How can I delete ~120000 files at once.

Shhaukan · Apr 22, 2017

Here's the deal. Over the last 4 months I have noticed that my disk space was running low without a reason and that my disk was preforming very poorly. I have discovered a glitch where Nvidia 3D drivers leave behind thousands of files in C:\Windows\System32\Config and I uninstalled the driver. However it still left all this behind. Windows explorer won't even show them. The only programs that detect them so far have been WizTree (Which chrashes if I try to open the bunch of files and I cant just delete them as nothing happens if I press delete) and SpaceSniffer (which can't delete files, but this one shows them individually).
Will it do any harm if I copy the other contents of Config, delete the folder and replace it without the 35 gb worth of files?
Thank you in advance

hang-the-9 · Apr 27, 2017

If you know the names of the files and they all have something in common, and you are sure nothing else you need has the same common text in the files, you can just do a "del *blah*" command and it will delete every file with that blah text string in it in the directory.

James Mason · Apr 27, 2017

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771049(v=ws.11).aspx
For info about the del command and how to use it properly.

You'll have to run CMD.exe as an administrator to delete system files though.

You might try a program like Ccleaner to do it for you though.
https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
It's designed to know what junk files are. (like old nvidia drivers)

Shhaukan · May 10, 2017

James Mason :

Sorry for responding after such a long time, I didn't think that anyone would help me after 5 days and I forgot to check this.
I tried the del command thing and the cmd can't see any files when I use the *DRIVERS* Wildcard. I even ran it as admin, still nothing. dir c:\Windows\System32\config\*DRIVERS* shows no files and del c:\Windows\System32\config\*DRIVERS* did nothing. Did I do it wrong? is reinstalling OS the only solution left?
Also I have tried CCleaner but I do not know how to make it delete these specific files.

EDIT: I have figured out how to use CCleaner to my advantage and I have managed to wipe out 41 Gb worth of drivers. Thank you guys for your support. How I did it: On Ccleaner, under tools, click on disk analyzer and wait for it to complete. Then use the search bar and you will only see these files. Select all and delete, it might take ~20 mins.

hang-the-9 · May 10, 2017

Those may be hidden or system files, which you can't see in a plain dir or delete without adding in options. https://www.windows-commandline.com/show-delete-hidden-files-command-prompt/

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How can I delete ~120000 files at once.

Shhaukan

Commendable

James Mason

hang-the-9

Titan

James Mason

Titan

Shhaukan

Commendable

hang-the-9

Titan

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