A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '/s'.

Question

Hi guys,

        Im just a regular user passing by looking for some help in removing the folder system volume infomation temporarily so I may remove what I think is a imbedded virus, trojan or malicious script placed there by a nasty hacker. Someone had control of my pc and ive ran countless virus checks, and reinstalled windows many times but everytime somehow the new install is corrupt and infected. Ive suspected these folders which are on all my drives for a long time and upon learning they hold restore points etc im convinced they could be my problem. 

Now ive read online you can remove them and when the pc restarts itll be remade without any bad files which may of been there in the first place. Following a guide I typed this into powershell : rmdir "System Volume Information" /s /q but im getting this back : Remove-Item : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '/s'.
At line:1 char:1

• rmdir "System Volume Information" /s /q
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Remove-Item], ParameterBindingException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

Im hoping one of you guys would be so kind to help me finally remove these files so I can try a clean install and be free of this awful virus which seems to infect my windows apps, defender and firewall amongst other things. Please can someone help me?

Thankyou so much

Answer 1

Hi @Knin3 ,

are you running the command rmdir "System Volume Information" /s /q in a PowerShell or Command Prompt?

If it's PowerShell it seems the rmdir is an alias of Remove-Item.

In PowerShell you could use this to get the same result:

Remove-Item -Path <path to the directory> -Force -Recurse  

In Command Prompt the rmdir "System Volume Information" /s /q should work. Or you can try ``rd "System Volume Information" /s /q`

If you want to install a clean Windows I would recommend to delete all partitions and create new partitions with formatting during the setup phase. This way you will get rid of all the "old stuff".

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(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten

Answer 2

Hi
@Knin3
I am eager to help you on this issue, as you said ‘’Remove-Item : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '/s'.’’ Obviously, it shows that this command line lacks positional pararmeter. The usage of this command line should be

RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
For example: rmdir /s/q C:\test // s means delete, q means execute without confirmation

However, this command line might not necessarily solve your issue because those problematic files are set by hackers that don’t allowed to be deleted without access or privilege. Also, we should use this command line with great caution because it will remove all files in the directory quietly.
Seeing that you have reinstalled your PC many time.
You should format the disk to eradicate those viruses and do a clean install afterwards. In this case.
You can connect your current disk to another device to do the format, otherwise you can boot from a Usb disk with win10.iso. format and delete partition C:/ along with MSR, recovery and system.

Hope this can help you
If your need further help, be free reply to me at your convenience.

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