How to delete a folder that name ended with a dot (".")?

jerry.liu picture jerry.liu · Nov 2, 2010 · Viewed 60.5k times · Source

I got some folders created by malware whose name ended with a dot like C:\a.\ or C:\b.\, etc.

I found a solution that can remove such folder with command rd /q /s "C:\a.\" but if I call win API RemoveDirectory, it returns ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND.

And I just wonder how to write a function to delete such directory, thanks

I test on my own Windows XP SP3 system like this

create a folder C:\>mkdir a..\\\ and I cannot double click to access this folder. and I can remove with command rd /q /s "C:\a.\"

what Windows system API(s) that rd /q /s command call?

Answer

Skilldrick picture Skilldrick · Nov 8, 2010

Here's a solution to this problem:

rd /s "\\?\C:\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop\Annoying Folder."