Apparently, almost every user of a personal computer was faced with a situation where a folder is not deleted from either Explorer or another file manager or from the command line. Not everyone knows the secret of this behavior of the system, therefore it is proposed to understand this issue thoroughly. Almost all the proposed methods work, as they say, one hundred percent. But first, a few words about the very causes of this phenomenon.
Why can't a folder be deleted on a Windows system?
So, what could be the reason that some object in the system cannot be deleted? Actually, there are not so many options here.
Among all possible root causes, the most common are the following:
- the folder refers to the currently active program;
- limited access to the directory;
- the directory has been exposed to viruses.
How to delete a folder that cannot be deleted: the simplest standard solution
Most users, trying to get rid of such a problem, usually do absolutely right, terminating all active applications and rebooting the system.
Indeed, it is entirely possible that a file / folder is not deleted only because some program was previously running. However, it is worth paying attention also to that moment that some applications can work in the background and therefore are not visible to the user. In addition, the problem that, for example, in Windows 10 the folder is not deleted, may be directly or indirectly associated with active system processes. Here you need to understand that even after restarting, it will be impossible to delete system directories (Windows simply will not allow this to be done), but here some programs can restart their processes after a reboot, unless they start with the system.
You can check the auto start components through the configurator (msconfig), and in the tenth version of the system through the standard "Task Manager". If the component located in an undeletable directory is there, you just need to disable it and restart it.
Concerned process completion issues
But suppose that in the startup process, there could be no process in the directory that should be deleted. How to delete a folder in Windows that cannot be deleted in such a situation?
For example, take the popular Skype application. Even when it is closed, it still hangs in the system tray in the area of hidden icons and notifications. When you exit the program, it is not completely deactivated, and its process remains active, whether you want it or not. In this case, you need to call the "Task Manager" and end the active process of the program forcibly. The system will ask you for confirmation, which you must agree with, and after deactivating the background process, the program directory can be deleted without any problems.
What to do with permissions?
Now let's look at one more situation, which can only be connected with the fact that a user registered in the system does not have the necessary set of rights to carry out such actions (sometimes he can even be an administrator).
How to delete a folder that is not deleted? As already clear, you need to get these rights. They can be represented by the administrator, but if you are your own admin, you should use the PCM menu on the selected directory with the transition to its properties.
On the security tab, you need to go to additional parameters and use the permission change button twice. In the last list, you need to add a user if there are several registered in the system, then in the list of allowed actions check the box next to the line for deleting the object.
In the case of one user who is the administrator, for example, when a folder is not deleted from the “Desktop”, through the described sequence of actions, you can first change the owner, and then set the necessary rights for yourself. After that, the removal of labor will not be.
Using Additional Utilities
However, even the above-described manipulations sometimes do not give an effect, since access can be blocked by the system at the level of the so-called super administrator, whose hidden account appeared in the seventh modification of the system.
In this situation, if the folder is not deleted, you can use a fairly effective tool to unlock access - the Unlocker program. It embeds its own commands in context menus, and you can call the unlock tool through RMB on the directory to be deleted. In the running console, you just need to click the Unlock button, after which you can get rid of the directory in any file manager.
Exposure to viruses
But it also happens that the folder is not deleted at all because of restrictions imposed by the administrator or the operating system itself. Sometimes the cause of this phenomenon may be some types of viruses, which, as already understood, are able to block access to certain objects, especially to their own directories in which they are placed.
If the user is dealing with a regular program folder, you should first check it with an anti-virus scanner (you can use the context menu for a regular one), but it is better to give preference to portable utilities, since the installed antivirus has already missed the threat.
If the folder of the virus itself is not deleted, in some cases it helps to use uninstallers like iObit Uninstaller, which do not need permission to delete when searching for residues, say, adware viruses. At the end of a powerful scan with the installation of file destruction, all objects, including the main directory of the virus, will be permanently deleted. The main condition is to know which virus or unwanted software has entered the system.
Finally, for complete confidence, you can check the system with utilities under the general name Rescue Disk, neutralize detected threats, and then delete the desired object again. The advantage of such programs is that they are recorded on removable media and start before the system boots (they have their own bootloaders). In addition, they are able to identify threats that sit deep in RAM.
Brief summary
Here's a quick summary of how to delete some objects in Windows. Which decision to apply depends solely on what was the root cause of such a phenomenon. But in general, if you take into account the simplest methods, the completion of active background processes or access to the Unlocker utility will help. With a lack of rights, which is also common enough, it will not be difficult for the administrator to provide them for himself. In general, all the proposed solutions are quite simple and do not require special knowledge for their application.