How to Delete Undeletable Files in Windows 7

The article has been designed to help users get rid of the undeletable files from their Windows 7 operating system. The instructions compiled in the article are reliable and correct to the date. However, it is still recommended that users follow the instructions accurately to avoid facing common Windows 7 problems.

Need help deleting an undeletable file in Windows 7, the most popular operating system? If yes, then the article is for you. There are some files that need to be deleted while upgrading to Windows 7 or due to virus infection among other reasons. However, when you try to delete a file, it becomes inaccessible or gives some other weird messages. What should you do in that case? Should you contact Microsoft technical support or wait for a miracle to happen? No, certainly not. We understand that your time is precious. Therefore, we have brought you this comprehensive guide that will help you delete the undeletable files from your Windows 7 computer.

Instructions:

Click on the Start menu (the Windows button), type ‘cmd’ (without quotes and as is) in the Start Search box, and hit Enter on the keyboard. When the Command Prompt window (a black screen) comes up, right click on the cmd.exe and select Run as administrator. Open Task Manager also by the side, click on the Processes tab, highlight the explorer.exe process from the listed options, and hit the End Process button. Click on the End Process button when you receive a warning or confirmation message. Open Command Prompt again and give a command to locate the desired file from its directory. To do so, enter complete path of the file in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter on the keyboard. For example your file is located in the Windows\System32 directory, you will type ‘cd \windows\system32’ (without quotes and as is).

Thereafter type ‘del the filename.exe’ (the filename will be the name of the file) and hit Enter. The particular file will be removed. Switch back to the Task Manager window, click on the File menu, and select New Task (Run.). In the Create New Task window, type explorer.exe in the Open box and hit the OK button. This will re-launch the Windows shell.

Download and run an automatic removal tool to remove the locked and/or undeletable files. Save the file to a location where it is easily accessible from. When done, open the file and run to initialize the process. You can choose from a range of freeware or paid automatic tools such as Process Explorer, ForceDel, Copylock, Unlocker 1.8.7 by Cedrick Collomb, and DelLater among others.

Additional Tips:

It is recommended that you take utmost care while deleting any file. A wrong deletion can prove disastrous to your computer.

See also:Steps to Recover Deleted Files in Windows XP