Odd directories on my HP Laptop

[Gilbo]

I have two directories that are basically just random hex strings in my C:\ drive's root.

I don't know what they're for, but I need to free up some space (1.8" HDD) and I can't friggin' delete them. I can't even change the ownership to myself in an Administrator account.


Any recommendations?

 

[Gilbo]

Oh ya, I also don't like that they're cluttering up my root. I don't like clutter.

 

[LunarMist]

Presumably you've tried booting to another OS disk/USB drive. Maybe you can pull the drive and use it in an adapter?

 

[Chewy509]

They're most likely left over from Windows Updates. (They are the temp folders used by the updates).

To delete, boot in safe mode, and attempt to take ownership, apply sane permissions, and delete, etc. If they fails, rip the drive out, insert into a second machine and you should be ok to remove them.

Or, sysinternals may have something?

 

[ddrueding]

Most likely they aren't random hex strings, but GUIDs. Which are the same, but of fixed length.

 

[mubs]

Also certain apps, typically AV progs, do this. There was a bunch in my E:\ drive, and I was able to delete all except these two which are still there:

59f28249f53618bc22fd
c85288a51cbb7559ac

But they're quite small, each containing an update.log of about 1KB each. But I don't like this turd lying around either.

 

[Gilbo]

Thanks guys. I'll try safe mode.


Sticking the disk in another computer is a big PITA. The laptop is a 2730P, which is a thin & light (not fun to work with) and the disk is a 1.8" which will probably have some wierd connector on it...