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I've recently reinstalled Windows, going from 10 to 8.1. Since the reinstall, I've been unable to access and/or delete a single folder on my D:\ drive. Windows 8.1 is giving me a "The system cannot access the file specified", even though the folder is completely visible in Explorer and even in Safe Mode. Googling tells me to take ownership. I've tried this both in Windows 8.1, and in the command prompt on a Windows 10 bootable flash drive. Windows 10 returns "Access denied." -- I also proceeded to try to take ownership on there.

I finally tried to run it through Linux Mint KDE on a live CD, only for the file manager there not to show it at all. I then proceeded to go through console and run ls. Sure enough, it shows up. I've tried to use various combinations of rmdirand rm, etc, all to no avail.

Running a ls -a returns OneDrive -> unsupported reparse point.

At this point, I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing wrong.

I have a theory about a solution to the problem, but I'd rather not do it, as it seems messy:

My theoretical solution would be to create a new partition on the same drive and gradually move things over, so I'd in the end be left with the OneDrive folder, at which point I would delete the original partition and just extend the new partition.

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  • it seems skydrive on Windows 8 uses reparse-points to implement files on-demand, however onedrive on windows 10 doesn't support that feature and MS has just reintroduced the feature into the fall creators update. Try updating Windows 10 or use a Windows 8 boot disk to recover those files
    – phuclv
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 8:51
  • That's odd though. The OneDrive files (D:\OneDrive) are purely from Windows 10 (fall creators update -- everything in the folder was synced locally, though), the problem with accessing them arose just after setting up a Microsoft account, which directory defaulted to %userprofile%\OneDrive. D:\OneDrive can't be accessed on neither Win8.1 (even in safemode) or a Win10 boot disk, as said, not even Linux. Did Windows 10 introduce something with processing those files that Windows 8.1 didn't have? I can try doing your suggestion once I reach home, though.
    – Davixxa
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 10:01
  • @LưuVĩnhPhúc I've just booted to a Windows 8.1 Boot Disk to try to access the files, with the same error described.
    – Davixxa
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 15:41

1 Answer 1

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Resolution For Windows.

You may not be able to delete a file if the file uses an Access Control List (ACL). To resolve this issue, change the permissions on the file. You may have to take ownership of the files to be able to change the permissions.

You may not be able to delete a file if the file is being used. To resolve this issue, determine the process that has the open handle, and then close that process.

You may not be able to delete the file if the file system is corrupted. To resolve this issue, run the Chkdsk utility on the disk volume to correct any errors.

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  • I've given up on trying to fix it from within a fully booted version of Windows, resorting to Boot Media, so open processes aren't the culprit. Chkdsk doesn't fix my issue and neither does running takeown or taking ownership of it.
    – Davixxa
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 15:40

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