Unable To Delete File(s) & Folder in WXP

[sleddriver]

Alright this one has me scratching my head. I have several files that begin with "._" that I'm unable to delete. (These came from a friends Macbook. I backed up a folder onto my XP machine because his HD was failing.)

Whenever I attempt to drag them to the trash, delete them or shift-delete, I get "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

When I attempt to delete the folder, I get "Cannot delete {filename} Cannot find the specified file. Make sure you have the correct path & file name."

So I did some searching. First, I tried to rename the file, then delete it. No joy. I am logged on as the admin. Next, I opened a cmd window, went to the directory and attempted to delete the folder there. No joy. Then I renamed the folder, then tried to delete it. No joy.

What's odd is one file shows up as a period "." another as two ".." Perhaps I have an illegal file name or illegal characters in the file name? (these were created via OSX). (A screen shot posted here might help, not sure how to do that though...)

Any ideas on how to rename an illegal file name so WXP will recognize it? Is there a short cut that will enable me to delete the whole folder?

 

[OVERKILL]

It has to be done through the CLI.

 

[Colt45ws]

Windows makes "." and ".." directories too. Except it hides them. It is probably mixing up the one you copied in and the one it has.

 

[PandaBear]

. and .. are not a real directory.

. is a symbol for current directory
.. is a symbol for the parent directory

They came from Unix

 

[Colt45ws]

Yes, but he has a pair that are showing up in the GUI judging from the fact that he is attempting to drag them to the trash.

 

[sleddriver]

SOLVED!
I dwnld'd Unlocker after seeing a ref to a similiar problem. Pointed it to the folder containing the problem files, told it to delete, and BANG the problem folder was GONE!

I'd never run across that before. Then again I never used my WXP HD as a backup for Mac-formatted files either. . .

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Carbon]

I don't have a problem working with a file ._test.txt in Windows 7 or in the virtual XP mode of Windows 7.

In the problem folder, try this command:
attrib -R -S -H *.*

I won't hurt. Maybe won't help.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: sleddriver
SOLVED!
I dwnld'd Unlocker after seeing a ref to a similiar problem. Pointed it to the folder containing the problem files, told it to delete, and BANG the problem folder was GONE!

I'd never run across that before. Then again I never used my WXP HD as a backup for Mac-formatted files either. . .

Thanks for the replies!

I was going to suggest Unlocker. I've had some issues in Vista when dealing with ISO images mounted with virtual clone drive where Vista wouldn't let me delete the ISOs after I was done with them despite having unmounted the image and rebooting. Unlocker nuked those DVD images with no problem.