Item not found Could not find this item while deleting Fix

Are you unable to delete a particular file from a folder in Windows 10 or Windows 11 as you are shown an error message “Item not found“? If you are, then there is no need to worry. There is a very simple fix to solve this issue on your computer. You can delete the file from Command Prompt by passing a removal command along with the file/ folder path.

Fix 1 – Using command rd /s

1 – Search cmd in the taskbar search of Windows.

2 – Right click on the appearing command prompt icon and click run as administrator

 

3 – Now, run the command given below and hit enter key

rd /s "\\?\Path_of_folder

Just replace Path_of_folder with the folder / file path.

How to get file or folder path.

1 – Just Go inside the folder path

 

2 – Now, Just copy the path of the folder from the address bar

Alternative method

1 -Just right click on the folder or file and click properties.

 

2 – Now, Note the location and add a forward slash “\” after this to get complete path.

For example, if my file name is Folder to delete

So, My path will be C:\Users\Dell\Desktop\Folder to delete

How to fix: Item not found when trying to delete

Simply follow these steps and you will able to delete the problematic file/ folder.

1. Just right click on the file or folder which you want to delete.

2. Click on properties.

 

3.  Now, copy the location you can see.

 

 

Close the Properties window.

4. Pressing the ‘Windows key‘ along with the ‘R‘ key will open up the Run window.

5. Type “cmd” and then you need to hit CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER keys together from your keyboard.

 

 

 

Command Prompt window will be opened.

5. In Command Prompt window, copy-paste and modify these commands and then hit Enter.

cd paste the file/folder location

NOTE–

This command should look like this-

cd C:\Users\Sambit\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player

6. Now, execute this command to list all the sub-directories in that folder.

dir /x

7. Now in the subdirectories notice the name of the code for the folder you want to delete.

( Example- As we are going to delete the ‘Cache79288687‘, the folder path will be “CACHE7~1” for us.)

8. Simply copy-paste this command in Command Prompt window and modify it to your end, then press Enter to execute it on your computer.

rmdir /q /s folder code

[ NOTE–

Replace the ‘folder code‘ with the folder code you noticed in the previous step ( Step-7).

Example-For us the command will look something like this-

rmdir /q /s  CACHE7~1 

]

 

 

Once you have executed this command on your computer, the folder will be deleted.

Close Command Prompt window.

That’s it! You have successfully deleted the particular folder from your computer.

 

Fix 3 – Rename the file and delete it

You can rename the file and then delete the file manually.

1. First of all, press the Windows key+S keys together and start to write “cmd“.

2. Further, right-click on the “Command Prompt” and click on “Run as administrators“.

 

 

4. You have to go to the directory where the problematic file is. To use the CD command, execute this code.

cd location of the folder

[Example – Suppose the file is in this location –

C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

Then you have to execute this command –

cd C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

]

 

 

4. Type this code and modify accordingly and then hit Enter.

ren oldname.ext newname.ext

(Example –

We are going to change the file name of ‘mytext.txt’ to ‘newtext.txt’. So, the command will be –

ren mytext.txt newtext.txt

 

Once you are done renaming the file, close the terminal.

5. Then, press the Windows key + E keys together.

6. When the File Explorer opens up, go to the location of the file.

7. Right-click on the problematic file and click on “Delete“.

 

 

The file should be deleted without any further issues.

 

Fix 4 – Remove files without extension

Sometimes you can’t remove the files without an extension manually.

NOTE–

This fix will empty the folder containing the problematic file. So, if you have anything important in the particular folder, create a new folder and move the problematic file to the new folder.

Then enact this fix on that particular folder containing only the problematic file.

1. Write “cmd” in the search box.

2. Then, right-click on the “Command Prompt” and click on “Run as administrators“.

 

 

3. After that, again go to the directory of the file. using the CD command.

cd location of the folder

[ Replace the ‘location of the folder’ with the location of the folder containing the file.

Example – Suppose the file is in this location –

C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

Then you have to execute this command –

cd C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

]

 

 

4. Type this code and hit Enter to delete any file inside the folder.

del *.*

 

 

This will remove all the files from the folder and that should fix the issue.

 

Fix 5 – Delete the entire folder

If the previous methods didn’t help you delete the file, try deleting the folder containing the file from CMD.

1. Open the CMD terminal with admin rights.

2. After opening the CMD screen, type-modify the command and hit Enter.

rmdir /s location of the folder

(Don’t forget to replace the ‘location of the folder’ with the location of the folder containing the file on your machine.

Example – Suppose the file is in this location –

C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

Then the command will look like this –

rmdir /s  C:\Users\Sambit\Pictures\New folder

)

 

 

This should remove the folder along with the problematic file you are trying to get rid of.

 

Fix 6 – Kill the process and then try to delete

If the file is being used by the process, you have to end the process first then try to delete it again.

1. Right-click on the Windows icon and click on “Task Manager“.

 

 

2. Once the Task Manager opens up, go to the “Processes” section.

3. Right-click on the process that is using the file and then click on “End task“.

 

 

Once you have killed the process, close the Task Manager.

3. Now, go to the file location.

4. Finally, right-click on the file and click on “Delete” the file.

 

 

This will delete the file for sure.

 

Fix 7 – Archive to delete the file

WinRAR provides the preference of deleting the original files once you have archived them.

NOTE–

You will need the WinRAR installed on your system to try this fix on your system. In case, if you don’t have it pre-installed, click on this link to download the setup file.

After downloading the setup file, run the setup file to install WinRAR.

1. At first, go to the location of the problematic files on your system.

2. Right-click on the file and click on “Add to archive…“.

 

 

3. After opening the ‘Archive name and parameters’ window opens up, just check the box beside the “Delete files after archiving”.

4. Then, click on “OK“.

 

 

Once WinRAR has completed archiving the files, it will delete the original file from your computer.

Now you have to just delete the archived file to completely remove any trace of the file from your machine.

5. Go to the location where you have just archived the files.

6. Then, right-click on the archived file you have just created and click on “Delete“.

 

 

This will also delete the zipped file from your computer.

 

Fix 8 – Use DelinvFile

DelinvFile is an effective tool to remove invalid files and folders from Windows OS.

(This tool is free for clearing up to 3 files in the trial period.)

Step 1 – Download and install the file

1. Click on DelinvFile to go to its website.

2. Choose the correct download version (Click on either “32-bit” or “64-bit” depending upon the system architecture.)

 

 

3. Extract the “delinv64file” on your computer.

 

 

4. Go to the location where you have extracted the files.

5. Run the “divfinst64” to install it on your system.

 

 

Just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

 

Step – 2 Run Delete Invalid File application

1. Once you have installed the application, double click on the “delete invalid file” on the desktop to run it.

 

 

2. Once it appears on the screen, click on the “Select Directory“.

 

 

3. Navigate to the location of the folder containing the problematic file. Select the folder.

4. After that, click on “OK“.

 

 

5. On the right-hand side, select the file you are trying to delete.

6. Finally, click on “Delete File or Folder” to remove the file.

 

 

7. Click on “Yes” to confirm the removal process.

 

 

This application will delete the file from your computer for sure.

Your problem should be solved.