Windows 10: How to delete an empty file on desktop that Win10 says does not exist

I have a file on my desktop that Windows 10 insists does not exist at that location.
A small snip of the screen showing the file next to my drive icons is attached.
A snip of the error message is also attached when the delete command is attempted from the right-click context menu.

I think part of the problem is that there is a space in the middle of the filename (EDMDC Dig), and there is no file extension. The size of the file is 0 bytes. The file icon is visible on the desktop and listed in any file/directory listing.

There are plenty of supposed solutions on the web about deleting folders and files via the command line, but nothing works. They usually show deleting an empty folder and do not address the empty file issue. I have been unable to find a utility that will do the job either. I have tried and failed to find my exact problem on this forum as well.

:)

 

Disconnected network drive showing in File Explorer

Recently a strange drive appeared in File Explorer. It is labeled (A Disconnected Network Drive.

I have NEVER mapped a network drive on this computer. When I attempt to right click and disconnect I get a box saying "This network connection does not exist." If I just click on it I get a box saying it is not accessible. Access is denied. Properties
simply says it is empty.

I cannot get rid of it. Trying to delete it under Drive Mapping in Explorer yields an error message saying it does not exist.

I went to safe mode with networking. It does NOT appear in File Explorer in Safe Mode. However it continues to appear in normal mode.

It is as if Windows just made something up to clutter my File Explorer.

BTW I already tried using admin command prompt to delete it. I get an error message saying that the drive does not exist.

Someone on a forum suggested trying to map a new drive on the same drive letter. Win 10 will not even display drive A as a choice in the dropdown.

How do I get rid of this?

 

Another Window.old will not delete

This worked perfectly. Indeed, they still can't be deleted. They can, however be
replaced. If you rename your file to, say, "bla.sys", you can create an empty text file on your desktop, navigate to it via Command Prompt, "ren New Text Document.txt bla.sys", then drag the newly created bla.sys to your unwanted "Windows.old" folder and
replace the already existing bla.sys. Since you already took ownership of the original bla.sys, Windows will now let you replace the file. Afterwards, it can be easily deleted and once empty, the "Windows.old" folder can finally be purged from your system.

 

Welcome to TenForums @beckrow

There may be some file system corruption. To fix this, try opening a Command Prompt (Admin) and type the command:
CHKDSK C: /F

(assuming, that is, that you haven't moved your Desktop folder to another drive. If you moved it, check that drive letter instead.)

It will say...

Type Y then close the command prompt and restart the PC, chkdsk will run at boot. Depending on the nature of any corruption, the file may disappear after this. If not, it should at least be possible to delete it.

 

The space in the filename, lack of extension, and zero size are perfectly fine and shouldn't cause problems.

When you try to delete the file from the command line are you able to see the file when you do "dir d:\desktop" and what error does it report when you try to delete it?

Code: PS C:\Users\vm> dir d:\desktop Directory: D:\desktop Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a---- 4/1/2018 6:17 AM 0 EDMDC Dig PS C:\Users\vm> del 'D:\desktop\EDMDC Dig'[/quote]

 

I do run my desktop from my D: drive because of limited space on my solid state boot drive.
Just to be safe I scheduled checks on drives C: & D: after a restart. No errors were reported.
The file still will not delete in Windows with the same error message as in my original post in this thread.
Trying to delete from the command line with "del edmdc" (because I am already in my desktop directory) just gives basically the same error:
del : Cannot find path 'D:\desktop\edmdc' because it does not exist.

If I try deleting the file name with a space (i.e. EDMDC Dig) I get the error message:

Remove-Item : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'dig'.

I still have the problem I started with.

 

When you do "del edmdc" press TAB to let Windows autocomplete the filename. It should automatically add quotes to handle the "space," which I suspect may not be a normal space character.

 

There is an excellent little app, Unlocker, which among other things handles problematic deletes too.
Maybe it's worth a try!

 

There's always the option to boot from a usb and delete it while the OS isn't running.

A Linux Live usb, the command prompt in the advanced options of an install or a recovery usb, or perhaps best of all, Kyhi's rescue disk...
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk

 

In File Explorer, Browse to D:\Desktop (or D:\Users\[UserName[\Desktop) is the file there? install Unlocker which adds the Unlocker icon to the Right click Context menu, and and right click the file and delete it with Unlocker which will unlock the file.

 

TAB does not seem to do anything. Cursor does not move.

 

Does the file show up when you do "dir"?

 

Although the file was not locked, choosing the action "Delete" removed the file instantly. Problem solved. Many thanks.