Problem
Two folders on a file server I administer had been created with a space at the end of the folder name. This is not allowed in Windows, but can something happen.
If I tried to delete these folders but I got the message “Could not find the item”
If I tried to view the security of the folder I got the message “The requested security information is either unavailable or can’t be displayed”
Solution
I found it was possible to delete the folders via a CMD prompt using the command;
rd “\\?\C:\path to bad sub dir\bad dir “

External Links
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21072767/windows-7-cant-delete-a-folder-with-a-trailing-space
Hero status awarded! Thanks for this!
Thank you very much for this, i was struggling to delete a directory for 2 hours and this was the final command which actually worked. 🙂
elevated CMD vs Elevated Powershell
had this issue on a 2012R2 File server – didn’t try non-elevated of either.
appreciate the command and it resolved the issue for me – thought I was crazy!
all old commands 8.3 version and others not working – (8.3 disabled on this server)
Thank you !
TY
Thank you!
The “rd” command perfectly worked for me. Thank you so much for the author and this forum for resolving my issue.
Super Hero, Good man….
can u tell me how to copy the files inside that folder,pls…
i need the files inside it.
Thank you for this!
Thanks !!!
Wow! It worked for me.