Undeletable folder

[Ciaran]

I have norton system works installed on my system and norton unerase protection keeps files stored in "C:\recycler\nprotect" on an NTFS drive. However when i tried to erase these files using the program it failed to do so. I also tried erasing the files manually and i got the message:
"Cannot delete 00000015: Cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and filename"
I cannot delete the files individually either and they are taking up a lot of space.
I booted into safe mode but i still could not delete the files. However i managed to delete this folder on other partitions using a bootup disk with NTFS support, but it could not delete files off one of the NTFS partitions. (the partition is fine, the program only has write access to a limited number of NTFS partitions)
I am the administrator and i have full access to the folder. I am running winxp pro.
How can i delete the files? I do not want to convert the partition to FAT32 then use the bootup disk because i have lots of NTFS security permissions on it which I do not want to lose.

 

[KenChristensen]

Hi Ciaran,

You can reboot on an old win 95/98/me bootdisk and select "Dos with Cd seupport" (or something like it)
then you can browse to the directory and delete it trough DOS. (the DOS command deltree is in tools\oldmsdos\ at the win98 cd. else just use the cd {dirname) (to enter a directory). Del [filename] to delete a file. etc.

If you succeed then help others

ken Christensen
Christensenken@hotmail.com
Ken Christensen Software

http://www.kc-software.tk

 

[J741]

Uh, KC, A Windows 9x or ME boot disk won't be able to access the NTFS file system.

Ciaran, I clicked "Help and Support" on the start menu, and did a keyword search for "folder permission". Here is just one of the results. Do the same for more info.

--Exerpt--------------------------------------------------
To set, view, change, or remove file and folder permissions
Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder for which you want to set permissions.
Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
Do one of the following:
To set permissions for a group or user that does not appear in the Group or user names box, click Add. Type the name of the group or user you want to set permissions for and then click OK.
To change or remove permissions from an existing group or user, click the name of the group or user.
Do one of the following:
To allow or deny a permission, in the Permissions for User or Group box, select the Allow or Deny check box.
To remove the group or user from the Group or user names box, click Remove.
Important

If you are not joined to a domain and want to view the Security tab, see To display the Security tab.
Notes

To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
In Windows XP Professional, the Everyone group no longer includes Anonymous Logon.
You can set file and folder permissions only on drives formatted to use NTFS.
To change permissions, you must be the owner or have been granted permission to do so by the owner.
Groups or users granted Full Control for a folder can delete files and subfolders within that folder regardless of the permissions protecting the files and subfolders.
If the check boxes under Permissions for user or group are shaded or if the Remove button is unavailable, then the file or folder has inherited permissions from the parent folder. For more information on how inheritance affects files and folders, see Related Topics.
When adding a new user or group, by default, this user or group will have Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, and Read permissions.
For more information about permissions on other objects, see Permissions.
--End Exerpt----------------------------------------------

 

[linney]

I don't have Norton, but I was wondering does unerase actually delete files or just make them visible?

Here are some instructions from Norton for you to checkout.

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/consumer.html

To remove the Norton Protected Recycle Bin:

NOTE: Before purging protected files, follow these steps to retrieve important data:

1. Right-click the Norton Protected Recycle Bin, and choose Norton Unerase.

2. Unerase any files you may need. Any other files will be permanently deleted when you uninstall Norton Utilities.




Under Windows NT/2000/XP
1. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon, and choose Properties.
2. Select the Global tab.
3. Select the "Use One Settings for All Drives" radio button.
4. Select the Recycle Bin tab.
5. Select the "Standard Recycle Bin" radio button.
6. Change the text in the Title box to "Recycle Bin."
7. Uncheck "Show Norton Protection Status" if possible.
8. Select the Norton Protection tab.
9. Select a drive and uncheck Enable Protection. Repeat for each drive.
10. Select the "Also Empty Protected Files" option.
11. Click OK twice.
12. Reboot the computer.

Norton Protection has been removed from your system. To re-enable Norton Protection, reverse the above procedure.

 

[Ciaran]

Im sorry i forgot to mention that i a full control permission to the folder, and every file on my system. I am also the owner of every file on the system. I checked the permissions on a file in the folder and that too grants me full access (so itsnt because i forgot to apply the permissions to all files and subdirs).


I tried killing all the norton processes, i even killed explorer.exe and tried to delete the files using windows commander but i still could not delete them. A process called "navapsvc.exe" could not be killed either using windows taskmanager or a 3rd party prog called prcview. This process was to do with norton antivirus so i dont think it would have affected my undeletable files. Anyway i still couldnt delete the files in safe mode so it must be something else.

Linney, norton unerase constantly runs in the background and any files that are deleted by any program are sent to a norton recycle bin (the folder that i am having trouble with). I think it may be able to really undelete files (files that have not gone to the norton recycle bin). I have used a dos version of the prog to undelete files from a computer which did not have a norton recycle bin on sucessfully.
The problem is that when i Select the "Also Empty Protected Files" option nothing happens and the files still stay there.

I have an idea of how to get rid of the files but i am not sure how to do it:
When windows starts operations such as scandisk or partition magic can run before windows properly loads (partitions can be moved etc) So if i could schedule a .bat file to run which would remove those files then it would work.

 

[KenChristensen]

Oh. Sorry about that with the file system and bootdisks... didnt think about that lol. If you succeed then help others

ken Christensen
Christensenken@hotmail.com
Ken Christensen Software

http://www.kc-software.tk