Can't empty recycle bin

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Can't empty recycle bin

MurrayM

2456 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#110839 17-Oct-2012 14:14

On a Windows XP machine I've somehow managed to get a file stuck in the recycle bin.

The recycle bin icon on the desktop is showing that there's something in the bin, but if I double-click the recycle bin then no files are shown. If I empty the recycle bin then I get an error:

Cannot delete FlashUtil9d: Access is denied.Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
FlashUtil9d is something to do with installing Flash, which I do indeed have installed.

I've tried restarting in safe mode but I just get the same error when I try to empty the bin. I've done a chkdsk, the sort that runs after a reboot, and it didn't find anything corrupt on the drive. There is no process running called FlashUtil9d. I've tried changing the recycle bin properties so it uses 0% of the drive, but that didn't help.

Can anyone think of anything else I can try?

Behodar

10508 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#702528 17-Oct-2012 14:29

Is there anything in C:\Recycle.Bin? (I think that's still the location in XP). You may need to use dir /a in a command prompt.

MurrayM

2456 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#702537 17-Oct-2012 14:41

Behodar: Is there anything in C:\Recycle.Bin? (I think that's still the location in XP). You may need to use dir /a in a command prompt.

When I untick "Hide protected operating system files" in Explorer's Folder Options then I can see a RECYCLER folder. Inside it are two folders:

S-1-5-21-842925246-1960408961-839522115-500 (date modified 29/08/2007)
S-1-5-21-2177768328-152170393-3408200963-1004 (date modified 17/10/2012)

Both of these folders are empty.

If I delete a file and then have a look at RECYCLER I can see the deleted file within both of these folders (i.e. each folder has a copy of the deleted file). Emptying the recycle bin removes the deleted file but I still get the error about FlashUtil9d and the folders then appear to be empty again.

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#702568 17-Oct-2012 15:41

I have used "Unlocker" ( http://emptyloop.com/unlocker/ ) and the free version of "Delete fxp" ( http://www.jrtwine.com/productcatalog.html ) when I have had problems with files that XP can't delete.

One or the other worked for me! No guarantees either of these will help you however, but worth looking into further if you can't find a solution elsewhere.

Be cautious however - you might delete something important!

Tony

MurrayM

2456 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#702586 17-Oct-2012 16:17

Hiamie: I have used "Unlocker" ( http://emptyloop.com/unlocker/ ) and the free version of "Delete fxp" ( http://www.jrtwine.com/productcatalog.html ) when I have had problems with files that XP can't delete.

One or the other worked for me! No guarantees either of these will help you however, but worth looking into further if you can't find a solution elsewhere.

Be cautious however - you might delete something important!

Tony

Thanks for the suggestions Tony, but I think those two programs require the user to right-click on the offending file and then select an unlock option (or whatever the program calls it). Unfortunately I can't even see the file so there's no way to select it!

MurrayM

2456 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#702588 17-Oct-2012 16:20

After some Googleing I've found other people with the same problem, but so far none of their fixes have worked.

At the command prompt I tried:

C:\>rd /s /q C:\RECYCLER
C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-~2\$EAD78~1 - The directory is not empty.
C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-~2\Dc2\Flash\FlashUtil9d.exe - Access is denied.

As you can see the FlashUtil9d.exe file is definitely there!

Could this be some sort of permissions problem? I'm logged in as an administrator.

Ventura

109 posts

Master Geek

#702602 17-Oct-2012 16:48

Check that your antivirus or firewall isn't blocking access to it.

MurrayM

2456 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#702604 17-Oct-2012 16:53

I've fixed it!

I found an article that talked about renaming the RECYCLER folder, so I tried that and it let me rename it ok but I still could not delete it (a new RECYCLER was created automatically by Windows).

After renaming it I could then see the files within it, including the FlashUtil9d.exe file that was causing me the grief. So I tried the Unlocker program that Tony suggested. It said the file wasn't locked but that it could do other operations on the file so I selected Delete and it managed to delete the file. After that I was able to delete the old RECYCLER folder completely.

Thanks for all the suggestions people!