How to delete files and folders that cannot be deleted?

I have a backup copy of a previous Windows' Documents and Settings folder which only contains my original user and within 2 more directories: Favorites and Local Settings.

When I try to delete Local Settings I get this error:

When I try to delete Favorites, I get this error:

I ran this in a cmd shell:

attrib *.* -r -a -s -h /s

...but it did not help, nor did it return any errors/warnings.

I used Unlocker v1.8.5 and LockHunter repeatedly at multiple levels to see if any files are in use, but both always say: No Files Locked.

Update #1:

I was able to rename the directory, which now gives me this warning before (trying to) delete:

If I press Yes (or Yes to All) then I get this error:

Update #2:

I let chkdsk /f run which required a reboot since it's on my primary system partition. During Stage 2 scanning, I received about 40 of these:

Deleting an index entry from index $0 of file 25.

...followed by:

Deleting index entry cookies in index $I30 of file 37576.

...but I still get the first error dialog above when trying to delete.

I ran chkdsk again, this time: chkdsk /f /r. Produced no messages. Same result when deleting.

Update #3:

Digging deeper, the 99 is the name of one of many directories located deep in here:

C:\Documents and Settings.OLD\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Messenger\[email protected]\SharingMetadata\[email protected]\DFSR\Staging\CS{D4E4AE55-B5E2-F03B-5189-6C4DA6E41788}\

Inside each of those directories were files with names such as:

2300-{C93D01AC-0739-4FD9-88C7-13D2F21A208E}-v2300-{C93D01AC-0739-4FD9-88C7-13D2F21A208E}-v2300-Downloaded.frx

I noticed that, unlike all the directories, I couldn't rename any of these files. I also noticed that the file + dir names were extremely long:

Original directory = 194 characters
Filenames = 100+ characters
Together the length exceeds the 255-char limit which is bad and would explain the error message I posted in Update #1.

Partial Solution:

Rename all directories until the total path length is less than 100. Afterwards I was able to rename the .frx files, not to mention delete everything inside the Local Settings directory.

This is only a partial solution because these (empty) directories are still not deleteable,

C:\1\2\Favorites\Wien\What To Do..
C:\1\2\Favorites\Photography\FIRE

Same error as above:

Here is what Explorer properties shows for both folders:

Update #4 (another partial solution):

Using harrymc's answer combined with thoroughly reading through this amazing MS-KB article which contains nearly everyone's idea and then some, inconspicuously titled: You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume.

I was able to delete the 2nd folder C:\1\2\Favorites\Photography\FIRE - the problem being that there was an invisible trailing space at the end. I got lucky when I did an auto-complete whilst playing around with the del "\\?\<path>" command which he suggested.

NOTE: A normal del did NOT work, nor did deleting from explorer.

Now all that is left is the first directory C:\1\2\Favorites\Wien\What To Do.. (yes I tried endlessly with multiple combinations of the above solution ;)

Solution 1:

del is for deleting files, rd aka rmdir is for deleting folders, so...

rd /s "\\?\C:\1\2\Favorites\Wien\What To Do.."

...should do the job! :-)

The /s parameter

removes all directories and files in the specified directory in addition to the directory itself.
Used to remove a directory tree.

If this doesn't work; even not with wildcards/auto-completion; then you have corruption issues.

Solution 2:

I would try running chkdsk first as Jeff suggested. If this does not work, you could boot up with a linux live cd, mount the hard drive and delete the folders from within the linux live environment.