What is winre? Please give specifics. Thank you.
Hi Zangwill, sorry about the lack of specifics on that part. The reason for that is because the next steps are really for moderate to advanced PC users only. I wouldn't want to damage your OS just because a file cannot be deleted. It's like taking a sledgehammer to a nail. If you have to ask what WinRE is, then the next steps are probably too dangerous for you to follow. It could result in some unpleasantness up to not being able to boot if you do something wrong.
Ok, with that disclaimer over, these are the steps you would like to consider if you want to proceed on your own. Please be careful. Please read the steps below first and if you're in any way confused, DO NOT PROCEED. You can't just wing it and hope for the best, you're liable to wreck your PC that way.
EASIEST STEP BEFORE WINRE:
1 use a program to delete the file. There are some utilities out there that use DoD methods to wipe the area of the disk where the file was several times so that it cannot be recovered. It doesn't just remove the pointer, it wipes the sectors of the HD. AVG has something like it included in it's AV, it gives you the option to shred a file. There are others out there as well.
2 If the program cannot delete the file due to access restrictions then it's possible that another process has control or access to it and you would have to determine which one. Use sysinternals process explorer to determine which program has control of it, shutdown the process then attempt to delete.
3. Start in safemode then attempt to delete the file. Starting your PC in safemode ensures the highest likelihood that no program is accessing the file since non-essential programs do not run in safemode. If this doesn't work then it's WINRE TIME.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode
WINRE - You should know how to use the command prompt to use this step.
You can create a startup disk and boot from it to reach the winRE but you don't really need to, it's built-in to windows 10. To access winRE you can hold down the shift button while restarting or go to settings > update and security > recovery > advanced startup > restart now. The computer will restart and provide you with options.Select "Troubleshoot" then select "Advanced Options" then "command prompt". If you've locked your harddrives with bitlocker, you would need another computer with internet access to be able to get the keys from the microsoft website to unlock them. After you unlock your drives and the command prompt pulls up, navigate to the file's location and delete it.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram