[SOLVED] Delete file OK; delete dir access denied
lazarus / 34-Windows

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lorenzo · 2021-10-01 16:25

There are over a hundred 'access is denied' threads and I'm sorry to
add another.

Weeding out old-ish backups, I wrote a simple prog to delete files
from one drive when the same name/content was on a second drive. 
DeleteFile( name ) worked just fine, and took a few thousand files off
my USB memory stick.

That left some empty directories, which I also wanted to delete. 
Irritatingly the function RemoveDir( name ) returned false and did not
carry out the removal.  I tried name with and without the final slash.

RemoveDirUTF8 and DeleteDirectory didn't help.  Using
    {$I-}
    RmDir( name );
    {$I+}
    IOresult ...
I turned up the error code 5, Access is Denied.

I cannot see why I can delete files but not dirs on the same (USB)
drive.

Can anyone shine a light on this please?

Windows 10, up to date.  Lazarus 2.0.12.  Unit is headed {$mode
objfpc}{$H+}.

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loaded · 2021-10-01 16:51

In the directories;
-Hidden Files
-Are you sure there are no Hidden Operating System Files?

For manual control ;
Control Panel - File Explorer Options-View Title
You can review the options below.

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lorenzo · 2021-10-02 03:19

That's it, loaded.  Thank you.  I feel stupid for not having thought
of it before.

In turns it raises the question why FindFirst etc failed to turn up
the files.  I have found a useful thread
https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php?topic=26705.0 on that
point so I have more work to do and more to learn.  Meanwhile I am
marking this thread solved.

Thanks again.