[SOLVED] Cant delete a internet shortcut file from desktop.

[GUnit_Gaming]

I was coping a picture from online and instead of putting the image on my desktop it made a blank file with an extremely long name. Ive tried everything I know how to do and then some. When I drag the file into my browser it just says a bunch of random text. Command line can see the file when I use DIR but when i try DEL /f "filename" to force delete it, it claims it can not find the specified file. Even tried booting safe mode and same outcome. Everything ive read on google is talking about people asking how to remove their own personal images from websites or from google. Im not trying to do that as i was just copying it. Im trying to remove this from my desktop, the only one that i saw that even remote mentioned this. The person did a complete wipe and reinstall to get rid of the file. I really do not want to go through the process of wiping and reinstalling everything as I have over 2 years of data id have to backup.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove or delete this? This problem is way above my skill set, so any help will be much appreciated.

 

[BFG-9000]

What Windows cannot do, 7-zip often can--so delete it from within 7-Zip. Or sometimes if the filename is mangled enough, 7-zip cannot delete it either, but can still rename it to something like a txt file. Then you can delete the file normally from Windows

 

[GUnit_Gaming]

What Windows cannot do, 7-zip often can--so delete it from within 7-Zip. Or sometimes if the filename is mangled enough, 7-zip cannot delete it either, but can still rename it to something like a txt file. Then you can delete the file normally from Windows

YOU ARE A GOD! Thank you so much. Ive been trying to figure this out for 2 hours and that legitimately took all of 30 seconds.

 

[joe1952]

What Windows cannot do, 7-zip often can--so delete it from within 7-Zip. Or sometimes if the filename is mangled enough, 7-zip cannot delete it either, but can still rename it to something like a txt file. Then you can delete the file normally from Windows

I had exactly the same problem as the OP, however using windows11 within 7-Zip did not work either, could not delete this long url-file, and also could not edit it.

Solution: I created a NEW empty Folder on another hard-disc, outside of the C:/system-win-11 and was surprised to see that 7-Zip was able to MOVE this long url-file away from desktop into this newly created folder on my other harddisk.

After I tried to delete this long url-file within 7-Zip but it did not work either.

However I was surprised to be able to delete the entire NEW folder including containing the long url-file into the Recycle Bin with 7-Zip.

And finally I was able to empty the Recycle Bin and the newly created folder including the long url-file were deleted.

Thanks for the good and very helpful advice to try to delete such an unwanted long files with 7-Zip.

 

[moonunit]

I had exactly the same problem as the OP, however using windows11 within 7-Zip did not work either, could not delete this long url-file, and also could not edit it.

Similar problem here with a very long URL shortcut which mysteriously appeared on the Windows 10 desktop and which I could not delete. BFG-9000's 7-zip tip didn't work at first if I right-clicked on the file and then selected delete from the pop-up menu. However, when I right-clicked on the file and selected delete from the pop-up menu while holding Shift on the computer keyboard the file was deleted instantly!

So thanks BFG-9000! I'd been trying to delete that annoying shortcut for two hours and your tip to use 7-zip got me to a solution in 30 seconds! What a relief! I had no idea 7-zip could be used to overcome this kind of issue.

P.S. I also have no idea where this URL shortcut came from in the first place, or how or why it appeared on the desktop.

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[shadysprings]

YOU ARE A GOD! Thank you so much. Ive been trying to figure this out for 2 hours and that legitimately took all of 30 seconds.

What Windows cannot do, 7-zip often can--so delete it from within 7-Zip. Or sometimes if the filename is mangled enough, 7-zip cannot delete it either, but can still rename it to something like a txt file. Then you can delete the file normally from Windows

I registered just to say thank you for the 7-Zip solution. It worked great!

 

[kerberos_20]

in cmd you can also use old dos short 8+3 name, del whatev~1.xxx