[SOLVED] cannot delete "ghost" .opdownload files, files missing

[foxfries]

sup, i've been dealing with this problem for a few weeks now as i usually choose to ignore it and move on since i can't fix it.
some time ago i noticed some .opdownload files, which are supposedly files that are currently being downloaded by opera. however, there are none such files, as all my downloads have finished and i've cleared the download/browser cache multiple times as well to make sure there are no leftover downloads or anything.
they look like this, basically just the regular filename (usually image files, png or gif) but with a .opdownload extension:

trying to delete any of them gives me the following error:

i've tried multiple things by now, such as:

• using the cmd and command prompts (del or rename commands, rd /s "\\?\ )
• taking ownership of the drive/file
• adding the files to an archive (fails since the files "don't exist")
• using iobits unlocker
• rebooting several times
• refreshing several times
• clearing the browser cache/history etc
• creating a new file with the same exact name, moving it and then deleting it
• closing every instance of opera that's running
• using ccleaner to delete temporary files and check for other problems

i really don't wanna have to reinstall opera as it seems like a big hassle to have to setup everything back to how it was.. but i'm really running out of options here. if anyone has any idea of how to go about this, please let me know.

 

[gardenman]

There can be several reasons a file can't be deleted that I can think of.

#1. File corruption. If this happens, try the chkdsk /f command.
#2. The file is open in a program. Rebooting will sometimes help. But if the program reopens on boot up and locks onto the same files, then you'll have the same issue. It's often recommended booting into safe mode and trying from there. This doesn't appear to be the case based upon the error you have shown.
#3. Some type of virus, malware, or ransomware. Ransomware often encrypts files and adds an file extension to the files making them unreadable until you pay up to have them unencrypted (and often they don't even do that after you have paid.) It would be odd for ransomware to use the same file extension that Opera uses for downloads.
#4. File permissions. You don't have access to the files. Maybe the files were created on another Windows account or a program has limited access to them for one reason or another. Booting up into Linux (do not install, just run from flash drive) will often allow you to remove them. This doesn't appear to be the case based upon the error you have shown.

So my guess is #1.

If you had Opera open and crashed recently, then it's likely some type of disk corruption. Look at repairing it, possibly with the chkdsk command, then trying to delete the files afterwards.

 

[foxfries]

There can be several reasons a file can't be deleted that I can think of.

#1. File corruption. If this happens, try the chkdsk /f command.
#2. The file is open in a program. Rebooting will sometimes help. But if the program reopens on boot up and locks onto the same files, then you'll have the same issue. It's often recommended booting into safe mode and trying from there. This doesn't appear to be the case based upon the error you have shown.
#3. Some type of virus, malware, or ransomware. Ransomware often encrypts files and adds an file extension to the files making them unreadable until you pay up to have them unencrypted (and often they don't even do that after you have paid.) It would be odd for ransomware to use the same file extension that Opera uses for downloads.
#4. File permissions. You don't have access to the files. Maybe the files were created on another Windows account or a program has limited access to them for one reason or another. Booting up into Linux (do not install, just run from flash drive) will often allow you to remove them. This doesn't appear to be the case based upon the error you have shown.

So my guess is #1.

If you had Opera open and crashed recently, then it's likely some type of disk corruption. Look at repairing it, possibly with the chkdsk command, then trying to delete the files afterwards.

thank you for the suggestion, i'll try it later tonight when i'm not using my pc. my pc did actually crash some weeks ago after fullscreening a game (??) and i think i had opera open at the time, not actively downloading anything but maybe it still messed something up.

does chkdsk /f scan all drives or can i specify it to only scan my D drive? there don't seem to be any corrupted .opdownload files on other drives and my F drive is about 3TB so i figure it'd take a fairly long time to check as it's also a tad old and the writing arm malfunctions every now and then.

------------------------------------

EDIT:

I figured out how to run chkdsk on a singular drive but it seems it came back without having found any problems.. i unmounted the drive when i ran the command, would it make a difference to run it before booting up windows to prevent any programs from starting up? all my browsers, files etc are stored on my C drive so i don't know. here's a screenshot of the results:

EDIT 2:

good news! i turned on my pc today and it did a bit of loading, turns out the files are indeed gone! so it looks like just running the chkdsk command on the affected drive did fix it, thank you again for the help!!

 

[foxfries]

well it's unfortunate but it looks like opera just.. keeps creating ghost .opdownload files.... why exactly i don't know, but it's pretty infuriating. if there are any other suggestions, i'd be happy to try them! might reinstall opera after all, sigh

 

[gardenman]

Do you have any file types that have been accidentally assigned to be opened by Opera (then it thinks it should "download" even though it's on your system)?

Reference:
https://forums.opera.com/topic/36608/downloaded-files-repeat-downloading-instead-of-opening/2

 

[foxfries]

Do you have any file types that have been accidentally assigned to be opened by Opera (then it thinks it should "download" even though it's on your system)?

Reference:
https://forums.opera.com/topic/36608/downloaded-files-repeat-downloading-instead-of-opening/2

i don't think that's what it is, mainly because the files have the exact same names as the actually downloaded files. e.g. if i downloaded a picture named "tree.jpg", it'd automatically also create a file named "tree.jpg.opdownload" or "tree.jpg.opdownload.opdownload".. i also tried opening the files with different programs before but it gave me an error every time. trying to rename the files simply resulted in an error message basically telling me the file doesn't exist, like the error in my original post.

i deleted opera last night before shutting down my pc and am running chkdsk again now. it looks like the .opdownload files disappear after only 2-3 steps, it's on the 4th one now but it doesn't seem necessary to run the entire thing. i tried to delete all existing folders opera left behind (the ones in the different appdata folders) so maybe reinstalling will fix it? if not i'll try the profile thing that was suggested in the post you linked.

i'm somewhat certain i'll switch back to chrome for now, but i'll reinstall opera gx and report back on whether reinstalling it fixed the issue just in case anyone else stumbles upon this!

 

[foxfries]

okay so, something interesting i've noticed: the .opdownload files ONLY show up when utilizing the search function, both the windows start menu one and the explorer window one. they clearly list a location they're supposedly in, but when i go to the location the files are nowhere to be seen.
i checked every subfolder and enabled the option to view hidden files, even grouped files by filetype to be sure, but the files remain missing unless i use the search function to either look up the name of an image, the extension of an affected file or the .opdownload extenstion (e.g. if i search for the .gif extension to find animated emojis and any of the emojis happen to have a corrupted .opdownload copy then that one will obviously also show up since the original .gif extension is still in the name, alas before the .opdownload extension).

could it be that my search function somehow got corrupted? or that the indexing function messed up somehow?

 

[gardenman]

Go to Settings / Update & Security / Troubleshoot / Additional Troubleshooters / Search and Indexing / Run the troubleshooter.

Run it and see if it helps. I would check the box for "Files, folders, apps, or settings don't appear in results." even though your issue is different.

 

[foxfries]

Go to Settings / Update & Security / Troubleshoot / Additional Troubleshooters / Search and Indexing / Run the troubleshooter.

Run it and see if it helps. I would check the box for "Files, folders, apps, or settings don't appear in results." even though your issue is different.

i tried doing that a few times but it didn't yield any results. what i did instead was go into my indexing options and rebuild the index database for my D drive, which seems to have fixed it for real this time!
if i turn on my pc tomorrow and the files are back in the search list or using opera gx creates more of them, i'll report back, but at this point i'd say rebuilding the indexing base fixed it.
thank you for yr help though, have a good day!