Can't delete folder on server

[Niavlys]

Hi,
I have a W2K server which contains users home directories. In one of those, there is a folder which causes problems. It has the same folder created recursively inside so I can't delete it with Windows or command prompt. Windows can't file the folder. I need a utility that will delete that folder. It's not a permission issue cause I log with administrator.

I'm sure some of you know some programs that can go deeper than Windows can do.

Thanks!

 

[Blutch]

Have you taken over ownership of this folder?

 

[Niavlys]

Yes, sure.

 

[Niavlys]

the folder is created indefinitely inside, I don't get any access denied errors but just "Windows can't find the specified folder" when pressing delete.

It's like
c:\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder...

I didn't click for hours but I think this never ends.

 

[Blutch]

If it is on NTFS I suggest you restart the machine with NTFSDOS Pro from sysinternals and delete the folder from the command prompt.

If it is on FAT32 maybe the old Norton Commander can help

 

[Niavlys]

It is NTFS and I already tried deleting it from NTFS dos without success.

I though there may be a POSIX tool to do that but I can't find anything.

 

[Blutch]

Try EXPlor 2000

http://www.cmaufroy.com/download.htm

Not sure if it will work??

 

[Niavlys]

having the same problem...

I'll continue searching

thanks!

 

[skotman]

It sounds like a break in to me. I had this problem when someone left anonymous FTP open.
Have you tried to boot into safe mode and removing it from the command line?

If it's not causing any problems I would just remove all permissions from it and leave it. I think thats what I ended up doing.

Scott Heath

http://www.scottspad.com

AIM: orange7288

 

[Niavlys]

Yes I tried removing it from the command line (with NTFS utility) without good results.

I need to delete that folder cause I'm running scripts that are checking disk usage for quotas, stats ... and the scripts jams into that folder and keeps looping indefinitely.

...

 

[lrmerc]

Can you change the name of the root folder?

 

[Niavlys]

Yes the only operation allowed is rename. I can't copy it or move it, of course.

 

[lrmerc]

Once you have renamed the folder can you then delete it? I have seen a virus do this before and changing the name stopped the virus code from finding the location... I had to re-boot after changin the name to ensure any proccesses accessing were terminated

 

[skotman]

how about this:
Pulling the drive out (I hope this isn't a production server)
Putting it into another machine (like XP for example) loading it as a secondary drive, removing the folder and then putting it back in the server.

Scott Heath

http://www.scottspad.com

AIM: orange7288

 

[Niavlys]

I can reboot the server but the data is located on a Raid 5 volume on a SAN that I can't restart (maybe in 10 years...) Anyway, I already restarted the server.

 

[skotman]

Well so much for my idea.

Scott Heath

http://www.scottspad.com

AIM: orange7288

 

[bob47301]

Hi, I have the same problem with a server. Had it a year or so ago & I had found a little program that allowed you to delete these types of files (with illegal characters & such) now I am going crazy looking for it again. It is out there somewhere....

 

[c1utch]

I had this problem, and this is what I did.

I opened the start of this directory in windows explorer. i then opened up all the child folders until I got to the end. (Yeah, I know, this takes a while, but its quick when you think of the other alternatives.) What I think the problem is is that Windows can't dermine the entire file structure because its too long. There must be a restriction to the depth of a folder path or on the amount of characters used in a folder path. Anyway, I tried to delete only "some" of the folders. I can't remember from how deep I started trying, but try deleting 10 folders deep from either end, or select a chunk of files in the middle of the directory. In other words, once you've expanded the directory out...you can choose (from windows explorer) an arbitrary folder(s) within the directory and delete it. Delete the entire directory in segments rather than as a whole. It worked for me.

Chris