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illegal chars in a file name

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by e.g.gru, 2008/05/25.

  1. 2008/05/25
    e.g.gru

    e.g.gru Inactive Thread Starter

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    Tried to rip one track from one of my CDs ( "Edita Gruberova - The Anniversary Concert ") with Winamp Pro 5.531. Everything looked normal during rip, but the resulting file name contained a lot of question marks ( "? "). Apparently they come from a CDDB inquiry done by Winamp and used for the name.

    Now - how can I get rid of this file?? Tried a lot of things including NTFS utilities like "Directory Snoop" to no avail and I suspect the illegal chars are to blame! The obvious answer would be - save everything from this disk and reformat, but this is a 500GB drive ...

    Your help will be appreciated!

    E.G.Gru
     
    e.g.gru,
    #1
  2. 2008/05/25
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I guess you have tried renaming the file? Deleting in Safe Mode?

    You could try MoveOnBoot

    To even contemplate a reformat of a 500 Mb drive simply to get rid of an unwanted file is way, way OTT IMHO.

    If you can't delete it why not change it's attributes to Hidden - at least then it's out of sight :)
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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  4. 2008/05/25
    e.g.gru

    e.g.gru Inactive Thread Starter

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    Well, thank you very much indeed! However ...

    One can't do anything with this file! No rename, no change of attributes, no nothing! If one deletes the file it vanishes without message and reappears as soon as the directory is refreshed (well, at least in my file manager ...)

    ... and I am sick and tired of looking at this stupid thing! Hence I am still contemplating ...

    Kind regards!
     
    e.g.gru,
    #3
  5. 2008/05/25
    surferdude2

    surferdude2 Inactive

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    What often works, if the first 6 characters are standard, delete it in a command line window by using the short file name. Just get resident in the folder where it resides and type the first 6 characters then add the ~1 characters and then the extension.

    E.G., a file named wonder//)*$@???.wma would be addressed for deleting by typing del wonder~1.wma.

    That has worked for me in the past when working with strange files and extremely long filenames, I hope it helps you.
     
    surferdude2,
    #4
  6. 2008/05/25
    broni

    broni Moderator Malware Analyst

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    Move all files from that directory (except for the stubborn file) to somewhere else, and then use Unlocker: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/ to remove a whole folder.
     
    broni,
    #5
  7. 2008/05/26
    e.g.gru

    e.g.gru Inactive Thread Starter

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    Gentle people!

    Thank you very much for your interest, but no, nothing of all this worked. However, there was a hint in PeteCs suggestions I returned to. Fired up the machine in Safe Mode, logged in as Administrator and from then on everything was simple. Deleted the files and returned to normal processing!

    Thank you again for your help!

    Best regards!
     
    e.g.gru,
    #6
  8. 2008/05/26
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Glad to hear you were able to eradicate the nuisance file - thanks for the update.
     
    PeteC,
    #7

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