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Windows Forum / Windows XP / New Users / January 2007Deleting files
Everytime I try to delete a particular file I am told: “Cannot delete file: The file name you specified is not valid or too long. Specify a different file name.” When I right click I get a “Open Open with Send to” but nothing else. Is there a way to delete this file? Any help would be great Thanks heaps Jiao How deep is the file? If it is deeper than 256 characters try reducing the path by renaming the folders to shorter names. Start at the folder that contains the file and then move on upwards. John > Everytime I try to delete a particular file I am told: “Cannot delete file: > The file name you specified is not valid or too long. Specify a different [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Jiao Lol. I've tried that. It doesn't even let me rename the file. All the folders are like 7 characters long >.<! > How deep is the file? If it is deeper than 256 characters try reducing > the path by renaming the folders to shorter names. Start at the folder [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > > > Jiao How many folders deep is it? All the combined names cannot exceed 256 characters. For example: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents is to a depth of 50 characters. If the path is too deep reduce the path name, not the file name. John > Lol. I've tried that. It doesn't even let me rename the file. All the folders > are like 7 characters long >.<! [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >>> >>>Jiao Awesome. I never knew that. I always thought the file's name itself was the one that was too long. Thanks heaps. It worked. I renamed everything I could to "a" and it deleted! Thanks again ^^ Hero! Sincerely Jiao > How many folders deep is it? All the combined names cannot exceed 256 > characters. For example: [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > >>> > >>>Jiao You're welcome. Lots of people don't know of the 256 characters depth limit and sometimes they create folders\ inside of folders\ inside of folders and give them excessively long names and end up in this deletion predicament. Sometimes renaming the whole tree can be a major pain so starting at the last folder causes less disruption to the tree structure. One can also map the file or folder or use the subst command to reduce the path but that doesn't cure the cause of the problem itself. In any case, glad to see you got it figured out. John > Awesome. I never knew that. I always thought the file's name itself was the > one that was too long. Thanks heaps. It worked. I renamed everything I could [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >>>>> >>>>>Jiao Just a thought: could you cut and paste the file into (say) the root folder and delete it from there? regards Tony. No. When you exceed the path length you can't do anything with the file. Also, sometimes these long paths are made by programs or tools than can create and traverse long paths and you can delete or move the file if you use the application that created the file. John > Just a thought: could you cut and paste the file into (say) the root folder > and delete it from there? > > regards Tony. I getcha :-) regards Tony. John, This sounds a little like the problem I am having. I have a PDF file in "My Documents" and the name is extremly long. Adobe Reader says the name is invalid. I am not able to to anything with it. Open. delete, rename. I suspect that the combined name and path exceed the limit by a long way. I'm not sure how to get to the path to rename or reduce. Any help would be appreciated. Dave at EMR > No. When you exceed the path length you can't do anything with the > file. Also, sometimes these long paths are made by programs or tools [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > > > regards Tony. You can try substituting the long path with a drive letter and see if it shortens it enough to then be able to delete the file. From a Command Prompt use the subst command, for example: subst x: C:"\Documents and Settings\Your Username\My Documents" will substitute the folder path to virtual drive x. You have to use the "quotation marks as above" when spaces are present in the path or else the command will fail. After you run the command you should then be able to try to delete the file from the new drive x, it may have shorten the path just enough to permit you to delete the file. Once done you can just delete the substituted drive, that will not delete your folder, it will only remove the virtual drive associated to the folder. To delete the drive, once again at the Command Prompt do: subst x: /d For help on the command do: subst /? If that doesn't work you can try using the del command with short file names. Post again if you need more help. John > John, > This sounds a little like the problem I am having. I have a PDF file in "My [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >>> >>>regards Tony. John Thanks for the quick reply. I have to admit that what you have suggested I do is WAAAAY over my head. I think I understand the intent of what you are suggesting, but haven't a clue how to execute it. Your suggestion "subst x: C:"\Documents and Settings\Your Username\My Documents"" Does this mean using "Run" from the "Start" menu enter on the command line.... subst x : C: "the path including file name" Then to delete virtual drive..... Using "Run" again..... subst x: /d....where x is the virtual drive and d is my hard drive. When I do the substitution does x become a file/icon in the "My Documents" folder that I can just then delete? Thanks for your help. Dave > You can try substituting the long path with a drive letter and see if it > shortens it enough to then be able to delete the file. From a Command [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > >>> > >>>regards Tony. It's not really all that complicated, run the command I gave you at the command prompt, here is how it's done: 1- Click on Start Menu | Run 2- In the Run dialogue box type cmd and then press <Enter> or click on OK. 3- A command session will open, you will then be at the "Command Prompt". 4- Now type in the subst command as described earlier, DO NOT include the filename in the path. 5- Open Explorer and you will now see drive X, explore the drive and see if you can now delete the file. 6- Once done delete the virtual drive that you created earlier. John Hint: You can copy and paste at the Command Prompt, it saves you from having to type in the long path and prevents errors. You can copy the path from the Explorer Address Bar and paste it in the command window. > John > [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] >>>>> >>>>>regards Tony. John Thank you for walking me through the procedure. I don't often get into the inner workings of software. Your step by step instruction was extremely helpful. It worked great and the file is gone. I plan to keep your instuctions for possible future use. Thanks again, Dave > It's not really all that complicated, run the command I gave you at the > command prompt, here is how it's done: [quoted text clipped - 86 lines] > >>>>> > >>>>>regards Tony. You're welcome, thanks for the follow up. I'm happy to see that you have resolved the problem. For future reference keep in mind that sometimes the combined path & filename length is too long for the subst method to work, in these cases there are other methods or tools to use to try to delete the file. John > John > [quoted text clipped - 98 lines] >>>>>>> >>>>>>>regards Tony. man i dnt know anything about computers but your step by step work sooooooooo well thank u i hav been tryin for a while to find out how to get it off thank u soooo much > You can try substituting the long path with a drive letter and see if it > shortens it enough to then be able to delete the file. From a Command [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > >>> > >>>regards Tony. You're welcome. John > man i dnt know anything about computers but your step by step work sooooooooo > well thank u i hav been tryin for a while to find out how to get it off thank [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] >>>>> >>>>>regards Tony. |
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