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

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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
    2014-03-03T18:43:51+00:00

    hi,

     i have a situation kinda similar but in my case its a folder. i create another folder rename it with the exact same name as my problem folder and the file inside the folder disappear but i can't delete the folder. it keeps deleting the new folder although i tried just to delete the other one..

    HELP ME

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-18T14:15:04+00:00

    Thank you so much..

    This idea is perfectly work!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-17T09:39:40+00:00

    I ran "cmd" and in DOS i went to the directory "1" that was holding the problem-folder and then i typed "dir/x" to get the 8.3 format of the folder.. and tried "del <foldername>" and it didn't work.. Then i tried the rename command..

    "Ren <8.3foldername> <new shorter foldername>" ... it actually let me rename it and then i closed DOS and went back to explorer and now it's acting like a regular folder that can be deleted or whatever again. "

    There are more options in that posting but this is the only one that worked for me...

     

    Sadly, this is apparently still a problem in Windows 8.1.  I had a folder copied from a Mac that I couldn't delete, with a name that ended in a period.  I couldn't rename move or delete it any other way, but this part of the solution finally worked.  In the end, I had to repeat the steps 3 times, in order to get rid of the two folder levels above.  Thanks, AJ88CAB!

    Just to clarify, using dir/x to expose the old DOS-style short filenames allowed me to work with the locked, empty folders.  The system said an open program was using them, but I never figured out which one.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-01T18:58:50+00:00

    Thanks, that is the only solution that worked for me.

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