I can't delete a folder on my desktop

[Guest 1800yolk]

I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

"255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank. However,

when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting it as

an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit Home

Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

[Guest Clayton]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

After a system restart, will it delete?

 

 

"1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank. However,

> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting it

> as

> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit

> Home

> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

[Guest Tony Sperling]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

I don't really understand how the system could allow you to rename it like

this, I don't have an ASCII chart in front of me at the moment and cannot

remember what character this is, it's not a whitespace, probably just one of

the non-printing - an illegal filename is not recognized, I guess that's why

you can't delete it.

 

A good old DOS trick that might still work, is to use the command-line, copy

everything you want to keep to a safe location, somewhere else than the

Desktop - navigate to the Desktop Directory and type:

 

delete *.*

 

and see what happens.

 

If it don't work, you will need to write a utility for this one task.

 

 

Tony. . .

 

 

 

 

"Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message

news:%23kA028qCIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> After a system restart, will it delete?

>

>

> "1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

>>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

>> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank.

>> However,

>> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting

>> it as

>> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit

>> Home

>> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

>

[Guest Carlos]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Tony:

You always have an ASCII chart at hand if you are in front of a PC.

Just run "charmap.exe" and choose the "Terminal" font.

Scroll down and you will find the 0xFF character, which always baffled me in

the sense that it was not a space but it was also "not nothing".

I didn't try the OP's situation in my Vista x64. I'm afraid of having his

same problem but I did try it at work on XP x86 and I could rename the folder

on the desktop to Alt-255 and afterwards delete it effortlessly.

Carlos

 

"Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> I don't really understand how the system could allow you to rename it like

> this, I don't have an ASCII chart in front of me at the moment and cannot

> remember what character this is, it's not a whitespace, probably just one of

> the non-printing - an illegal filename is not recognized, I guess that's why

> you can't delete it.

>

> A good old DOS trick that might still work, is to use the command-line, copy

> everything you want to keep to a safe location, somewhere else than the

> Desktop - navigate to the Desktop Directory and type:

>

> delete *.*

>

> and see what happens.

>

> If it don't work, you will need to write a utility for this one task.

>

>

> Tony. . .

>

>

>

>

> "Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message

> news:%23kA028qCIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> > After a system restart, will it delete?

> >

> >

> > "1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> > news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

> >>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

> >> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank.

> >> However,

> >> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting

> >> it as

> >> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit

> >> Home

> >> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

> >

>

>

>

[Guest Tony Sperling]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

How utterly em-bare-assing! I know of the charmap, of course, but it never

occurred to me that it listed the ascii code by way of the terminal font!

 

There you go. . .proof positive of the potential of this amazing society.

 

I do think this is mighty strange, though. MS has always been extremely

carefull about the legal filename characters. At some point they allowed for

the space in a filename but ENTER is 0xD and I don't remember if SPACE is

0xB, or what? Anyway 0x255 should not be allowed at all, as far as I can

make out.

 

Great many thanks, though, Carlos!

 

 

Tony. . .

 

 

"Carlos" <Carlos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:B1A1C5C2-107E-4DE3-8918-99F613475446@microsoft.com...

> Tony:

> You always have an ASCII chart at hand if you are in front of a PC.

> Just run "charmap.exe" and choose the "Terminal" font.

> Scroll down and you will find the 0xFF character, which always baffled me

> in

> the sense that it was not a space but it was also "not nothing".

> I didn't try the OP's situation in my Vista x64. I'm afraid of having his

> same problem but I did try it at work on XP x86 and I could rename the

> folder

> on the desktop to Alt-255 and afterwards delete it effortlessly.

> Carlos

>

> "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

>

>> I don't really understand how the system could allow you to rename it

>> like

>> this, I don't have an ASCII chart in front of me at the moment and cannot

>> remember what character this is, it's not a whitespace, probably just one

>> of

>> the non-printing - an illegal filename is not recognized, I guess that's

>> why

>> you can't delete it.

>>

>> A good old DOS trick that might still work, is to use the command-line,

>> copy

>> everything you want to keep to a safe location, somewhere else than the

>> Desktop - navigate to the Desktop Directory and type:

>>

>> delete *.*

>>

>> and see what happens.

>>

>> If it don't work, you will need to write a utility for this one task.

>>

>>

>> Tony. . .

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> "Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message

>> news:%23kA028qCIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>> > After a system restart, will it delete?

>> >

>> >

>> > "1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> > news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

>> >>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I

>> >>pressed

>> >> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank.

>> >> However,

>> >> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried

>> >> deleting

>> >> it as

>> >> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows

>> >> 64bit

>> >> Home

>> >> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

>> >

>>

>>

>>

[Guest Carlos]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Tony:

The Alt-255 thing as part of a filename is allowed as far back as DOS.

I can recall an IT tech guy (they were not called that way back in 1988)

placing an Alt-255 character after a directory name in order to nobody being

able to access that dir.

Let's say you "see" a "Tony" dir using the old DOS dir command.

Typing CD\Tony would lead you nowhere because you would be missing the

trailing Alt-255 character.

You would have to type CD\Tony, then Alt-255, then press <ENTER>

Get the idea?

(This Malbec red wine I had for dinner is really taking a toll on my

available braincells)

Carlos

 

"Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> How utterly em-bare-assing! I know of the charmap, of course, but it never

> occurred to me that it listed the ascii code by way of the terminal font!

>

> There you go. . .proof positive of the potential of this amazing society.

>

> I do think this is mighty strange, though. MS has always been extremely

> carefull about the legal filename characters. At some point they allowed for

> the space in a filename but ENTER is 0xD and I don't remember if SPACE is

> 0xB, or what? Anyway 0x255 should not be allowed at all, as far as I can

> make out.

>

> Great many thanks, though, Carlos!

>

>

> Tony. . .

>

>

> "Carlos" <Carlos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:B1A1C5C2-107E-4DE3-8918-99F613475446@microsoft.com...

> > Tony:

> > You always have an ASCII chart at hand if you are in front of a PC.

> > Just run "charmap.exe" and choose the "Terminal" font.

> > Scroll down and you will find the 0xFF character, which always baffled me

> > in

> > the sense that it was not a space but it was also "not nothing".

> > I didn't try the OP's situation in my Vista x64. I'm afraid of having his

> > same problem but I did try it at work on XP x86 and I could rename the

> > folder

> > on the desktop to Alt-255 and afterwards delete it effortlessly.

> > Carlos

> >

> > "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> >

> >> I don't really understand how the system could allow you to rename it

> >> like

> >> this, I don't have an ASCII chart in front of me at the moment and cannot

> >> remember what character this is, it's not a whitespace, probably just one

> >> of

> >> the non-printing - an illegal filename is not recognized, I guess that's

> >> why

> >> you can't delete it.

> >>

> >> A good old DOS trick that might still work, is to use the command-line,

> >> copy

> >> everything you want to keep to a safe location, somewhere else than the

> >> Desktop - navigate to the Desktop Directory and type:

> >>

> >> delete *.*

> >>

> >> and see what happens.

> >>

> >> If it don't work, you will need to write a utility for this one task.

> >>

> >>

> >> Tony. . .

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> "Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message

> >> news:%23kA028qCIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> >> > After a system restart, will it delete?

> >> >

> >> >

> >> > "1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> >> > news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

> >> >>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I

> >> >>pressed

> >> >> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank.

> >> >> However,

> >> >> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried

> >> >> deleting

> >> >> it as

> >> >> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows

> >> >> 64bit

> >> >> Home

> >> >> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

> >> >

> >>

> >>

> >>

>

>

>

[Guest Carlos]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Tony:

Here are as couple of those known as "control" or "non-printable" characters

that I can remember off the top of my head:

0xD (decimal 13) = carriage return

0xA (decimal 10) = line feed

0x1B (decimal 27) = escape

01x1A (decimal 26) = end of file (EOF)

 

And in the "printable" section, the space or 0x20 (decimal 32)

One of my favourites is Alt-064, that happens to be "@", that I use in those

badly configured keyboard+input language combinations.

It is a pity that so many people (outside USA) don't know the proper use of

those two variables: keyboard layout and input language.

 

Carlos

"Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> How utterly em-bare-assing! I know of the charmap, of course, but it never

> occurred to me that it listed the ascii code by way of the terminal font!

>

> There you go. . .proof positive of the potential of this amazing society.

>

> I do think this is mighty strange, though. MS has always been extremely

> carefull about the legal filename characters. At some point they allowed for

> the space in a filename but ENTER is 0xD and I don't remember if SPACE is

> 0xB, or what? Anyway 0x255 should not be allowed at all, as far as I can

> make out.

>

> Great many thanks, though, Carlos!

>

>

> Tony. . .

>

>

> "Carlos" <Carlos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:B1A1C5C2-107E-4DE3-8918-99F613475446@microsoft.com...

> > Tony:

> > You always have an ASCII chart at hand if you are in front of a PC.

> > Just run "charmap.exe" and choose the "Terminal" font.

> > Scroll down and you will find the 0xFF character, which always baffled me

> > in

> > the sense that it was not a space but it was also "not nothing".

> > I didn't try the OP's situation in my Vista x64. I'm afraid of having his

> > same problem but I did try it at work on XP x86 and I could rename the

> > folder

> > on the desktop to Alt-255 and afterwards delete it effortlessly.

> > Carlos

> >

> > "Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> >

> >> I don't really understand how the system could allow you to rename it

> >> like

> >> this, I don't have an ASCII chart in front of me at the moment and cannot

> >> remember what character this is, it's not a whitespace, probably just one

> >> of

> >> the non-printing - an illegal filename is not recognized, I guess that's

> >> why

> >> you can't delete it.

> >>

> >> A good old DOS trick that might still work, is to use the command-line,

> >> copy

> >> everything you want to keep to a safe location, somewhere else than the

> >> Desktop - navigate to the Desktop Directory and type:

> >>

> >> delete *.*

> >>

> >> and see what happens.

> >>

> >> If it don't work, you will need to write a utility for this one task.

> >>

> >>

> >> Tony. . .

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> "Clayton" <claytonbNOSPAM@xtra.co.nz> wrote in message

> >> news:%23kA028qCIHA.1168@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> >> > After a system restart, will it delete?

> >> >

> >> >

> >> > "1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> >> > news:0CF8549B-95CA-41B5-9518-CC56593172DC@microsoft.com...

> >> >>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I

> >> >>pressed

> >> >> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank.

> >> >> However,

> >> >> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried

> >> >> deleting

> >> >> it as

> >> >> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows

> >> >> 64bit

> >> >> Home

> >> >> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

> >> >

> >>

> >>

> >>

>

>

>

[Guest jorgen]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Carlos wrote:

> One of my favourites is Alt-064, that happens to be "@", that I use in those

> badly configured keyboard+input language combinations.

 

An even better way, is to construct files that cannot be read by using

normal syntax, like putting a trailing space or dot in a filename

[Guest Tony Sperling]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Yes, I am aware of the potential convenience of willfully abusing the

filesystem under DOS, but the point - AFAIR - is that in DOS you couldn't

use system utilities (such as COPY, RENAME, DELETE ) they wouldn't do

anything with an illegal filename. You could, however, programmatically

create your own utilities that were designed to handle a NULL character in a

filename - if the first character was a NULL, the file wouldn't even list in

DIR and it wouldn't appear in the count of files from any of the DOS

utilities ( Except for the undocumented wildcard trick, that would at least

let you get away with any that you didn't create yourself, including

rudiments of files misnamed by system error incidents or hardware failure.

If my memory serves me, you couldn't even do:

 

ECHO This is willfully abusive! > "@ILLEGAL.TXT"

 

in a BAT file.

(where the '@' is a replacement for any non-printing, whitespace or NULL

char.)

 

Otherwise, for me - the wine I can usually handle, the dinner may worry me

at times. 'Canciller' is the only wine from Argentina I have ever had the

pleasure of aquainting, and a pleasure it was! If your Malbec is of local

origin, I will have to keep my eyes open.

 

 

Tony. . .

[Guest Carlos]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Tony:

Only argentinean wines in my "diet".

And for just $10 (that would be 2.3 euros) you can enjoy a very good wine.

:)

Getting back to DOS you can add the trailing Alt-255 to any dir name with

the MKDIR command and you can change to that dir with the CD command also.

No need for funny trics.

Carlos

 

"Tony Sperling mail.dk>" wrote:

> Yes, I am aware of the potential convenience of willfully abusing the

> filesystem under DOS, but the point - AFAIR - is that in DOS you couldn't

> use system utilities (such as COPY, RENAME, DELETE ) they wouldn't do

> anything with an illegal filename. You could, however, programmatically

> create your own utilities that were designed to handle a NULL character in a

> filename - if the first character was a NULL, the file wouldn't even list in

> DIR and it wouldn't appear in the count of files from any of the DOS

> utilities ( Except for the undocumented wildcard trick, that would at least

> let you get away with any that you didn't create yourself, including

> rudiments of files misnamed by system error incidents or hardware failure.

> If my memory serves me, you couldn't even do:

>

> ECHO This is willfully abusive! > "@ILLEGAL.TXT"

>

> in a BAT file.

> (where the '@' is a replacement for any non-printing, whitespace or NULL

> char.)

>

> Otherwise, for me - the wine I can usually handle, the dinner may worry me

> at times. 'Canciller' is the only wine from Argentina I have ever had the

> pleasure of aquainting, and a pleasure it was! If your Malbec is of local

> origin, I will have to keep my eyes open.

>

>

> Tony. . .

>

>

>

[Guest 1800yolk]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

I still can't delete the file!! I've tried dos, but I'm not using the right

command or something. Thanks, Brian

[Guest John Barnes]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

When viewing in dos does the file have any special characters in the name.

What are the attributes.

 

"1800yolk" <1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:609B80CC-06A9-4E43-A3BC-87FA157B7949@microsoft.com...

>I still can't delete the file!! I've tried dos, but I'm not using the right

> command or something. Thanks, Brian

[Guest jorgen]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

1800yolk wrote:

> I still can't delete the file!! I've tried dos, but I'm not using the right

> command or something. Thanks, Brian

 

type listing the short filenames with "dir /x". A troublesome filename

can often be dealt with by using the short form.

 

anyways, what type of error do you get?

[Guest Jud Hendrix]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 20:36:00 -0700, 1800yolk

<1800yolk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

>"255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank. However,

>when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting it as

>an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit Home

>Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

 

Did you try renaming it back to something legal?

 

jud

[Guest 1800yolk]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

I've gotten somewhere, but still haven't deleted it. In command prompt, I try

to delete it, and I get an error saying "the syntax of the error is

incorrect". I tried with and without quotes, and no luck. Thanks, Brian

[Guest 1800yolk]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Also, I tried del *.* and it didn't work (only worked for everything else

there). Thanks, Brian

[Guest Mikey The 13 year old helper]

RE: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

 

 

"1800yolk" wrote:

> I created a folder on my desktop, and when I went to rename it, I pressed

> "255" while holding the ALT key. Doing this makes the name blank. However,

> when I try to delete the folder, it doesn't let me. I've tried deleting it as

> an Administrator, and still have had no luck. I am running Windows 64bit Home

> Premium. I would appreciate any help. Thanks, Brian

 

 

Heres what to do

OK heres How To delete the thing

First back up all files on your desktop to a new folder.

move that folder any where but the desktop

it will say you cant move the recycle bin *Its OK* you dont need to

after you move the file

HOLD SHIFT click on the desktop

hit open command center

Type "rd /s desktop

it will delete the folder

hit "y" to delete

then hit enter

FINALLY restore Your desktop stuff from the folder

Congrats- You Now Know How To

*Delete A hidden folder!!

If you need any more help please message me

[Guest mikey13yearoldHelper]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

do this lol im 13 and im helping the world

 

 

OK heres How To delete the thing

First back up all files on your desktop to a new folder.

move that folder any where but the desktop

it will say you cant move the recycle bin *Its OK* you dont need to

after you move the file

HOLD SHIFT click on the desktop

hit open command center

Type "rd /s desktop

it will delete the folder

hit "y" to delete

then hit enter

FINALLY restore Your desktop stuff from the folder

Congrats- You Now Know How To

*Delete A hidden folder!!

[Guest Colin Barnhorst]

Re: I can't delete a folder on my desktop

 

Why do you want to delete a hidden folder? They are hidden for a reason and

that reason is so that you will NOT delete them. How you decide whether or

not you should delete a hidden folder?

 

"mikey13yearoldHelper" <mikey13yearoldHelper@discussions.microsoft.com>

wrote in message news:1FCDCD15-4BFB-4E38-8344-6C8DEBB9A1E4@microsoft.com...

> do this lol im 13 and im helping the world

>

>

> OK heres How To delete the thing

> First back up all files on your desktop to a new folder.

> move that folder any where but the desktop

> it will say you cant move the recycle bin *Its OK* you dont need to

> after you move the file

> HOLD SHIFT click on the desktop

> hit open command center

> Type "rd /s desktop

> it will delete the folder

> hit "y" to delete

> then hit enter

> FINALLY restore Your desktop stuff from the folder

> Congrats- You Now Know How To

> *Delete A hidden folder!!