Hi, I'm new here so be gentle, please.

I had a catastrophic crash and was forced to reinstall Vista Home
Premium 32bit on my Gateway desktop.

The installation created a windows.old directory. I am unable to delete
this.

I have tried the Disk Cleanup tool and a "delete file on reboot"
utility. Neither work.

I receive the following message:

=============================

This is no longer located in C:\. Verify the item's location and try
again.

Windows.old
Date created: 12/22/2008 11:23 AM

=============================

I get this regardless of where I try to delete (i.e. at the individual
file level, or at any directory or sub-directory level).

The directories and files appear in windows explorer. I can select
(highlight) the file/dir names but cannot do *anything* with the files
or directories.

The original directory from a previous installation was 80 gb or so.
All of it deleted with the exception of the files/dirs in:

C:\Windows.old\Users\Dog Barks\AppData\Roaming\SecuROM\UserData

There are 3 files at the lowest level. They are named:

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϴϱЄϱЃϵϳЅ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϯϸϹϴϴϵϾ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρЂϻϵЉЃϵϳЅ


All of the other directories are empty except for the next
sub-directory.

I have "show hidden files" turned on and "hide known extensions" turned
off in Folder Options.

I've seen several similiar problems and (successful) resolutions
suggesting the Disk Cleanup tool, but this has *not* worked for me.

I hope that I have explained clearly and completely.

Any help greatly appreciated


--
GrouchoBarx

Hello GrouchoBarx,

Does the same thing happen when you Restart the computer into Safe Mode to
then eradicate the old directory pest?
-=-

"GrouchoBarx" wrote:


Hi, I'm new here so be gentle, please.

I had a catastrophic crash and was forced to reinstall Vista Home
Premium 32bit on my Gateway desktop.

The installation created a windows.old directory. I am unable to delete
this.

I have tried the Disk Cleanup tool and a "delete file on reboot"
utility. Neither work.

I receive the following message:

=============================

This is no longer located in C:\. Verify the item's location and try
again.

Windows.old
Date created: 12/22/2008 11:23 AM

=============================

I get this regardless of where I try to delete (i.e. at the individual
file level, or at any directory or sub-directory level).

The directories and files appear in windows explorer. I can select
(highlight) the file/dir names but cannot do *anything* with the files
or directories.

The original directory from a previous installation was 80 gb or so.
All of it deleted with the exception of the files/dirs in:

C:\Windows.old\Users\Dog Barks\AppData\Roaming\SecuROM\UserData

There are 3 files at the lowest level. They are named:

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπ�ϴϱЄϱЃϵϳЅ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπ�ϯϸϹϴϴϵϾ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπ�ЂϻϵЉЃϵϳЅ


All of the other directories are empty except for the next
sub-directory.

I have "show hidden files" turned on and "hide known extensions" turned
off in Folder Options.

I've seen several similiar problems and (successful) resolutions
suggesting the Disk Cleanup tool, but this has *not* worked for me.

I hope that I have explained clearly and completely.

Any help greatly appreciated


--
GrouchoBarx

Hi Ǝиçεl,

Thanks for the reply

Yes, Safe Mode makes no difference.

It's like the files are there and *not* there!?!?!?

As an addendum, I just checked the Properties of windows.old and it
says it has a size of 4.75 KB (4,874 bytes) and a size on disk of 16 KB
(16,384 bytes).

Clearly a minor bit of disk wastage. More of an annoyance.

The windows.old directory is marked Read Only, and when I try to change
that I get an error on the first of the three wierd files. Says that
the system cannot find the file.

Perhaps there is a File Table (a la the old FAT) or some other facility
that could be hosed? How does Vista know what files are on an NTFS
partition?

Like I said, just a wierd annoyance. I just worry that I could end up
with a disk conflict/error in the future.


--
GrouchoBarx

Oh yeah,

With filenames like:

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϴϱЄϱЃϵϳЅ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϯϸϹϴϴϵϾ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρЂϻϵЉЃϵϳЅ


do I need the Martian Language Pack?




--
GrouchoBarx

Hi GrouchBarx,

You might find a linux/dos boot disc with a file manager will do the
trick.

Paragon does a freebie rescue disk, which includes a file transfer
wizard - may be worth a try.

'FREE Rescue Kit 9.0 Express - Don't wait for disaster,
get instant data recovery software kit!'
(http://www.paragon-software.com/home.../features.html)

Hope it helps

SIW2

GrouchoBarx;1032429 Wrote:
Hi, I'm new here so be gentle, please.

I had a catastrophic crash and was forced to reinstall Vista Home
Premium 32bit on my Gateway desktop.

The installation created a windows.old directory. I am unable to delete
this.

I have tried the Disk Cleanup tool and a "delete file on reboot"
utility. Neither work.

I receive the following message:

=============================

This is no longer located in C:\. Verify the item's location and try
again.

Windows.old
Date created: 12/22/2008 11:23 AM

=============================

I get this regardless of where I try to delete (i.e. at the individual
file level, or at any directory or sub-directory level).

The directories and files appear in windows explorer. I can select
(highlight) the file/dir names but cannot do *anything* with the files
or directories.

The original directory from a previous installation was 80 gb or so.
All of it deleted with the exception of the files/dirs in:

C:\Windows.old\Users\Dog Barks\AppData\Roaming\SecuROM\UserData

There are 3 files at the lowest level. They are named:

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϴϱЄϱЃϵϳЅ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρϯϸϹϴϴϵϾ

ЃϵϳЅЂϿϽϯІχϯπρЂϻϵЉЃϵϳЅ


All of the other directories are empty except for the next
sub-directory.

I have "show hidden files" turned on and "hide known extensions" turned
off in Folder Options.

I've seen several similiar problems and (successful) resolutions
suggesting the Disk Cleanup tool, but this has *not* worked for me.

I hope that I have explained clearly and completely.

Any help greatly appreciated


--
SIW2