How to delete strange folders refering to my C: partition?

I have some strange folders on my hard disk (they appeared in a subdirectory of a QT installation on my C partition, I am not sure, but I think those folders appeared after I deleted some temporary files on the command line with del /F /S /Q *.*).

Those strange folders have the name "c:" and I can’t delete them, because when I click delete, windows wants to remove all my files on the C partition.

Does anyone have any clue how I can get rid of those folders?

picture showing the strange folders

I even can start the calculator with the path: C:\a\c:\a\c:\b\c:\a\c:\b\c:\a\c:\b\c:\a\c:\a\c:\Windows\system32\calc.exe

EDIT1:

dir /Q results:

Directory of C:\a

19.11.2010  07:59    <DIR>          MYCOMPUTER\MYUSER      .
19.11.2010  07:59    <DIR>          BUILTIN\Administrators ..
21.12.2009  20:04    <DIR>          ...                    c:
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  19.354.865.664 bytes free

EDIT2: Running a full chkdsk /F /R during boot didn't change anything.

smerlin

Posted 2010-11-20T16:45:07.143

Reputation: 121

Can you paste the output of dir c:\a? – icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T16:54:48.453

Answers

i was able to easily delete those strange folders using a Linux-OS. Interestingly, on linux those folders looked quite different, and were not recursive at all. They just contained some emtpy subdirectories and nothing beside that:

-media
  -Windows_mount
    -a
      -c:
        -lib
          -QT4
            -plugins
              -designer
    -b
      -c:
        -lib
          -QT4
            -plugins
              -designer
   +bin
   +Documents and Settings
   ...
   +Program Files
   +Windows

smerlin

Posted 2010-11-20T16:45:07.143

Reputation: 121

I don't know how you ended in this state, but can you try the following:

Check disks for errors, as per: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
- chkdsk might be able to repair it
Check if it's a junction: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
- If so, you can try deleting it as described in the article

icyrock.com

Posted 2010-11-20T16:45:07.143

Reputation: 4 623

that junction tool does not work in my case: Failed to open \\?\C:\a\c:: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect. – smerlin – 2010-11-20T17:25:28.840

Try: junction c:\a to determine whether it's a junction. Did you try chkdsk? – icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T17:27:26.877

junction c:\a gives me No reparse points found., and no i havent tried chkdsk yet, will try it now. – smerlin – 2010-11-20T17:38:59.743

OK, then it's not a junction point. Try chkdsk, hope it helps. – icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T17:46:39.490

chkdsk stage 1-3 havent detected any error... stage 4&5 will take some hours to finish... if it doesnt find any error aswell it seems like i will try if i can get some info about these strange directories using the direct filesystem api myself... maybe it is indeed a junction, but that junction tool does not detect it because it normally only supports links to other folders and not to partitions... – smerlin – 2010-11-20T18:12:37.017

You can't have junctions to partitions. Scheduling chkdsk for reboot is your last hope before total reformat and re-installation of XP. Or you can choose to live with these directories as-is. I do hope you have saved all your personal data before doing chkdsk. – harrymc – 2010-11-20T18:23:29.207

I suppose chkdsk should find some issues and hopefully correct them. If not, take a look at this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/90115-45-recursive-infinite-directory-delete and this: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=2347055

– icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T18:32:07.767

@harrymc If he run chkdsk, it would start in readonly mode, correct? Also, thanks for the clarification about junctions. Based on this article: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524 you could mount a volume onto a junction point. Am I missing something?

– icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T18:44:08.043

@icyrock.com: readonly or not depends upon the parameters used, but it wouldn't be as complete as when run on boot (can't fix Windows critical files). And one can junction the root directory, not the volume itself (maybe just a question of terminology here). – harrymc – 2010-11-20T18:56:26.153

@harrymc Agree, chkdsk /f or chkdsk /r would alter the disk, but chkdsk itself would not. As for the junctions, in the article I mention they say doing mountvol ddrive \\?\Volume{e2464852-8089-11d2-8803-806d6172696f}\ will "mount another volume onto an NTFS junction point on your system drive" (provided ddrive is a folder), so that's why I mentioned it as "junction point". Not it, though, given the dir output he provided. – icyrock.com – 2010-11-20T19:01:14.243

chkdsk didnt change anything... – smerlin – 2010-11-20T19:21:06.590

Try chkdsk on reboot and read my previous comment. A way to force it is "fsutil dirty set C:". – harrymc – 2010-11-20T19:22:41.917

i did a chkdsk on reboot. – smerlin – 2010-11-20T19:56:01.583

Since the odd folders appear to be stemming from folders in your root of C:, I would investigate doing a backup of your drive (on another machine) with a tool like Total Commander, but excluding those base folders (i.e. a, b, etc.).

I recommend TC because it can run in elevated mode, and copies user security without trying to take ownership of a folder.

Then format the drive, resync the folders back, and run a repair install off the XP CD.

user3463

Posted 2010-11-20T16:45:07.143

Reputation: