Cannot delete file. Says "Item Not Found Could not find this item Verify this item's location and try again."

Anonymous
2010-01-01T14:35:26+00:00

Cannot delete file.  Says "Item Not Found Could not find this item Verify this item's location and try again."

I had this file sent to me from my friend - it's a word document I had on their computer.  So I tried using Disk Cleanup to delete temporary files, temp internet files, and downloaded program files.  Doesn't work.

When I check properties, there is no security tab, so I can't transfer ownership that way.

I also don't want to experiment using the Command Prompt way of transferring ownership since the file's name is several sentences long.  I can't rename it either, of course.

Windows 7, a week in and I've already got a stupid glitch which has already wasted an hour of my time.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2011-01-25T20:37:12+00:00

What i did was create a notepad file that was blank and saved it at the same location as the file that wont go away.  once saved.  I right click the new file and rename it to the exact name as the problem file.  Be sure to change the file extension (ex: .doc)

ex problem file: word.doc

new file: word.doc

as long as they match eachother exactly you should see the problem file disappear and once thats gone you can delete the new file created.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-09T19:46:14+00:00

    I had a problem too.

    The file was a ghost file and it had a weird extension (.YouutiubbeAdBlocKKe). It did not delete (as the file could not be found). After searching and downloading pointlessly, I downloaded unlocker: http://filehippo.com/download_unlocker/download/93ffae8a5bad6c1fd1eed8ad1bfaae10/

    which did the job. It will ask you for the location and switch to delete.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-09T20:02:20+00:00

    It works perfectly - DelinvFile (http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/dldelinv.htm)

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-09T19:52:50+00:00

    I also had the same problem, as I was not able to do anything on these files (2 - Total 1.5 GB Space). Tried all most all the options, dir/x, showing extn and creating the same file from notepad, nothing worked for me unfortunately. Even I had AVG AV in my PC, thinking in mind that "Permanently Shred with AVG" option :), but the option itself was not available, but I found "7-Zip" on the right click menu, which gave me the option "Open Archive" (Crazy), I tried it, was able to see the files listed, was able to move the files as well, but not able to delete. What I did was, moved these files to an external flash drive & formatted it !!!!!!! (saved 1.5GB space)

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-21T13:41:35+00:00

    Try this download, found from sevenforums

    try delinvfile DelinvFile - Utility for Deleting Invalid Files and Folders

    This worked perfectly, PetekeMojela! Unlocker did not work for me, but Delinvfile highlighted the problematic file in red and it was a breeze.

    The font is a bit ugly (it uses one of those old Windows bitmap ones) but the important thing is it works!

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