Cannot delete internet shortcuts (.url) – Access denied
I deleted a directory on my server, it left 3 files behind. I cannot access the three files, whatever I do. Everything responds ‘Access Denied’. If I try to double click the shortcut I am told that it is an invalid shortcut. Properties show the file information, but the Security tab is missing.
Initially I suspected the disk and ran a CHKDSK /F, this caused the volume to be dismounted. It solved the problem but it’s a lot of effort and some down time.
Then I found this http://vkirshin.blogspot.com/2011/01/cannot-delete-files-from-favorites.html. I opened explorer to show the offending files and stopped the indexing service. The offending files immediately disappeared. I started the service again and they are still gone.
I believe this is a recent issue, but I don’t have time to investigate further.
Thanks for the hint! it saves me a server reboot. (could not update a software)
Philippe Bartholemy
April 1, 2011 at 12:40 pm
I experienced much the exact same set of circumstances. I was moving a large set of directories; and the root directories which contained url shortcuts (internet shortcuts) would not “delete”.
The whole situation ressembled a virus: and I suspected that there was some kind of root kit operating which was globally preserving urls it needed to contact and preventing them from being deleted. Scary!
After rebooting, I learned that al the url shortcuts had in fact been moved: and that they didn’t even exist in the refractory directories where they had previously resided. The offending directories were then easily deleted.
So in that sense, the internet shortcuts that were misbehaving were vestigial images of directories that had already been deleted – they were ghosts: maybe even ephemeral. But it seems quite clear that the FAT was reporting the out as “alive and well”. I think we need a new word here; perhaps even a variation on a Heisenberg Uncertainty.
Robert Koenig
June 27, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Excellent hint, thanks for the info
George
August 17, 2011 at 1:56 pm