Matthew Skelly, Author at North Olmsted Computer Repair

Problem:

File shows up in a folder, but any attempt to delete, rename or move it results in : “Error Deleting File or Folder – Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk“.

If it’s a folder, no hidden files are inside it. You can read and write to it. No permissions error, and the file/folder is not set as hidden or read only in properties.

Dropping down to a DOS prompt and trying a DEL, DELTREE, or RN return the same error.

Solution:

This is caused by an invalid character in the file name. Possibly a dot or a space (Spaces are really hard to spot – they’re invisible. But try a rename and just use the arrow keys in the rename box. If there’s a space at the end, the arrow key will find it and move one character past the last letter). Normally Windows will not let you create something with an invalid character in the name, but it can happen if you’re in a system remotely and the connection gets cut off, or if there’s corruption on the Hard disk, or if the file was created by a Mac and then some how transferred over to the system.

I ran across a couple of possible solutions from the command prompt, but if your file has a space in the name, especially in the middle of the name, you won’t be able to run them. Tried a couple of tools, “Killbox” returned a similar error – that the file dosen’t appear to exist. Finally came across “Unlocker”. This app will force a delete of the file. Start up the program and use it’s interface to browse to the file / folder in question (local or network drive, it doesn’t matter. as long as you can browse to it, the application can work with it), and from the actions list select “Delete”. File is immediately deleted. There’s also a “Rename” and a “Move” option. if your trying to preserve the file.

Problem:

Windows 10 not booting – blinking cursor or can’t find installation

Solution:

Bring up the command prompt:

Boot from any DVD or USB Windows 7, 8, or 10 media.
Once you have reached the Windows Setup screen (where you select the Language, Time and Keyboard settings), press the SHIFT + F10 keys to bring up the Command Prompt.

Find out whether your disk is set to GUID Partition Table (GPT) or Master Boot Record (MBR):

In the Command Prompt, type diskpartand press Enter.
Type list disk and press Enter.
Look for your disk and see if the GPT column has an asterisk (*) – this will indicate the disk is GPT. If no asterisk is found, then the disk is set as MBR.
Type exit and press Enter.

If the type is MBR:

From the Command Prompt, type dir a: and press Enter.
If drive A: is found and a directory is displayed, check for the Windows folder in the directory. If it is there, that is the System Drive. Skip to step 2.
If the drive is not found or it doesn’t contain the Windows folder, type dir b: and press Enter. Continue through the alphabet until the drive with the Windows folder is found, but skip the X: drive. That will be the install files from the USB or DVD you are using. The most common location is the C: drive, so that example will be used in the rest of the article.
Once it is found, type:bcdboot C:Windows /S C:
In this case, C is the drive where Windows folder was found. If the Windows folder is on a different drive, use that drive letter instead of “C” in the bcdboot command above.
The message Boot files successfully created must be shown before you can continue.
Type: diskpart and press Enter.
Type: list disk and press Enter.
Type: sel disk C and press Enter.
In this case, C is the drive where Windows folder was found. If the Windows folder is on a different drive, use that drive letter instead of “C” in the sel disk command above.
Type: list vol and press Enter.
Type: sel vol C and press Enter.
In this case, C is the drive where Windows folder was found. If the Windows folder is on a different drive, use that drive letter instead of “C” in the sel disk command above.
Type: active and press Enter.
You should get a confirmation that the volume has been successfully set as active. If you don’t get the confirmation, it means that either the disk is set to GPT (not MBR), or there is a problem with the disk. Make sure you are working with the right disk.
Type: exit and press Enter.
Reboot the device – you can do this quickly from the command prompt by typing: shutdown -f -r -t 00 and press Enter.

If the type is GPT:

From the Command Prompt, type dir a: and press Enter.
If drive A: is found and a directory is displayed, check for the Windows folder in the directory. If it is there, that is the System Drive. Skip to step 2.
If the drive is not found or it doesn’t contain the Windows folder, type dir b: and press Enter. Continue through the alphabet until the drive with the Windows folder is found, but skip the X: drive. That will be the install files from the USB or DVD you are using. The most common location is the C: drive, so that example will be used in the rest of the article.
Type: diskpart and press Enter.
Type: list disk and press Enter
Type: sel disk C and press Enter.
In this case, C is the drive where Windows folder was found. If the Windows folder is on a different drive, use that drive letter instead of “C” in the sel disk command above.
Type: list part and press Enter.
Look for the partition labeled as System.
Once it is found, assign the letter R to the partition. If the letter R is already taken, you can choose any unassigned letter. To assign the letter type: assign letter=r: and press Enter.
Type: exit and press Enter.
Return to the command prompt, type the following one line at a time, pressing Enter after each line:
cd /d r:EFIMicrosoftBoot
ren BCD BCD.bak
bcdboot c:Windows /l en-us /s m: /f UEFI
Note The /l en-us part of the command sets the Windows language to English. To set a different language, replace en-us with a different language code (such as de-de for German).