Fix “Could Not Find This Item” When Deleting in Windows

Sometimes Windows will give a strange error message when trying to delete a file. The message says “could not find this item” and it does not allow you to delete the file. It is quite obvious that you are trying to delete something that already exists on your computer, but the error suggests otherwise.

There are many reasons why your computer cannot locate the file properly and allow you to delete it. After fixing these basic problems, you can get rid of the file from your computer.

Use Command Prompt to fix “This item could not be found”

If you’re having trouble deleting a file while using File Explorer, you can use the Command Prompt. It has several commands for working with your file system, and one of them allows you to delete files from your storage.

You can use these commands to get the contents of a directory and then get rid of the selected file from the list.

1. Search for Command Prompt by searching for Cortana and click “Run as administrator” to open it in the admin area. mode.

2. In a Command Prompt window, change to the directory that contains the file you want to delete. Use the CD command followed by the directory path to navigate to your directory.
3. When you are in the selected directory, run the following command to view a list of all files in it.

   dir

4. You should see the name of the problematic file listed.
5. Type the following command, press the spacebar, enter the name of the file you want to delete and press Enter. So, to delete a file named myfile.txt, enter:

   del myfile.txt

6. If you are deleting a file that has spaces in its name, enclose the file name in double quotes.

7. The file will be deleted without prompting.

Rename the file using Command Prompt before deleting it

Sometimes the reason you get the “could not find this item” error is because your filename is too long for your system to process. In this case, you can shorten the name first to delete the file.

You can use command line to rename the file as follows.

– /

1. Launch a command prompt window with administrator rights on your PC.
2. Use the CD command to change to the directory where your file is located.
3. Make a note of the full name of your file as you will be using it in a command.
4. Type the following command at the command prompt and press Enter.

   ren oldname.ext newname.ext

   ren – short form to rename
   oldname.ext – replace this with your current filename
   newname.ext – replace this with your new filename

5. After renaming a file, use Explorer to access and delete it. This time it should uninstall without issue.

Delete files without extension

Some problematic files do not have extensions, so it is very difficult to remove them from the command prompt window. Fortunately, there is a command you can use to delete all files within a folder without knowing their extensions.

1. Open a command prompt window on your computer.
2. Navigate to the folder where your file is located using the CD command.
3. Type the following command and press Enter.

   del *. *

4. All files inside the folder will be deleted.

Delete the folder containing the file

If you are still unable to delete the file and still receive the “Cannot find this item” error, try deleting the folder instead. It removes the folder as well as all files in it, including the problematic file.

1. Open a command prompt window on your PC.
2. Type the following command, press Space, enter the full path to the folder you want to delete, enclose it in double quotes and press Enter.

   rmdir / s

3. You will receive a message asking if you really want to delete the folder. Type y and press Enter to confirm your action.

4. You can use the / q parameter with the above command to skip the delete request. It deletes the file without asking if you really want it.

Kill the process that might use the file

There might be a program running on your computer that uses your file in some way. To make sure this is not to blame, you have to kill the program process using the task manager and then try to delete the file.

1. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab at the top.
3. Find the process that you think is interfering with the uninstall process. Right-click it and select End Task to end the process.



4. You can try to delete the file and it will be deleted without any problems.



Create archive and delete files

If you’ve used WinRAR to create archives on your computer before, you probably know that it allows you to delete files after creating an archive. You can use the same option to delete a file that continues to give a “could not find this item” error.

The idea here is to create a new archive using the problematic file and let WinRAR remove your file after the archive has been created.

1. Download and install the WinRAR application on your computer.
2. Right-click the file you want to delete and select Add to Archive. It allows you to create a new archive using the selected files.
3. On the next screen, you can configure how the archive is created. There you will find the option Delete files after archiving. Check the box, adjust other options as you like and click “OK” at the bottom.



4. A new archive containing your file will be created and your actual problem file will be deleted. You can now also delete an archive by right-clicking it and choosing the Delete option.





This is a non-standard idea and it works most of the time.

Use DelinvFile to overcome the “This item could not be found” error

Problems with deleting files have been around for a long time on Windows computers, and there are several applications to help you deal with them. One of them is DelinvFile, which allows you to delete files that you cannot delete yourself.

You can use it to get rid of problematic files from your PC.

1. Install the DelinvFile application on your computer.
2. Run the application and change to the directory where your file is located. Click your file for it to be selected.
3. Click the button labeled “Delete file or folder” to start deleting the file.
4. You will be prompted to confirm your action. Click Yes to continue deleting the file.





It is frustrating when you constantly encounter the “could not find this item” error when deleting a file. Have you ever encountered this error on your computer? How did you overcome this? We’d love to know about this in the comments below.

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