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I accidentally executed the following command in cmd with administrative privilages in my c:\windows\system32 folder:

del *.* /f/q/s > nul

When I realized what was happening I quickly pressed Ctrl+C to cancel the operation. In the meantime I got a bunch of Access is denied. errors.

How do I know if I have or have not caused any damage to my Windows installation? Is there a way to check it? Can I just delete files from the system32 folder or they're protected?

In case if I have caused damage, can I repair my Windows installation without restoring it to a previous state?

I know that the del command doesn't send the deleted file to Recycle Bin, hence I have no way of checking if anything has been deleted.

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  • There are Windows state validation and Windows repair functions. Have you tried these?
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 3:36
  • if it's gone, it's gone. The best thing you can do is sfc /scannow
    – phuclv
    Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 3:38
  • @music2myear can you please tell me how to run those functions?
    – SantaHopar
    Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 3:46
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    I’m voting to close this question because OP hasn't indicated an actual issue, just concern they MIGHT have caused an issue.
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 9, 2021 at 3:13
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    Below is a link to a Microsoft webpage that in details describes what commands to run in order to repair your current Windows installation: support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/… It also includes @phuclv's suggestion sfc /scannow. Here is what I got in response when I ran that command: *Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example
    – SantaHopar
    Commented Oct 10, 2021 at 1:36

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