A Windows XP help forum. PCbanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PCbanter forum » Microsoft Windows XP » Windows XP Help and Support
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

The system file cannot be specified



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #16  
Old January 21st 10, 10:19 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
jc
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default 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
Ads
  #17  
Old January 22nd 10, 02:52 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
John
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 212
Default 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  
Old January 23rd 10, 07:18 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
John John - MVP[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,637
Default 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  
Old January 23rd 10, 09:34 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
WTC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 620
Default 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  
Old January 24th 10, 08:49 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
jc
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default 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  
Old January 24th 10, 08:54 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
jc
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default 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  
Old January 24th 10, 03:01 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
John
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 212
Default 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  
Old January 24th 10, 03:17 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Carmel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 35
Default 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  
Old January 24th 10, 06:37 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
John John - MVP[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,637
Default 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
  #25  
Old February 15th 10, 03:31 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Barry Schwarz[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 373
Default 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
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off






All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PCbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.