Question : Cannot delete File - cannot read from source file or disk

Hi there,

we got an issue with a cluster system.
A user created a folder with an excel macro and nobody is able to delete this folder.
It has a trailing space. We can create another folder with the exact same name and it works. However when we try to delete the erroneous folder, it always deletes the new folder, even if there is content in it. (reasons are described in KB320081)

The error message we get upon trying to delete it is:
"Cannot delete file: Cannot read from source file or disk"

What we tried unsuccessfully:
switch disk resource to other node
RD \\.\drive letter:\path\directory name (like described in KB320081)
"The system cannot find the file specified"
(the same message I get when I try to CD into the dir, even with autocompletion)

What we didn't try, cause it is a big storage system with high availabilty which we cannot shutdown for just such a tiny problem:
Safe mode
checkdisk (will scramble our filesystem as experienced by my colleagues on another occasion)
boot with a linux disk and try to access the filesystem this way

So, do you have any other suggestions for me?
Any ideas are appreciated.

Daniela

Answer : Cannot delete File - cannot read from source file or disk

I'm sure you probably looked at or tried some of these, just throwing ideas out there.

Have you looked at ownership and attributes of the folder? What are they?

Can you take ownerwhip with an admin account?

Have you tried deleting from a command shell / explorer / both?

Have you tried renaming from Explorer? (I see the command shell attempt in your post)

What is the folder name?

Can you post the code that created the folder to begin with?  Perhaps code could delete it as well if you duplicate the syntax.

Is there only a space after the folder name or perhaps another unprintable character?

Can you read the folder name with code and the show the ASCII code of each character?