Windows 10: Delete File in Windows 10

How to: Delete File in Windows 10

How to Delete a File in Windows 10


This tutorial will show you different ways on how to delete a file in Windows 10.

*note Deleting a file from a removable drive will be permanently deleted by default.

*note Deleting a file from an internal drive will be deleted to the empty the Recycle Bin.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Delete File using Keyboard Shortcut
• Option Two: Delete File from File Explorer Ribbon
• Option Three: Delete File from Context Menu
• Option Four: Permanently Delete File in PowerShell
• Option Five: Permanently Delete File in Command Prompt
• Option Six: Permanently Delete File in Command Prompt at Boot

OPTION ONE [/i] Delete File using Keyboard Shortcut
1. Select the file(s) you want to delete, and press the keys you want in the table below.
[table][tr][td]Keyboard Shortcut[/td] [td]Action Performed[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Ctrl+D[/td] [td]Delete to Recycle Bin[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Del or Delete[/td] [td]Delete to Recycle Bin[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Shift+Delete[/td] [td]Permanently delete[/td] [/tr] [/table]

2. If you chose to permanently delete, then either click/tap on Yes, press Y, or press Enter to confirm. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] Delete File from File Explorer Ribbon
1. Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2. Click/tap on Home tab. (see screenshot below)

3. Navigate to and select the file(s) you want to delete.

4. Perform the action you want to do below:
A) Click/tap on the Delete button in the ribbon to delete to Recycle Bin.

OR

B) Click/tap on the arrow under the Delete button in the ribbon, and click/tap on Recycle or Delete permanently in the drop menu for what you want.




5. If you chose to permanently delete, then either click/tap on Yes, press Y, or press Enter to confirm. (see screenshot below)








OPTION THREE [/i] Delete File from Context Menu
1. Open File Explorer (Win+E).

2. Navigate to the file you want to delete.

3. Perform the action you want to do below:

A) Right click or press and hold on the file, and either press the D key or click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below)



OR

B) Press and hold Shift key and right click on the file, release the Shift key, and either press the D key or click/tap on Delete. (see screenshot below)








OPTION FOUR [/i] Permanently Delete File in PowerShell
*note For more Remove-Item command usage details, see: Remove-Item | Microsoft Docs
1. Open elevated PowerShell depending on the required rights to delete the file you want.

2. Type the command below into PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Remove-Item -Path "Full path of file with extension" -Force

*note Substitute Full path of file with extension in the command above with the actual full path of the file with its extension you want to delete.

For example: Remove-Item -Path "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\File.txt" -Force




3. When finished, you can close the Powershell window if you like.





OPTION FIVE [/i] Permanently Delete File in Command Prompt
*note For more del command usage details, see: del | Microsoft Docs
1. Open a elevated command prompt depending on the required rights to delete the file you want.

2. Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow del /f /s /q /a "Full path of file with extension"

*note Substitute Full path of file with extension in the command above with the actual full path of the file with its extension you want to delete.

For example: del /f /s /q /a "C:\Users\Brink\Desktop\File.txt"




3. When finished, you can close the command prompt window if you like.





OPTION SIX [/i] Permanently Delete File in Command Prompt at Boot
1. Boot to a command prompt at boot.

2. To Verify Drive Letter the File is in at Boot
*note The drive letter may not always be the same at boot as in Windows, so be sure to verify its drive letter before doing the command in step 3 below for this to work.
A) Type diskpart into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

B) Type list volume into the command prompt, and press Enter.

C) From the listed volumes, look for and verify the drive letter of the drive that includes the folder you want to delete.

D) In the command prompt, type exit, and press Enter.





3. To Delete the File
A) Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

*Arrow del /f /s /q /a "Full path of file with extension"

*note Substitute Full path of file with extension in the command above with the actual full path of the file with its extension you want to delete. Be sure to use the correct drive letter from step 2.

For example: del /f /s /q /a "D:\Users\Brink2\Desktop\File.txt"

B) Close

the command prompt.




4. Click/tap on the Continue button to restart the computer and continue to Windows 10. (see screenshot below)




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Rename File in Windows 10
• How to Set Recycle Bin to Permanently Delete Files Immediately in Windows 10
• How to Delete a Folder in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Empty Folder context menu in Windows 10
• How to Add Permanently Delete to Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Add Secure Delete to Context Menu in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

windows 10 deleted my desktop files

Step 1 - I upgraded to Win 10 and lost all my files on Desktop.

Step 2 - Found the files in Network - USers- Desktop

copied all files again to desktop.

Step 3- Restarted my machine again and lost desktop files again.

Step 4 - As suggested did the following as listed below but dont find my files.

• Press “Windows + E”, open This PC/Computer
• Open Local Disc C, open Windows.old
• Click on Users, select your User name
• Go to desktop folder

Cant find my files. Why is Win 10 deleted files again and again from Desktop ?.

 

I deleted $Windows~.BT folder that was propably Windows 10 files. How to recover?

Hello,

So about two weeks ago I deleted a $Windows~.BT folder (through the cmd). Now I know that was Windows 10 files ready for install.

How can I download it again? I'm sure I need to reinstall some update. But which?

Tintai

 

C windows installer folder - Delete?

He can do symbolic link redirection and move the files in it to a different location. *Wink
Better try it out in a virtual of first. Just a suggestion.

Like:
First move everything in c:\windows\installer to d:\installercache
Then delete c:\windows\installer folder
Then type this in command mode as admin
mklink /d c:\windows\installer d:\installercache

Removing those installer files is a bad idea. it might prevent you from updating or uninstalling apps.

 

Deleting contacts from Windows 10


When you say Windows Mail Live are you referring to Mail app or Windows Live Mail?

I suggest you to try the steps provided below and check if it helps.

• Open Windows Live Mail.
• Press Ctrl + 3 using your keyboard. Right-click on the contact to delete it if it is a single contact.
• Highlight all contacts by pressing Ctrl + A.
• Click Delete located on the Ribbon bar.
• Click OK when you see the message These contacts will also be deleted from Hotmail, Messenger, and other Windows Live services.

After following the steps above, all your contacts that you have manually added to your account will be deleted however, contacts coming from third-party sites such as Facebook will not be deleted unless you remove Facebook from your account.

For Mail app:

Open People app then delete the contact.

Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.