Need Help Deleting an Empty Folder on My PC

[ArthurDaniels]

I am the Administrator of my PC.  I have an empty folder on my PC which I cannot delete.  I cannot change the Permissions on this folder in order to delete it.  I have tried every front-door and back-door approach I can think of to remove this folder.  Always the same result.  Windows 10 says I need Administrative Permission to change or delete this folder.  However, I cannot make any changes to this folder to alter the permission status - every attempt to do so is denied.  I have tried all the Security approaches - again to no avail - permission denied.

I have done extensive internet research, but have come up with nothing that I have not already tried.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Art

[boroda]

1st make yourself the owner of this folder (and files/subfolders inside it). then give *yourself* (not just 'administrators' group) full access to this folder/subfolders. if rights for this folder are inherited from parent folder then convert them to explicit rights.

[ArthurDaniels]

I cannot access any Properties of this folder.  I cannot change the Owner status of the folder.  The folder contains no data and shows up as having no bytes when I look at its properties.  Any other access to this folder is denied.

I have been out to the DOS command lines.  Access is denied when I try to delete this folder.  Also, in DOS, an attempt to set the directory path to this file says that the folder does not exist.

I believe this folder actually does not exist.

History:  the folder originally existed with over 500 GB of data and was in use without issue.  I decided to delete this folder.  All sub-folders and files were deleted in the normal manner.  However, the folder itself remained and was not deleted during the deletion process.

I suspect that the folder has somehow become corrupted or is a "phantom" folder.  But, I need to get rid of it so that I can reuse the folder name.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Art

[psychoadept]

Reinstall Windows? 

But seriously, that would drive me crazy, too.  I'm no help, but I sympathize.

[ArthurDaniels]

I am hopeful that there is a Windows Guru on the forum and that he or she will respond with the magic bullet to shoot this unwanted object.

[phred]

There's a little .reg file than adds "Take Ownership" to a right-click (on file/folder) context menu. I've used it with no issues.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3841-add-take-ownership-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

If that doesn't work you could try a reboot into Safe Mode and try deleting.

[Bee-liever]

One I have in my toolkit for just such occasions is LOCKHUNTER

[boroda]

chkdsk c: /f and reboot?

[ArthurDaniels]

One I have in my toolkit for just such occasions is LOCKHUNTER

Thanks - Lockhunter did the trick.  Pesky File gone!!!

Best,

Art

[sveakul]

ArthurDaniels:  glad you solved the folder problem, and (from another thread) can run the newest 3.2 patch problem-free.

Bee-liever:  thanks for the heads-up on Lockhunter, grabbed it today.  I had been using Unlocker 1.9.2 (I have Windows 7), but that is getting long in the tooth.  Have you tried Process Explorer (https://www.mysysadmintips.com/windows/clients/593-find-what-is-locking-a-file-using-sysinternals-process-explorer) for this, and if so how would you compare it against Lockhunter?

[Bee-liever]

@ sveakul:
I was using Unlocker but I got tired of my security suite complaining about the adware in the installer, so I moved to LockHunter.

I also use Process Explorer, but only when I want more in-depth info about what an app is doing 'behind the scenes'.

LockHunter is good for when you just want to click & unlock or click & delete. I also find it has the advantage of automatically scheduling a delete-at-next-start if it can't delete an item it has unlocked but the system is still using.

[sveakul]

Thanks Bee-liever.  With Unlocker it seemed that the file size changed every time you downloaded it, haha.. never knew what could be in it next.  Once Firefox even had a site warning about the home URL itself.  Tired of dodging bullets with that one.  LockHunter is just the ticket, I agree it's more straight-forward than Process Explorer when unlocking is all you want to do.