If you can't delete a file or folder in Windows 10, check the 3 ways in this post for how to delete files that cannot be deleted in your Windows 10 computer. Detailed step-by-step guide is provided. To recover mistakenly deleted files or lost data from Windows 10 computer or other storage devices, MiniTool offers the professional free data recovery software. Show
Can’t Delete a File or Folder in Windows 10?Sometimes you may face this problem: you can't delete a file or folder in Windows 10 no matter how many times you conduct the delete operation. How to delete files that cannot be deleted? How to force delete a file in Windows 10 computer? Generally if a file is being opened or used by another application or program, Windows 10 computer will mark the file in a locked state, and you can’t delete, edit or move this file. When you are not using this tile, then it will be unlocked. But sometimes the file unlock process may be not successfully completed, which may cause the file delete operation can’t be accomplished, along with a warning showing that the file is opened by another program. If you insist to delete the file or want to force to delete it, you may try these three methods in this post to unlock and delete the file. Tip: MiniTool Power Data Recovery - Professional data recovery software lets you easily recover any mistakenly deleted files or lost files from Windows computer, external hard drive, USB, memory/SD card, SSD, etc. Intuitive interface and simple operation. 100% clean and safe. Free Download How to Force Delete File or Folder in Windows 10? - Quick Guide
How to Force Delete a File/Folder That Cannot Be Deleted Windows 10How to delete a file/folder that that won't delete in Windows 10? Normally you can take the basic steps below at first.
If all the five measures above don’t make any difference, then you can continue to try the three ways below to force delete files or folders that can't be deleted. Method 1. Force Delete Files/Folders Using CMDCan't delete file? You can try to use Command Prompt to delete files or folders that cannot be deleted in Windows 10. How to force delete a file with "DEL" command: Step 1. You can press Windows + R keys on the keyboard, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Windows Command Prompt as administrator. Step 2. Then input the command line and hit Enter to force delete the file in Windows 10 with CMD. The command line is like this: del c:\users\alisa\desktop\test.txt. Replace “c:\users\alisa\desktop\test.txt” with the path of the target file. And do remember to include the file extension in the command. To check the path of the file, you can right-click the file and click Properties. Force delete folder in Windows 10 with "“RMDIR /S /Q” command: To delete a folder that won't delete in Windows 10, you can type rmdir /s /q E:\test command in Command Prompt window. Replace "E:\test" with the path of the folder. Method 2. Use Safe Mode to Unlock and Delete FilesTo delete a file that can't be deleted, you can also try to start Windows 10 in safe mode to unlock and delete the file. Step 1. Click Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery -> Restart now (under Advanced Startup), to enter into Windows recovery environment. Step 2. Click Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Startup Settings -> Restart. Step 3. In Startup Settings window, you can press F4 or F5 to boot into Safe Mode in Windows 10. Step 4. Delete the file or folder in Windows 10 Safe Mode. Step 5. Restart Windows 10 and your computer will auto exit Safe Mode. Method 3. Use Shift + Delete to Force Delete File/FolderYou can select the target file or folder and press Shift + Delete keyboard shortcut to delete the file/folder permanently. This file deletion method won't pass the Recycle Bin. Note: Need to mention that this post is not talking about deleting Windows system files. Windows system files are usually protected against deletion. Deleting system files can cause issues of your Windows 10 computer OS. So please do not delete system files randomly. If the file is corrupted or your Windows 10 computer reports that it can’t find the file, you may take some measures to conduct the disk repair process to see if it can fix this error and fix corrupted system files. Quick Video
Guide: How to Recover Mistakenly Deleted Files from Windows 10 ComputerAs for how to force delete a file/folder that cannot be deleted in Windows 10, hope the above solutions in this post help. In case sometimes you may mistakenly deleted a needed file on your Windows 10 computer, here we also attach an easy file undelete method, namely, use the professional data recovery software to easily recover deleted files from your Windows 10 computer. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is an easy data recovery program for Windows. It allows you to easily recover deleted/lost files from Windows 10 computer, external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive (pen drive data recovery), SD card, etc. in 2 simple steps. You can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data under various data loss situations. Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your Windows computer and follow the simple operation below to recover mistakenly deleted files. Free Download Step 1. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and choose This PC from the left pane. Then you can choose the specific partition in the right window where your deleted files located. Click Scan button. If you want to scan and recover specific type of files, you can click Settings to choose the file type before you click Scan button. Step 2. After the scan process is completed, you can check the scan result to find your mistakenly deleted files, check them and click Save button to set a new destination path to store them. How to Force Delete a File FAQHow do I delete a file that cannot be deleted? You can follow the operation in this post to force delete the file that cannot be deleted in Windows 10 using Command Prompt. How do I force delete a folder? You can use the del command in CMD to force delete a folder in Windows 10. The detailed instructions for CMD delete folder are included in this tutorial. How do I delete a file that won’t delete Windows 10? Check the solutions in this post above to delete the undeletable files or folders in Windows 10. Why can’t I delete folders? If the folders are currently used by other applications or are locked, then you cannot delete the folders. You can close all applications and try again. If it doesn’t work, you can try the 3 methods in this tutorial to force delete the folder in Windows 10. How do you delete a corrupted file that won't delete?Solution 2.. Step 1: Remove Corrupted Files and Delete the Folder. Move all the corrupted files to the folder with the locked file. ... . Step 2: Close Windows Explorer to Erase Corrupted Files. ... . Step 3: End the Task to Get Rid of Corrupted Files. ... . Step 4: Restart Your Computer.. How do I force a corrupted file to delete?How to delete corrupted files?. Close all programs and files you are editing.. Restart computer and then boot to Windows.. Log in Administrator account and find out corrupted files you want to delete. Drag files to Recycle Bin.. Empty Recycle Bin.. How do you force delete a folder that won't delete?Press Shift + Delete to force delete a file or folder
If the problem is due to the Recycle Bin, you can select the target file for folder, and press Shift + Delete keyboard shortcut to permanently delete it. This way will bypass the Recycle Bin.
How do I delete a folder that won't delete Windows 10?How can I force delete a folder in Windows 10?. Reboot your system. ... . Force delete the folder using Command Prompt. ... . Use a specialized PC cleaning software. ... . Change the Ownership of the file/folder. ... . Check your antivirus. ... . Enable the hidden administrator account. ... . Use third-party software to remove locked files.. |