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I have some empty folders on my desktop. I created them to keep my latest music files that download from web. Now when I am deleting them it is giving me error that cannot delete the files. I tried to restart and do the same again, but still the same error. Another message I receive recently while removing another folder there is a new error I received. It says that verify the location of item. What does that means. Everything is one desktop. Is this is a serious bug. I am using Windows Vista.
I had exactly the same problem. I figured it must have something to do with my registry file so I downloaded Registry Doctor, repaired registry problems and was able to delete the old user folder without any problems.
Right click on the folder and then select "Cut." THEN you can right click on the desktop background and hit refresh. I had my icon Cut and I noticed the icon image faded away, then I read people's replies on here and clicked refresh. Worked like a charm.
( I have a file on my desktop that is 0
bytes and will not delete. Keep getting "could not find this item". So I
tried the command prompt solution provided above. I ran it as an
administrator, viewed the contents of the directory (and it was there),
but when I tried to delete it - "Could Not Find C:..."
The file I'm trying to delete is a download gone bad - it has no
extension and the name is pretty long. Does that make a difference in
"how" I should delete it?
That is due to low rights or some program associated with the folder. There are number of tools that are using the folder and because of which you are getting the error. I do not know the exact way to fix that, but I had tried to delete the same in different way. First I tried to cut paste the folder in a pen drive and tried to format, but that does not worked. Then I tried to delete the same through cmd and it worked. I can get rid of those folders. The only thing you need to ensure that you must use cmd in administrator mode only. You have to right click on CMD and click on Run As > Administration. Now to delete the folder type cd:username\desktop and hit enter. Your current directory will be changed to desktop Then type del nameoffolder and this enter. If this does not work then try to do the same in safe mode.
this one failed as well ! I could very easily create a new folder with the same name ! And when i tried to delete both folders, the new folder got deleted and the problem child still standing tall !
So I have this folder on my desktop, and it is not getting deleted. I try to delete it, it says " It is no longer located in c:\- - - \desktop". Verify Items location and try again.
I have tried to delete it through command prompt. No avail.
Tried cutting the folder(it gets cut, i.e. its icon gets faded) then pressed F5 multiple times.. no use.
Tried deleting the icon from Safe mode .. same old message.
Can you please help?
Even rightclick+refresh is not working. Anyways, I kinda had least hopes from this solution since I had presumed F5 and Rightclick+refresh should not make much of a difference.
Recently i also had the same problem it was solved with the help of 7zip explorer.
download it from here
It is a explorer like windows explorer. After installing it open the program and go to the location where that specific file is located. you can't delete it directly with it. But you can change the name of the file. Some characters are not allowed in the names of a file. so change the name of the file to something without any special characters and spaces. now you can delete the file.
I just had the same problem, and this is the only fix that worked. The issue stemmed from a couple of files deep within a directory structure with unprintable characters as names.
I ran the command prompt as administrator, navigated to the folder with the files, and used the above "dir /a /x /p" command to get the 8.3 names (which were of the form "ABCD~1". Instead of renaming the files, I just deleted them using the 8.3 names. After that, I was able to delete the folders normally.
Drag another file into this folder or copy it into it.Then delete the folder. It works.
Take care to have a backup of the file you put in that folder if it is an useful one.
I have the same problem but my file is not on the desktop, when i type in the search bar for the file, i can see it but when i try to delete it, it says item not found. please help
I got the issue when I was removing a New Folder created just a second before. I was having a folder on the desktop already. So right click > New > Folder. At first there was message do you want to replace the similar folder. I clicked on Yes but then error appeared saying cannot remove. I tried to drag the folder directly in recycle bin that too does not worked out. The thing that only work in renaming the folder. Rename the folder and try to delete that it will work. I had renamed the folder and then moved it to another folder on the desktop. I press Shift + Delete and it worked.
When I try to rename the folder I get error that item not found. The same error appears while deleting also. The folder is on desktop, then how does it gives a error saying item not found. After searching on web and reading a few number of website I found that using cmd is the only option. The folder deleting is affected due to long file name or long file path. You can rename the file through cmd and then delete it. It will work well.
I had this same problem until just now. I created a new folder in the same directory (for me "desktop") with an identical name. This allowed me to delete the old folder. The new folder with the same name had the same "item not found" problem.
I tried the same thing again and I was able to delete the folder.
I really sought out many version of help with removing folders that were not found in my C:/ Drive and found a much simpler way...
Now, I don't know if it will work for everybody but it certainly worked for me. What I did was very simple.
I created a new folder (did not named it) and just dragged it over to the trouble folder.
Now this part can be very tricky because a duplicate folder may apprear. If this happens delete the old folder and keep the new one that appears.
Then create a new folder (no need to name it) and drag it over to the "New" Trouble Folder.
Then you'll notice that it will accept the un-named drop in folder and Whalla.....Now You Can Delete The Folder And No More Nightmares..!!!!
I really sought out many versions of help with removing folders that were not found in my C:/ Drive and found a much simpler way, of course with the help of other postings...
Now, I don't know if it will work for everybody but it certainly worked for me. What I did was very simple.
I created a new folder (did not named it) and just dragged it over to the trouble folder.
Now this part can be very tricky because a duplicate folder may apprear. If this happens delete the old folder and keep the new one that appears.
Then create a new folder (no need to name it) and drag it over to the "New" Trouble Folder.
Then you'll notice that it will accept the un-named drop in folder and Whalla.....Now You Can Delete The Folder And No More Nightmares..!!!!
To solve, follow these steps:
1. Open up a command prompt (run cmd.exe from the Start Menu).
2. Navigate to the folder that the object resides in.
3. Run "dir /a /x /p" to display the contents of the folder, including
hidden files (/a) and 8.3 filenames (/x).
4. Find the 8.3 filename of the object to the left of the regular,
long filename.
5. Run "ren <8.3 name>" to rename the object, "del <8.3 name>" to
delete it if it's a file and "rd /s <8.3 name>" to delete it if it's a
folder.
Note: If renaming to a long filename, make sure to enclose the long
filename in quotations. If that fails, temporarily rename it to an 8.3
name and then rename it to what you want outside of the command
prompt.
Yep I agreed..the easiest way to remove the file that cannot be deleted from your window 7 desktop. It certainty worked for me after I finished writing this and reviewed it, I found that some of you already figured it out. I only create any kind files for the desktop and drag it in to the trouble folder and then delete it ALTOGETHER..
This was on Windows 7 64bit (But same steps apply to vista)
I tried the renaming idea, and everything listed above...no joy! I could navigate within the file and even play the files within but i couldnt rename/delete/move/ anything!
Fired up my CMD prompt with admin permissions (Start > CMD > Rightclick > Run as Administrator )
Navigated to the folder in question.
Then i tried to delete the file [TOP TIP, Use tab to autocomplete long file paths]Code:C:\Windows\system32>cd C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads
Now i noted the whitespace at the end of the filename, this isnt allowed! and prob while im having this error in the first place.Code:C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>del "Plumb - Hang On (The Remixes) "
Could Not Find C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads\Plumb - Hang On (The Remixes)
Now
Now we have the old dos naming system without the whitespace!Code:C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>dir /a /x /p
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is ****-****
Directory of C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads
08/04/2010 16:35 <DIR> .
08/04/2010 16:35 <DIR> ..
08/03/2010 23:05 282 desktop.ini
07/04/2010 19:08 <DIR> PLUMB-~1 Plumb - Hang On (The Remixes)
07/04/2010 21:46 1,749,722 SMF_1-~1.ZIP smf_1-1-11_install.zip
4 File(s) 43,270,168 bytes
6 Dir(s) 2,131,468,288 bytes free
Look! no error..Code:C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>del PLUMB-~1
C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads\PLUMB-~1\*, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>
However when i checked the directory it was still there! *ARGH* but it's contents had been nuked....
However as people have mentioned, the older filenaming method works, sooo why not rename the folder to remove the whitespace which is causing all the hassle.
Code:C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>rename PLUMB-~1 Noodle
C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>del Noodle
C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads\Noodle\*, Are you sure (Y/N)? y
C:\Users\Noodle\Downloads>
well i found it worked for me this way ...
I right clicked on the desktop - selected personalization - then selected desktop icon settings
ticked all the desktop items, clicked apply and then it dissapeared.
then i reverted back to just the recycle bin, just how i had it - done
i was being bugged for days with 3 "item not found" on my desktop then i tried your cmd method in the last post and IT WORKED!!
they were slightly dodgy files too if you know what i mean so its good to get rid of them;)
Everyone - I tried to get rid of an undeletable file. The above method worked easily.
Running on Vista
Basically, I have a file in the form of a .mp4 video. It was within a file called C:\Users\George\Desktop\extensions\{B13721C7-F507-4982-B2E5-502A71474FED} (sorry for the long name.)
This file has now been deleted also, and the only way I can see the video in question is by typing its name into the Start Search.
The file is called "Crookers - Knobbers remix" just so you know, and when the mouse is hovered over it, it claims to be 14 MB. (however right click -> properties says 0 bytes.)
However click on it and i get the dreaded message... The problem with the command prompt method is that I have no clue where to find the file...
Please help :)
TRY THIS.
This un-removable folder on my desktop has been driving me nuts for months.
I tried Everything Everyone posted.
Then, I googled for a utility for deleting unwanted folders and files.
This WORKED, and it was simple as pie.
The utility's name is DelinvFile.
Click on Download and choose which download works best for you.
I have the same issue with deleting a folder that is 0bytes and it show error when it trying to be deleted "cannot find folder" message.
I tried this and it works!!!
1) use the CMD prompt
2) navigate yrself to the place of that folder
3) use this commandline 'rd (Gears~1' for a folder with this name (Gears of War)
Perfect removal. Try it!!!
if you have total commander you can navigate to location where is folder that you cannot delete and then delete that folder.
this is the problem for windows explorer but not for total commander!!!
YOU ARE THE GENIUS MAN!!! i had a file on my desk top for ages, and today i mad by mistake another 14!!! you way is so easy and it WORKS!!! take a deep deep bow man!!