Windows 10: Unable to delete, scan, or rename a weird PDF file on my desktop.

I have a pdf file on my desktop that is named a long string of letters and a few dashes that I can't delete. I don't know where this file came from, but when I try to delete, rename, or Norton scan it, I am met with the message: "the system cannot find the path specified." I've tried deleting it through cmd but to no avail... when I click on it it just opens up a new chrome or edge tab depending on which I've set to open pdf files. How can I get rid of it?

:)

 

Cant Delete Files From Desktop

Well, ran into a weird bug with vista, for some reason i cant delete files from desktop, this normaly happens to .exe files, the ONLY fix seems to be to KILL explorer.exe, and delete the file, then restat explorer, anybody got any idea why this happens?

 

can't remove a pdf from my win10 desktop

Hi,



Thank you for your response.



We would suggest you to perform these steps and check.



Step 1:
Turn off Preview pane in Windows Explorer

1. 
   Open File Explorer, Click on View tab.
   
2. 
   Click on Preview option to hide or close
   
3. Click on Desktop from the Navigation pane. Then try deleting the file.

Step 2: Check the default PDF application

1. 
   Press Windows + I key to launch Windows Settings.
   
2. 
   Click on Apps and select Default apps from the left pane.
   
3. 
   Now scroll down and click on Choose default apps by file type.
   
4. 
   Scroll and look for .pdf, .pdxml, and .pdx file type, then click on the + sign to change it to Edge.
   
5. Then close Settings and try
   deleting the file.

Step 3: If the default app for PDF is Adobe Reader.

1. 
   Open Adobe Reader. Go to Edit.
   
2. 
   Choose Preferences.
   
3. 
   From the Categories on the left, select Security (Enhanced).
   
4. 
   Uncheck the Enable Enhanced Security option.
   
5. Try
   deleting the file

Regards,



Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

can't remove a pdf from my win10 desktop

Hi,

We were checking on this issue and we would like you to know some more information on this.

• Did you try moving the file to a different location and then delete it?
• When you renamed the file, did you renamed it to a generic type like Test.pdf/file.pdf and then tried to delete it?
• Where did you create this PDF file or downloaded online?

We would suggest you to move the PDF file to a different location and then try deleting it.

Regards,

Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator