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Cant Delete One Photo On My Laptop!

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joko | 22:43 Thu 12th Oct 2023 | Technology
15 Answers

Im on win10 & a dell m6800

I downloaded a photo, & after deleting or moving 100s of other photos - but this one wont delete!
Ive tried over & over, using various processes - even opening it & deleted through the photo app -it wont go - nothing happens - sometimes there is a bit of a sort of 'flicker' but it doesnt go.
Ive tried to move it, in various ways, wont move - what can i do?

Its a bit weird that its a photo of Varg Vikernes - a killer. hes still alive though so hes not haunting my computer!
(because my friend looks a bit like him)

any idea how to get it off? & why wont it go? all the others did with no problems.

Thanks :)

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Check that the image file isn't 'read only':
Right-click on it, select Properties' and make sure that there's not a tick in the relevant box.  If there is, click to remove it and then on Apply.  You can then delete it.

If that doesn't help, first ensure you know the exact file path for the image:
Again, right-click and select Properties.  Click on the Security tab and look next to Object Name.  (NB: I'm using Windows 11 but it should be the same, or very close to it in Windows 10).  As an example, the file path for a random image on my own computer is:
C:\Users\USER\Pictures\CatsForCards\Tablo.jpg

Once you know the file path, press the Windows and R keys together on your keyboard.  Type cmd and then Ctrl, Shift and Enter all together to run Windows Command Prompt with admisistrator privileges.

Type del, followed by a space and the relevant file path.  Using my example, that would be
del c:\users\user\pictures\catsforcards\tablo.jpg
[Note that I've replaced capitals with lower case letters there.  I'm not actually sure that it's really necessary though!]
Then hit Enter.

If that doesn't work, get back into Windows Command Prompt again (as above) and repeat the process but replacing 'del' with 'rmdir /s /q'. 
e.g. from my example, type
rmdir /s /q c:\users\user\pictures\catsforcards\tablo.jpg
and then hit Enter.

 

Alternatively, if, say, the photo is a folder called KillerPics, create a new folder called KillerPics'.  Copy everything from the original folder to the new one eexcept, of course, the file that you're trying to get rid of.  Then delete the Killer Pics folder and, if required, rename KillerPics2 to KillerPics.

Question Author

Thanks!
its not read only & i tried to delete all the properties - it wouldnt delete most of it.
i tried to rename it - wont let me.
tried to shred it with glary - it says 'system cannot find the path specified' - but i dragged & dropped!


i tried both those in command prompt neither worked & i double checked.

it kept saying the parameter is incorrect, when i used 'del'

then with the second one it said 'filename, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect'


the pic is just in the downloads folder, i hadnt planned to keep it, just showing someone what he looked like, so i cant delete the file - can i?


ridiculous long file name too -

rmdir /s /q C:\users\joko\downloads\varg-vikernes-during-his-trial-in-oslo-norway-varg-vikernes-was-born-kristian-vikernes-on-february-11-1973-outside-of-bergen-norway-known-by-the-nom-de-plume-count-grishnackh-during-the-early-days-of-black-metal-in-norway-he-is-currently-incarcerated-.jpeg

Looks like im going to be haunted by vargs picture forever!

haha!

 

I trust you tried switching the PC off then on again.

OG's suggestion isn't a silly one. Sometimes files appear to be still there but actually aren't. 

How about just ignoring it?

I had a similar problem several years ago. I tried all sorts of tricks to get rid of it (you can't delete a folder unless it's empty, so Buenchico's second suggestion won't work) and never managed it, so I adopted Hopkirk's suggestion. Just copy everything useful out of the folder and then rename the folder to "CAN BE DELETED".

Try 🔨

You could use a disk sector editor to erase the directory entry and then the sectors. Something like this?

https://www.disk-editor.org/index.html

 

Question Author

thanks all

i did turn it off and on, & ran numerous clean ups, updates, scans etc, still wont go.

If i empty & delete the downloads folder itself, will following instructions on this page - about halfway down -get the downloads folder itself back? - am i reading it right? Its a bit confusing because its also explaining how to get the deleted downloads folders from the downloads folder back.🤯
https://www.ubackup.com/data-recovery-disk/accidentally-deleted-downloads-folder-windows-10-8975.html

then i'll Mjolnir the crap out of it!

I will obvs ignore it, it doesnt seem to causing any other issues, i hope, & it only a small size.

but its weird - & i dont want to have the mark of the beast upon me for him to come & get me when he dies.

i bet there is a film somewhere with that a storyline hahah - & if there isnt, im going to make one! *turns webcam on.

try the sector editor.

try renaming it

Question Author

Its gone! Huzzahhh!

I opened file splitter from glary, thought maybe i could break it into bits, but in the top box the file path was - C:\Users\joko\Downloads\VARG-V~1.JPG

so i didnt try to split it, i copied the name & used it with the 'del' command prompt buenchico gave, & voila!


No idea at all where it got that file name from!

in the downloads folder underneath the pic itself it had the big long stupid name i posted before!

I had tried to rename before it but it wouldnt let me!

before all that, i made a copy of the downloads folder, to see if I could delete the pic from that, then delete the original folder - wouldnt let me delete the pic on its own, but it deleted the whole extra download folder with the pic too! It was in the recycle bin.

Blimey what a palava!

Good to know in case it happens again, or to someone else on here - but knowing my luck this is only instance of this ever happening anywhere ever in the whole world 😁

i bet theres a copy of it lurking somewhere, in the temps folder or something

Phew!  You can sleep well tonight now Joko. Well done.

iv used this in the past - https://lockhunter.com/

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