Windows 7 bottomless pit of folders Please help!!!

[boybiffa]

Hi everyone,

I currently have a problem with what appears to be recurring folders.
I have the main folder which then shows a folder inside that, then another inside that, then another inside that until I come to about 7-8 folders. opening any of these and the you end up opening one folder, within a folder,within a folder,within a folder. It seems to just go on forever! I've attempted to rename the folders as I go but so far.. after 30 minutes of this. I stopped right clicked.

to simplify this it would appear like this in a tree:
(now changed folder names to numbers)

Root folder :7
open that reveals folder 7
open that reveals another folder called 7
open that..... it goes on for about 50 times until you a brought to this

7
7(1)
7(2)
7(3)
7(4)
7(5)
7(6)
7(7)
7(8)
7(9)
7(10)

selecting and then opening any of the above folders will bring you to a folder called 7
opening that reveals another folder called 7 and so it goes on (the above list of repeated folders does not re-appear).

I can't delete the root of the directory as the filename is too large.
I tried to rename each directory but got bored after about 30 minutes as I found out (after opening a folder which revealed another folder inside I right clicked that folder and it said "6" more subdirectories. so... opened that folder I just right clicked on - revealing another folder - renamed that. opened it. - another folder - renamed it - opened that folder - renamed it. - right clicked it - it said 3 more subfolders. so.. carried on.. counted that I'd opened 4 checked again "6" subfolders. so.. no matter how much you go through the folders renaming each folder, you will never reach the final folder.

I've tried to delete the root folder, but file path it too long/ name is too long
attempted to delete via command prompt using rmdir... erase, del.. RD.. no avail
also tried this through safe mode - nothing. Tried through the advanced boot option (pressing F8 on first boot up)again.. no avail
when I did try it through safe mode with command prompt and through the advanced boot option It did attempt to delete the directories but showed "error file path (or file name) too long. so couldn't be deleted that way.
tried running unlocker - file not locked, but when trying to delete through windows 7 with command prompt it shows "running in another process"
unlocker was also unable to delete the folder on re-boot
lock hunter wasn't able to do anything other than move it to the root of my [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]external [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]hard [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]drive[/FONT][/FONT]. it did however show that it wasn't running in any process's

I've searched for the past day or two while trying different things and yet... nothing has worked at all. I've also tried robocopy but that didn't help either.

please help as I don't want an endless supply of subfolders being on my hard drive. there's no files or data in the folders it's just an endless supply of a folder, within a folder...

Thanks in advance

rob

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you are dealing with a folder structure that has nested folders within each other, causing a seemingly endless chain of folders. This issue is likely due to a long file path exceeding the system's limitations. However, there are ways to address this problem. Here are some steps you can take to resolve the issue:

Approach 1: Using Robocopy to Move the Folder​

You mentioned that you tried using Robocopy without success. You can attempt to use Robocopy with a specific flag to move the folder to a new location with a shorter path.

1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Use the following command to move the folder to a new location:

   bash robocopy "source" "destination" /MIR

   Replace "source" with the path to the problematic folder and "destination" with the path to a new location where you want to move the folder.

   Approach 2: Using a PowerShell Script to Rename Folders​

   Another approach involves using PowerShell to recursively rename the nested folders to shorten the file path.
3. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
4. Run the following script:

   bash $folderPath = "C:\Path\To\Root\Folder" Get-ChildItem -Path $folderPath -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer } | ForEach-Object { $_.Name = $_.Name.Replace("OldName", "NewName") }

   Replace "$folderPath" with the path to your root folder and adjust the "OldName" and "NewName" values accordingly.

   Approach 3: Using a Third-Party Tool​

   If the above methods do not work, you can consider using a third-party tool like "Long Path Tool" or "Path Too Long" to handle the long file path issue and delete or move the problematic folder. Try these steps and see if you can successfully resolve the never-ending nested folder structure issue on your hard drive. If you encounter any difficulties or need further assistance, feel free to ask for help!