No boot into Safe Mode, Boot Device Order instead

[noonin]

I'm trying toi delete three suspicious files on my D drive, but Windows isn't letting me. I thought I'd try in Safe Mode, but when I tap F8 on restart, I get a small blue screen asking me to choose the boot device order (removeable, HDD, or CD-ROM) instead. Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Emerald]

what are the three files?


what happens if you start tabbing F8 after you accept a boot order?

also once booted into windows you run msconfig and under the Boot tab you could check Safe Mode. after you saved the setting reboot and it will automatically boot into Safe Mode.

 

[noonin]

what are the three files?

They're three folders with a long series of numbers for names, located in my Files under the D partition. I can't delete them as I get a warning from Windows that they're write protected or in use, but haven't had any luck fixing that through the folder's Properties. Thought I might be able to delete them under Safe Mode since they shouldn't be in use. I've Googled the file names, but initially got no info. I'll give the file names and details when I'm back at that computer. BTW, I've scanned them with my AV and MalwareBytes with no mailcious warnings, fwiw.

what happens if you start tabbing F8 after you accept a boot order?

It boots into Windows

also once booted into windows you run msconfig and under the Boot tab you could check Safe Mode. after you saved the setting reboot and it will automatically boot into Safe Mode.

Good to know! I'll try that ;-). What I really want to do is reformat my C drive, but wanted to clear this little issue up first in case I need to reformat both partitions.

 

[noonin]

what are the three files?

The three folders are located on my D partition. They have long alphanumeric names:

File 1 - 2e1d04f04c2bbfd73dd197cb44d52e
File 2 - b87cf53d474e945c42

Both are 0 bytes in size, and contain two subfolders named amd64 and i386, which are empty. When I try to delete them, I get Access Denied.

The third folder is named d856e1794577d8e0ff. It contains 59 files, 25 folders...many are four digit long folders. One file is HotFixInstaller.EXE. I Googled it and got mixed results as to it's threat possibilities. Some said it is a file from Microsoft Visual Studio. I've scanned it with my AV and Malwarebytes, but it seems to be clean.

I tried one of the methods for deleting the first file, using the Command Prompt, but it said it couldn't find the file. Any ideas

 

[noonin]

I tried using Windows Repair Console command prompt, still access denied. Am I stuck with reformatting as my only option? Is it possible these files are harmless and just leave them?

 

[Emerald]

if I am not mistaken those a system related installation folders and therefore Windows will not allow you to delete them

 

[noonin]

I wonder what they're doing on my Files (D) partition?? Is there a way to double check?

 

[Emerald]

is there a software that you installed on the D drive or from the D drive?

 

[noonin]

is there a software that you installed on the D drive or from the D drive?

Not that I can remember, it's just for documents, photos and music.

 

[Emerald]

you could try CCleaner which will remove unnecessary temp and installation files. However it is advisable to scan through the findings and un-check anything you might need.

 

[noonin]

you could try CCleaner which will remove unnecessary temp and installation files. However it is advisable to scan through the findings and un-check anything you might need.

Tried that. Think I'll just bite the bullet and reformat both partitions. Thanks for the help