx again for all the advice. Just checking to see if you are still working on this or see if you found a fix. Do you have a Windows 2000 machine? John |
#19
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The system file cannot be specified
jc wrote:
I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. Try killing Explorer.exe before deleting the file using a bypass for reserved-words and or characters. 1. Write down the path and filename of the undeletable file. 2. Open a command prompt window. (Start Run cmd.exe) 3. Open the Task Manager. (Start Run taskmgr.exe) 4. In the Task Manager, find the process called "Explorer" and end the process for explorer. (This will make the desktop and taskbar disappear) 5. Close the Task Manager. 6. In the command prompt window, type: del /a /f "\\?\path\filename" So if the file is called abc.jpg located in c:\pictures then the command would look like: del /a /f "\\?\c:\pictures\abc.jpg" 7. To regain your desktop and taskbar, type the following in the command prompt window: explorer.exe -- William Crawford |
#20
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The system file cannot be specified
On Jan 22, 11:18*pm, John John - MVP wrote:
jc wrote: On Jan 21, 7:52 am, John wrote: jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. *Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified.." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. *Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. *It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. *Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1 Try this first: I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called 'DIRMAGIC.COM'. Get it he http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) *under XP (or in Start/Run if you list the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 If no joy then you might try this: It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) *and navigate to the directory where the offending file is located. *Something like this: C: If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then: cd *\xxx\yyy\ Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located.. If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending directory name. Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus: dir/b * *.* * tmp.txt dir = directory listing (normally to the screen) /b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only *.* = include all files and sub-directory names *tmp.txt *= redirect screen output to a an ascii text file Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then restart the editor and select paste. With the cursor on the file name press the End key on your keyboard. This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name. *Append* a closing quote to the end of the line: " Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line: del *" Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now in quotes. Resave the file as a batch file, * a.bat * for example in the directory where the offending file is located. Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the batch file to run it. Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is still listed. If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing del * to * rmdir * *to remove a directory. Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is located and try again. If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT) is where the problem lies. Good luck, John To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. *It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. *I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. *Alas! *I tried it and it didn't work. *It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. *I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. *Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. *I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. *What was that, 2 or something? *That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. *Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. Tnx again for all the advice. Just checking to see if you are still working on this or see if you found a fix. Do you have a Windows 2000 machine? John John, I no longer have a Win2k machine. The one I'm having problems with is XP with service pack 3. As for still working on it...it's definitely a challenge so I'm still working on it. It's an easy fix with formatting. All the contents are on a backup drive. So that won't be a problem. But I'm convinced there has to be a way to defeat this hiccup. tnx again. jc |
#21
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The system file cannot be specified
On Jan 23, 1:34*am, "WTC" wrote:
jc wrote: I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. *Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. Try killing Explorer.exe before deleting the file using a bypass for reserved-words and or characters. 1. Write down the path and filename of the undeletable file. 2. Open a command prompt window. (Start Run cmd.exe) 3. Open the Task Manager. (Start Run taskmgr.exe) 4. In the Task Manager, find the process called "Explorer" and end the process for explorer. (This will make the desktop and taskbar disappear) 5. Close the Task Manager. 6. In the command prompt window, type: del /a /f "\\?\path\filename" So if the file is called abc.jpg located in c:\pictures then the command would look like: del /a /f "\\?\c:\pictures\abc.jpg" 7. To regain your desktop and taskbar, type the following in the command prompt window: explorer.exe -- William Crawford Thanks, William, for your suggestion. I tried your suggestion, following your instructions to a T (except that I put everything into batch file). However, when I executed the batch file, I had no success in deleting the object. The same error message came up about not being able to find the "path," this despite the fact that explorer.exe was out of the picture. tnx again, jc |
#22
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The system file cannot be specified
jc wrote:
I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc Have you tried third party file managers? A google search on 'XP file managers' turned up quite a few choices. John |
#23
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The system file cannot be specified
On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 09:01:25 -0500
John John articulated: jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc Have you tried third party file managers? A google search on 'XP file managers' turned up quite a few choices. Perhaps starting up in 'Safe Mode' and then attempting to delete the file might prove worthwhile. Then again, have you tried to open the file and then save and delete it? -- Carmel |::::======= |::::======= |=========== |=========== | -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (FreeBSD) iF4EAREIAAYFAktcVocACgkQlxsS0bhFoQcOnAEAkBVtO98pgG c3MID68Xe+rU3N BejnA56dz793RnG6nk0A/RHcIF+JTVmEjsdiG70i6roMBNoonmV1dxFoZBmz4VXZ =bEYt -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
#24
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The system file cannot be specified
jc wrote:
On Jan 22, 11:18 pm, John John - MVP wrote: jc wrote: On Jan 21, 7:52 am, John wrote: jc wrote: I don't know if this is the right group but I hope someone can help. I have XP Home with Service Pack 3. I have a file on my NTFS slave drive with following entry in one of its directories: 01 - O 'twas a joyful sound to hear (Colchester) _Tansus/mq3 Obviously there's an invalid character in the name but I can't delete it. Every time I do, it says: "The system file cannot be specified." It has a file length of 0 bytes. I have tried many ways to delete this, but nothing works. Here are just two of the many things I've tried: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315226/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081 I've also tried to create a directory/file with the same name, then delete that. It actually DOES remove it, but then when I reboot, the entry has magically reappeared. Obviously it was never deleted in the first place. My guess is that there's really no file or directory on the drive but just an entry in the MFT. I could sure use some help to remove this. tia. jc /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1 Try this first: I had the same problem using NTFS under NT4 ages ago and got rid of the bad entry using an old DOS file navigator from PC magazine called 'DIRMAGIC.COM'. Get it he http://burntelectrons.org/img/dm-challenge/dm.zip No guarantees but worth a try. It should run in a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) under XP (or in Start/Run if you list the entire path and file name) and *hopefully* latch onto the short file name in the MFT to delete the entry. By the way, it runs very-very slowly(?) on my XP system but it does work. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2 If no joy then you might try this: It may be that the file name needs to be surrounded in quotes to get rid of it. One way to do this is to open a DOS box (%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe) and navigate to the directory where the offending file is located. Something like this: C: If located on C: drive else whatever drive the file is on, then: cd \xxx\yyy\ Where \xxx\ is the top level directory and \yyy\ is a sub-directory (if any) and etc. until you are in the directory where the file is located. If it turns out that the file is actually a directory name (see the second batch file below) then you must be one level above the offending directory name. Write a text file that lists all file and sub-directory names thus: dir/b *.* tmp.txt dir = directory listing (normally to the screen) /b = bare to list file and sub-directory names only *.* = include all files and sub-directory names tmp.txt = redirect screen output to a an ascii text file Open tmp.txt with a text editor (Notepad for example) and delete every line *except* the offending file name. Do not in any way alter the file name itself except as noted below. If there are too many lines to delete you could high-light the offending name and select copy but be sure you high-light the entire line including trailing spaces if any. Close then restart the editor and select paste. With the cursor on the file name press the End key on your keyboard. This will place the cursor at the end of the line and include any trailing spaces that might be at the end of the file name. *Append* a closing quote to the end of the line: " Press the Home key on your keyboard to go to the beginning of the line and *insert* the following into the beginning of the line: del " Be sure you haven't added/deleted anything to the file name which is now in quotes. Resave the file as a batch file, a.bat for example in the directory where the offending file is located. Go to Windows Explorer (file manager), navigate to and double click the batch file to run it. Do a refresh in Explorer (View/Refresh) and see if the file name is still listed. If it is, reload the batch file into the text editor and try changing del to rmdir to remove a directory. Resave the batch file one level above where the offending directory is located and try again. If nothing else this should at least confirm that the file system (MFT) is where the problem lies. Good luck, John To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. Tnx again for all the advice. Just checking to see if you are still working on this or see if you found a fix. Do you have a Windows 2000 machine? John John, I no longer have a Win2k machine. The one I'm having problems with is XP with service pack 3. As for still working on it...it's definitely a challenge so I'm still working on it. It's an easy fix with formatting. All the contents are on a backup drive. So that won't be a problem. But I'm convinced there has to be a way to defeat this hiccup. If you had a Windows 2000 box (or an NT4 box) you could have tried to run the Posix Rm.exe utility to delete the file on a mapped network drive. Windows 2000 is Posix compliant, Windows XP isn't. You can download the hefty Windows Services for Unix and it will install the Posix subsystem on Windows XP but even then the Rm.exe command might not work as expected, if at all, it runs better from a Windows 2000/NT4 machine. John |
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The system file cannot be specified
On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:19:53 -0800 (PST), jc
wrote: To the poster who asked whether I had right-clicked and tried to rename or delete: I tried that. It didn't work. I was very excited about the suggestion to use dm.com. I should have thought of using something that only knew short names. Alas! I tried it and it didn't work. It was interesting to note, however, that the object did NOT show up in the list of files displayed by dm. As for the batch file suggestion, thanks for that one as well. I had already created several batch files that contained various del and rd commands. Nothing has worked so far. I should also mention that I appreciate the tips everyone is giving me, including the step by step method of implementing those tips. Thank you, John, for giving me such elaborate instructions that there was no way I could fail to follow them. I should add, however, that I've been working with DOS since just after it gained hierarchy structure. What was that, 2 or something? That's why I could kick myself for not thinking of using something that only recognized short names. Anyway, I thought I'd pass that on to save you some typing on future suggestions. If you move all the other files in the directory to some other directory, can you back out one level and delete the entire directory with any of the tools that have been suggested so far? -- Remove del for email |
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