Undeletable file "Cannot read from the source file or d

[Survivor]

I don't know if anyone remembers the topic i made at raw about an undeletable file that couldn't be fixed with closing explorer.exe and gave the error message "Cannot read from the source file or disk".

But i found a method on google. Apparently invalid characters and spaces where used to make the file undeletable.

When you have found the file open cmd. Head to the directory it is in. When you're there type "dir /x" this will show you the real name of the file. simply use "del filename" to delete it. If it still cannot be deleted it might be because they used a space. type "del filename(alt+255)". rmdir as a command can be used to remove dirs in the same manner.

I post this here because it took me some searching before i found it and because most people direct you to the close down explorer and delete the file method which simply doesn't work in this case.

Maybe it's an idea to start a knowledge database for the harder to get by information like this?

[FragaGeddon]

Or how about install move on boot.

[Survivor]

Well this fixed it requiring no install and i doubt it would find it anyway.

[Dr_Watson]

alt255 isn't invalid.. its a blank character. (not a space)
its fun to name files or directories with alt255's; makes for some interesting file listings.
pretty lame of windows having issues dealing with it though.

edit: just tried making a file with some random 255's in it... no issues deleting it in windows XP pro from explorer...

[U4EA]

Win98 had problems with Alt255 which is why it was a great way to hide porn. Win2k and WinXP don't suffer from the same issue. No idea which OS Survivor is using but I've personally had no problems accessing/deleting Alt255 directories and files on Win2k and WinXP.

[Survivor]

Was xp. Maybe it wasn't that alone but it solved the problem.

[axbaby]

good tip man .. i will use it next time.