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file deleting

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mmosier

Technical User
Aug 5, 2001
70
US
I have a file that won't go away. If I try to delete it I get an error message that reads "System Error 1026" and if I try to open this file I get "file doesn't exist". This file doesn't seem to effect anything but still would like to get rid of this file. Plus, If there was a way to rid it in DOS I couldn't type the characters C__u~1 (C having a little goatee, sort of like a G. and the u has those dot above it as in NOEL).
 
Seeing as how it is in your Download folder
This issue can occur for any of the following reasons:
1.You copy or move a file to a disk, delete the file, and then click the Undo Copy or Undo Move command to try to retrieve the file.
2.Insufficient hard disk space on the computer.
3.You copy or delete files over a network and the server has problems sending the file because of security issues or network traffic
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, follow one of the appropriate methods:

Using the Undo Copy and Undo Move Commands
To resolve this issue, configure Windows to move files you delete to the Recycle Bin. To do this, follow these steps:
Right-click the Recycle Bin, and then click Properties.
If you use one setting for all drives, click to clear the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted check box, and then click OK.
NOTE: If you configure the Recycle Bin to work independently on each drive, click to clear the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted check box on each local disk tab, and then click OK.

IMPORTANT: The Undo Copy and Undo Move commands are available, but do not work with files that you have deleted from a floppy disk.
Insufficient Hard Disk Space
To resolve this issue, free up disk space on the hard disk. To do this, see the appropriate section for your operating system:
Windows 98
Use the Disk Cleanup Tool to free up disk space on the hard disk.

Network Security or Traffic
Check with your Network Administrator to verify that there are no network security or network traffic issues on the network.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if you do not have enough disk space on the drive that contains the Temporary Internet Files folder.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, use one of the following methods:

Delete unnecessary files on the drive containing the Temporary Internet Files folder.
Delete files in the Temporary Internet Files folder. To do so in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the View menu in Internet Explorer, click Delete Files on the General tab, and then click OK. To do so in Internet Explorer 5, click Internet Options on the Tools menu, click Delete Files on the General tab, and then click OK.
Move the Temporary Internet Files folder to a drive that has more free space.

STATUS
This behavior is by design.
MORE INFORMATION
Files that you download are first stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder, and then moved to the destination folder.

Note that this error message can also appear if the server has problems sending the file because of security issues or network traffic. In this case, the file is never created in the cache because of the bad transfer.
 
mmosier;
Is what "download folder" is the problem folder in...??
If you need the "other" contents of said download folder.....then copy those contents you want to keep to another folder and delete the original(the one with the corrupt folder within it).

TT4U
Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.
 
The reason why you had the error message on using -r -s -h method is that DOS does not support long file names.

Change the name of the folder containing the problem file/folder to anything with 8 characters or less and then use the technique.
 
Rob2806;
He(mmosier) also may have thought that you're earlier [attrib] DOS command meant that the bad folder in question resides "literally" on the Root Drive (C:\)....

He would need to type in/navigate to the full path to 'folder directory' to set attributes.....and yes the 8.3 naming convention applies......

Mmosier;
one small example in DOS would be.....
(C:\Progra~1\Access~1\Mspaint.exe),so......your problem folder may reside in say the(C:\Windows\Downlo~1\Tempor~1\) directory.......
you said you could move it "IF" it stayed within another parent folder......to make it easier in DOS just move the parent folder to C:Also, to make sure you're in the correct Dir., you could use the "Dir /p" command to view all contents in that folder once there(the p is to pause screen, until you hit any other key so all files don't go whizzing by)....
I use it alot, especially to make sure I've got the correct M$ dir. when using M$ folders......as you know they can be either Micro~1,Micro~2,Micro~3, and so on.....

TT4U
Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.
 
I repeat my message above. I have not been able to delete these files once they get corrupted. I am pretty positive this is realted to the FAT, The drive "forgets" about these files and simply cannot remove them.
I have tried about every DOS trick, utility and proceedure you could imagine, and I have never been able to delete them.
The only recourse has been formatting.
These files also only tend to show up after I have had crashes or reboots, while being connected to the internet. When I crash and I am completly unplugged from the net I have never seen this problem develope. Hence my suspicion of a viral nature, but again this is only suspicion.
The only thing I have not been able to try due to time and laziness, has been some of the FAT/disk repair utilities. Programs like Norton 2001 Utilites have not been successful.

Of note I have 2000 and 98 on my system as dual boot,
Also my 80 gig partition was formated/partitioned by Redhat fdisk. I had always suspected either of these as being the culprit if it wasn't an infection. Anyone else confirm/repute their particular setups when this happened to them?
 
DOS gets a little touchy about how a file name is specified. As you already know, you can't use a long file name to access a file when using DOS. DOS will allow access to the DOS 8.3 version of a file name which contains what would be an invalid name if the invalid name is enclosed in quotes and the the portion within quotes is the DOS version of the file name.

Getting to the directory can be a problem when its deep in embedded folders, but it can be done when you have the DOS version of each folder name.
Note that in the following DOS commands, spacing is critical and the proper special characters (\ vs /) must be used. There must be one or more spaces where a space is indicated. Failure to leave a space where needed or typing the wrong special character will cause errors. DOS is not case sensitive and alphabetic characters can be in upper or lower case.

Boot into DOS.

Type CD \ and press enter.

Type DIR /w and press enter

If the folder to be found is "Program Files" (without the quotes of course) it will be listed as "progra~1" without the quotes. To get to that folder, type "CD progra~1" without the quotes and press enter. If some other folder is needed, adjust this step to fit.

If the folder to be found is "P Back" without the quotes, DOS will see it as pback~1 and it may be accessed as pback~1 without quotes or as "p back" with the quotes required since the space character is used in DOS to separate 2 items. Without the quotes, the DOS command refers to an item P and then to an item BACK and neither of those items is what we want.

Repeat this step for each level of folder. Each access to a folder if correct, will show the entire list of folders up to that point. If the most recent folder is not shown, do the "DIR/w" without the quotes and then the CD with the exact DOS spelling. Any folders which showed up in Windows in very light colors/text is a folder with an attribute of hidden, system or read-only and this must be removed by typing "attrib -r -s -h c:\name of the folder" without the quotes and with "name of folder" replaced with the DOS version of the folder name or file name.

When you finally get to the final folder, type "dir /w" without the quotes to show you the DOS version of all the file names in that folder. You may have to type "attrib -r -s -h c:\*.*" without the quotes and then press enter to get rid of attributes on files and then do the DIR.

Type del "anyname" with the quotes and replacing the "anyname" with the actual DOS version of the name of the file. Between the command DEL and the anyname, there must be one or more spaces. The quotes around the file name specified in place of anyname should allow you to perform the delete as needed.

Note that there is a difference between a DOS window and booting into DOS. You should use your Windows98 boot floppy to boot into DOS and choose without CD. When the A: prompt is displayed, type "C:" without the quotes and press enter. Then you can start the above procedure. You will need to be booted into DOS to do the above procedure.

This probably sounds very complex to someone who has never used DOS, but the problem you are experiencing is brought about because of Windows. So we have to use DOS to clean up Windows mess!

Chris C.
 
Finally!!!! Thanks for all your help! especially Chris1234. The result was that I actually had to go to where the file existed. ie: C:\windows/desktop deltree nof. Did I miss this somehow in the given instructions or was this to be common knowledge? Now does anyone know how to find the startup menu in dos? agian thanks for the new wrinkle in my brain.
 
The instruction to go to the folder where the file resided, was given.

to get to the start up menu in DOS

Go to DOS prompt

type in

cd c:\windows\startm~1

dir

That will show the files in the start up menu.
 
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