{"id":14514,"date":"2013-12-20T13:13:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T13:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514"},"modified":"2013-12-20T13:13:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T13:13:43","slug":"windows-7-and-folders-which-dont-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514","title":{"rendered":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees.<\/p>\n<p>At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or folder is effectively held open by another (badly written) application, which means that Windows can\u2019t remove it. Some applications are so poorly written that files are not closed properly, and can appear to be held open even when they aren\u2019t. When that happens, a free utility called <a title=\"EMCO UnLock IT file unlocker\" href=\"http:\/\/emcosoftware.com\/unlock-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UnLock IT<\/a> comes in handy. It effectively forces the \u201copen\u201d file to close so that it can be deleted.<\/p>\n<p>But this particular folder simply refused to be deleted even after running UnLock IT. Even after I had deleted as much of the nested stuff as possible by hand, Windows just ended up warning me that one of the sub-folders was no longer in the location specified \u2013 even though it was clearly showing up in Windows Explorer. I was stuck.<\/p>\n<p>But then I discovered this function you can run from <strong>CMD.EXE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000; font-family: Courier New;\"><strong>RD\/s h:\\foldername\\<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The h: is the disk drive where the folder is located, and \u201c\\foldername\\\u201d is the full path to the folder you want to remove. It asks you to confirm Y\/N, but it got rid of it immediately.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s funny how something can drive you nuts for months, and yet once you put your mind to it you can find the answer in a couple of minutes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-tech-related"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DOAADI\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO Pro (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Diary Of An ADI - A Driving Instructor&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#blogposting\",\"name\":\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI\",\"headline\":\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?author=2#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#articleImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b66a27a7421ee4ad46fcecfdc7961aa5bffbecb103dd9d01f37875b7c8c09b48?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"DOAADI\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Computers &amp; Tech\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?cat=90#listItem\",\"name\":\"Computers &amp; Tech\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?cat=90#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Computers &amp; Tech\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?cat=90\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#listItem\",\"name\":\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?cat=90#listItem\",\"name\":\"Computers &amp; Tech\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/#person\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?author=2#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?author=2\",\"name\":\"DOAADI\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b66a27a7421ee4ad46fcecfdc7961aa5bffbecb103dd9d01f37875b7c8c09b48?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"DOAADI\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514\",\"name\":\"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI\",\"description\":\"I\\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \\u2013 that\\u2019s usually when the file or\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?p=14514#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?author=2#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/?author=2#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Diary Of An ADI\",\"alternateName\":\"DOAADI\",\"description\":\"A Driving Instructor's Blog\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro -->\r\n\t\t<title>Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI<\/title>\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI","description":"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or","canonical_url":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#blogposting","name":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI","headline":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?author=2#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#articleImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b66a27a7421ee4ad46fcecfdc7961aa5bffbecb103dd9d01f37875b7c8c09b48?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"DOAADI"},"datePublished":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00","dateModified":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00","inLanguage":"en-GB","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#webpage"},"articleSection":"Computers &amp; Tech"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90#listItem","name":"Computers &amp; Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90#listItem","position":2,"name":"Computers &amp; Tech","item":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#listItem","name":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#listItem","position":3,"name":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90#listItem","name":"Computers &amp; Tech"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/#person"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?author=2#author","url":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?author=2","name":"DOAADI","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b66a27a7421ee4ad46fcecfdc7961aa5bffbecb103dd9d01f37875b7c8c09b48?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"DOAADI"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#webpage","url":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514","name":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI","description":"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or","inLanguage":"en-GB","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?author=2#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?author=2#author"},"datePublished":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00","dateModified":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+01:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/","name":"Diary Of An ADI","alternateName":"DOAADI","description":"A Driving Instructor's Blog","inLanguage":"en-GB","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_GB","og:site_name":"Diary Of An ADI - A Driving Instructor's Blog","og:type":"article","og:title":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI","og:description":"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or","og:url":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514","article:published_time":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+00:00","article:modified_time":"2013-12-20T13:13:43+00:00","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:title":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist - Diary Of An ADI","twitter:description":"I\u2019ve had an annoying problem on one of my disks for some time now. It all started when I was trialling a newsgroup aggregator and it created some very deeply nested folder trees. At first, when I tried to delete the top-level folder it appeared to be locked \u2013 that\u2019s usually when the file or"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"14514","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2026-05-21 11:04:18","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"open_ai":null,"ai":null,"created":"2022-10-15 01:10:05","updated":"2026-05-21 11:04:18"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90\" title=\"Computers &amp; Tech\">Computers &amp; Tech<\/a>\n<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\tWindows 7 And Folders Which Don\u2019t Exist\n<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk"},{"label":"Computers &amp; Tech","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?cat=90"},{"label":"Windows 7 And Folders Which Don&#8217;t Exist","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=14514"}],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}