Erase file in use

Purpose: Erase one file, a group of files, or entire subdirectories. See file lists for details. This option is most useful in batch files and aliases. It is included for compatibility with CMD. The text can include wildcards and extended wildcards. This is useful for testing the result of a DEL. Sort the files before processing. This is the default. Your options at the prompt are explained in detail under Page and File Prompts. This overwrites every byte in the file with different values.

You can optionally specify the number of passes ; the default is 3. See also DelWipePasses. Use this option to completely obliterate a file's contents from your disk. Once you have used this option it is impossible to recover the file even if you are using an undelete utility, because the contents of the file are destroyed before it is deleted. If DEL deletes one or more directories, they will be removed automatically from the extended directory search database.

It assumes a Y response to everything, including deleting an entire subdirectory tree. Contents Contents Index Search. Scroll Prev Top Next More. Erase one file, a group of files, or entire subdirectories. The file, subdirectory, or list of files or subdirectories to erase. A text file containing the names of the files to delete, one per line see file lists for details. The number of directories deleted. Display the DEL command dialog to help you set the filename and command line options.

Delete only those files that have the specified attribute s set. If DEL can't delete the file for example, if access is denied it will schedule it to be deleted at the next reboot.

Suppress all non-fatal error messages, such as "File Not Found. Select filenames by matching text in their descriptions. Not quite , when you delete a file, the operating system does not really remove the file from the disk; it only removes the reference of the file from the file system table. The file remains on the disk until another file is created over it, and even after that, it might be possible to recover data by studying the magnetic fields on the disk platter surface.

Before the file is overwritten, anyone can easily retrieve it with a disk maintenance or an undelete utility. Windows 98, ME, NT, can still be used with version 5. It works with any drive that works with Windows. Secure drive erasure methods are supported out of the box. And do remember to include the file extension in the command. To check the path of the file, you can right-click the file and click Properties. Easily activate your Windows 11 PC or laptop.

To delete a file that can't be deleted, you can also try to start Windows 10 in safe mode to unlock and delete the file. Step 3. Microsoft revealed the first Insider Preview of Windows 11 on June 24, The official release date may be October This file deletion method won't pass the Recycle Bin. Note: Need to mention that this post is not talking about deleting Windows system files.

Windows system files are usually protected against deletion. Deleting system files can cause issues of your Windows 10 computer OS. So please do not delete system files randomly. Quick Video Guide:. In case sometimes you may mistakenly deleted a needed file on your Windows 10 computer, here we also attach an easy file undelete method, namely, use the professional data recovery software to easily recover deleted files from your Windows 10 computer.