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General discussion

*tmp -cannot delete file

Nov 14, 2004 8:13AM PST

to clear *tmp files-folder I use edit-select all , all files are selected but when i go to File -delet a message comes up saying "cannnot delete file: cannot read from the source file or disk" . what does this mean and am in trouble?

Discussion is locked

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Re: *tmp -cannot delete file
Nov 14, 2004 2:05PM PST

Sasafras,

That message frequently comes up when the files are already gone...

You can try deleting them one by one, then find the offending file. You can also try restarting in "Safe Mode", then delete them. You can also delete them while in "Safe Mode" from a "command prompt" window, using a DOS type command.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Griff gave one answer but...
Nov 15, 2004 3:49AM PST

another even easier way would be by using your command prompt.

Click on Start then select Run. Type in CMD and click OK. now, in the command Window that opens type the following and press the enter key after each line:
c:
cd \
del *.tmp /s


The top line makes sure you are on the C: drive (if your TEMP files are on another drive substitute the correct drive letter but the C: drive is the default).

The next line changes to the root of the drive.

The last line deletes all files with a TMP extension (the /s makes sure this happens in all directories and sub directories on the drive).

Any TMP files in use will not be deleted but all that are not in use will be deleted.

Now just close the Command Prompt and you are done.