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This question looks like a duplicate, but the answers don't work for me: When I try to delete file in my PC it gives the error "Item not found"

I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit with the Anniversary Update.

I do some video production and in my working directory, I've ended up with a strange huge file that's around 10 Gb.

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I thought it was a temp file, but I can't delete it. I receive the message "Could not find this item."

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Even on an Administrative Command Prompt, I get, "Could Not Find." If I delete using wildcards, del s5sc*.* I get The system cannot find the file specified.

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I tried to "move" the file, but that didn't work.

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Looking at the properties of the file, I get conflicting information.

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I can't make any changes to the properties, security, attributes without seeing:

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In addition to Windows showing that disk space being used, I scanned the directory with WinDirStat and it shows that disk space being used.

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Running chkdsk shows no issues.

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While learning why this is happening might be interesting, I'm more interested in recovering 10 Gb of disk space.

  • I've tried using the free open source "Eraser" to delete it, but when I try to open the file in Eraser, nothing happens.
  • I thought that maybe the file was "locked" so I tried to use IOBit's Unlocker. That had no effect on the file.
  • I've tried all of these steps in Safe Mode.

What do I need to do to get rid of this file?

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mawcsco
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    try to boot a linux live DVD and look if you can delete the file there – magicandre1981 Oct 21 '16 at 15:16
  • Does it still exist after a reboot? What happens if you try `del s5s*.*` form a command-line? Have you run a `chkdsk` to test your disk/file system for corruption yet? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 21 '16 at 15:19
  • Possible duplicate of [When I try to delete file in my PC it gives the error "Item not found"](http://superuser.com/questions/178422/when-i-try-to-delete-file-in-my-pc-it-gives-the-error-item-not-found), [Cannot delete a file: System cannot find the file specified](http://superuser.com/questions/787580/cannot-delete-a-file-system-cannot-find-the-file-specified?noredirect=1) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 21 '16 at 15:22
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 this system has been rebooted several times, including after Windows Updates since I discovered this file. If you read my post, I have a screenshot of the command line attempt. I will try chkdsk and report back. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 15:23
  • "I have a screenshot of the command line attempt" I did, and you attempted to just delete the file by using the name you see. Try it using the wildcard characters as I suggested. My guess is that the file name has an invalid character in it (as suggested in answers to the duplicates I pointed out) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 21 '16 at 15:25
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 None of the answers on that other post work. I'm going to amend my answer with my Safe Mode findings. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 15:27
  • Sound good, when you do update it, include _all_ things you've tried, and what the results were. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 21 '16 at 15:28
  • First thing you could try and do is add an extension to it. Your file name ends with a `.`. You could move the MP3 files up one directory and then try and delete the entire directory that contains `s5s.`. A surefire way to get rid of it would be to enable Bash on Ubuntu in Windows and delete it through the bash shell with the `rm -f` command – DrZoo Oct 21 '16 at 15:35
  • @DrZoo I've tried adding an extension. I've updated my question with that detail. Also to you and magicandre1981 about using Linux, there are a few complications with these options. Are there any Windows-based solutions? – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 15:41
  • I still thinks it's an invalid character. Check out the answers on this related question (and the ones it has marked as duplicates) for some methods to try: [How to delete a file that contains a backslash in the name under Windows 7?](http://superuser.com/questions/409424/how-to-delete-a-file-that-contains-a-backslash-in-the-name-under-windows-7?rq=1) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Oct 21 '16 at 15:47
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 The answers there are: 1) escape the character 2) use chkdsk 3) Linux boot. So, 1) I don't know which character to escape 2) chkdsk didn't seem to find problems 3) I don't have bootable media... I'm working on fixing that last one. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 15:50
  • Mawcsco, what is the complication with the Windows Bash? You just need to [enable the Windows feature](http://superuser.com/questions/1108480/where-is-the-ubuntu-console-on-windows10/1108492#1108492) and then you open the bash console and run the command. – DrZoo Oct 21 '16 at 15:58
  • @DrZoo I wasn't aware of that feature or how to use it. Because I wasn't aware of it, I misunderstood your comment. I'm looking into it now – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 16:00
  • Make a usb bootable live linux distro. You can usu Rufus or Unetbootin. Browse and locate the file in question and delete from the live linux session. Recommend shift+del option. Let me know if this helps. – anonymous coward Oct 21 '16 at 16:02
  • @anonymouscoward, I know wading through the comments is difficult, but this has already been suggested and I don't currently have any bootable media. I'm working on it, but it can't happen soon. Though, It'd be great to have answers for a Windows problem that don't involve booting to a different operating system. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 16:05
  • @DrZoo, that is pretty awesome. I can't believe I didn't know about this. I don't know why Windows command prompt couldn't delete this file, but Bash could. Please turn that into an answer and I'll mark it as accepted. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 16:16
  • I've had the same issue before too. In my case Windows cmd did not work either so I used MiniGW, which had no trouble blowing it away. – DrZoo Oct 21 '16 at 16:18

1 Answers1

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Since Windows cmd has issues deleting the file, enable Ubuntu's bash in Windows (a Windows native bash shell) to delete it.

To delete the file, navigate to the location of the file and run the command rm -f filename to remove it.

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    This is far easier to do than booting from a Linux distro. I'd venture installing Cygwin might be another way to do this. – mawcsco Oct 21 '16 at 16:24
  • @mawcsco yeah Cygwin is another option if you feel like going trough the installation. – DrZoo Oct 21 '16 at 16:32