Delete files with names that are too long - OnTheKnows/A GitHub Wiki

The idea is to

use robocopy to copy+updated from a new empty folder to the folder you want to delete, the target. After executing robocopy, the target directory would be empty as well.

These instructions are for the command line. Just open the search in Windows, type cmd and hit Enter.

Let’s say the target for deletion is:

C:\delete\this folder\with a very long name We proceed as follow:

First create an empty directory, f.i. C:\emptyfolder.

mkdir C:\emptyfolder Copy+update from the empty directory to the target, using the option /purge

robocopy c:\emptyfolder "C:\delete\this folder\with a very long name" /purge Delete the empty directory. You don't need it anymore.

rmdir c:\emptyfolder Since there are no files or folders in the source directory (C:\emptyfolder), it simply deletes the files and folders under the target directory (C:\delete\this folder\with a very long name) recursively!

Final trick: you can avoid writing by hand

C:\delete\this folder\with a very long name By dragging the folder from an Explorer window and dropping in the Terminal/cmd window.

Be careful: The deleted files will not go to the trash folder! Once deleted, the files cannot be recovered.

(Taken from "Path too long? Use Robocopy" by BVLANGEN)

PS: I realize this answer was here, less didactically. How to delete a file in Windows with a too long filename? [duplicate]

Benoit added:

You may need to go through this process more than once to get rid of all of the files.