"This item could not be found" error. How to delete an undelete file?

Unfortunately, very often it happens that the user of Windows OS needs to rename or delete any files and folders, and the system suddenly starts to produce error messages 0x80070490 "Element not found" (for example, regarding certificates) , Although the user is sure that this information is there. We'll figure out how to deal with this situation.

Situations when the error "Can not find this item." It's no longer in ... (the path to the file). Check the location of the file »

Yes, indeed, such a mistake with subsequent warning can occur very often. The most simple situation can be called too long file names inside folders, when the system writes that neither move, nor copy, nor rename such a folder is impossible.

And it is after this, and a message of interest arises that we could not find this element. How do I delete the leftovers? After all, it is clear that when copying, moving or deleting the system still made such an attempt initially. Another thing is that it was not successful, which led to the occurrence of malfunctions.

It turns out that in fact the folder or files on the disk are present, the system does not recognize them in the initial version. In addition, the message "Item not found" may appear in cases where any files or folders are blocked by system processes (currently in use), say, by antivirus software or the same Explorer (Explorer service).

Sometimes the situation may have a different character. For example, an attempt to delete, rename, or move may not yield results when logging in is not done under the administrator, but on behalf of another user who has restricted rights. Probably, there is no need to explain that the file with system attributes can not be deleted, as well as documents created using administrator rights in the main account. Here's the message "This item could not be found." How to delete such files, we now also will understand.

In addition, it is still worth noting that such errors can occur after renaming, say, office documents. Programs, as a rule, remember the last few files, so if you use the rapid opening of one of them, you can also face hard-hitting situations when the application searches for the file you are looking for simply by the specified path.

The simplest method of error correction

First of all, every user should know that even having administrator rights is not always a guarantee of successful deletion, renaming or moving of locked files, because some files and folders of system character have long names. And only elements with short names that are usually unavailable to a user are deleted.

On the other hand, you can use the simplest method, which is to add some entries to the registry. For example, FolderDescription-x86.reg files (for 32-bit versions of Windows OS) and FolderDescription-x64.reg (for versions of Windows with 64-bit architecture) perfectly handle such a problem. If such files are not available on the computer terminal (which, as a rule, is), they can be downloaded from the Internet without difficulty. Do not worry, nothing terrible will happen, but it will be possible to get rid of the error "This item could not be found". How do I delete files after this? The standard way. That's all.

The remains of "garbage" after uninstalling applications

In some cases, the error may occur when programs are not completely removed. After all, it often happens that the "native" uninstaller of the program or the standard Windows InstallShield Wizard tool does not completely remove all components, suggesting the user to delete some files manually. Very often this applies to the uninstaller uninstall.exe itself.

In this case, too, you may receive a message stating that the item was not found. How to remove the program correctly and completely, so that there is no unnecessary garbage in the system in the form of residual files or registry keys? It's very simple: it's better to use uninstallers like iObit Uninstaller, which remove absolutely all software components, as well as registry entries and system registry keys that can not be removed with the usual method (Forced Uninstall).

Yes, and rummage in the registry in the manual mode, too, do not want to. In addition, this is undesirable.

Additional ways to delete undelete files

Among the most common methods of removing undelete files and folders, you can note the use of a special utility Unlocker, as well as direct removal of items with system attributes using a short name. In principle, both methods are good. However, with the names of the average user will have a little trickery.

Unlocker program

The Unlocker application is a universal option for solving a variety of incident situations. In fact, the program is a certain means of unlocking access to any element of the system, after which it will be possible to make the necessary actions.

As a rule, the program itself is already included in the package of Windows 7. If it does not exist on your computer, you can easily find it and download it from the Internet.

When you enter the same standard Windows Explorer, the corresponding Unlock All command appears in the context menu . The application will stop all processes associated with a particular file, after which it can be deleted or renamed without problems. You can, of course, terminate the related processes in the Task Manager, but it's highly recommended that you do this because one process can be responsible for running multiple programs and using multiple files (for example, .dll dynamic libraries). And the correct completion of the process in this case is not guaranteed.

Deleting files and folders with system names

A somewhat more complicated method, but no less effective, is the use of short file and folder names. For example, if you are dealing with a system file, an error occurs due to the fact that this element could not be found. How to remove it with this method, we will try to understand.

First of all, you need to use either the command line or the "Run" menu to uninstall. For example, we have a file named "111" in the Program Files folder on drive "C". The uninstall command will look like this: DEL \\. \ C: \ Program Files \ 111. For a folder named "111" located at the same address, the command takes the form RD \\. \ C: \ Program Files \ 111.

This method may not work when you want to know the short name of a file or folder. In this case, after running the command line (cmd.exe), you must first use the CD drive line: \ path to the file or \ / d folder, and then use the DIR / X / N command to get the short name. After the required name becomes known, the folder or file can be deleted as described above.