File cannot be opened

Question

Hello,

Sometime, I find, for example, a pdf file directory start with "\?:\D:" instead of "D:", which makes it cannot be opened.

What are the possibilities for this and how can I solve it?

Thank you,

Answer 1

It's a bad file path issue.

Open a command prompt and then type:

rd /s "<\?\D:\bad\folder\path >"

Use YOUR current bad folder path, whatever that may be.
Be forewarned! This will delete anything in that folder path including the bad path...

The .pdf you're trying to open is probably a lost cause since it's within that bad directory path and the file table has no real way to point to it...
(if it's really important, you could try some recovery software. But even that may be too late at this point)

That should remove the bad path from the directory structure for you.

Answer 2

I would possibly suspect the actual hard drive or even possibly the controller it's plugged into.. (neither last forever but controller failures are rare)
(you never stated how old the system is...)

Try another hard drive, even temporarily to isolate the offending part...

Answer 3

Thank you,

But two times I have formatted the whole disk and reinstalled the windows on a clean disk,

and after each time the problem still appears.

Answer 4

it's basically file table corruption, simple as that.

Possibilities include (not limited to...)
* Forcing a power down
* an old hard drive (beginning to lose its magnetic material, not very common)
* botched program installs

... the list goes on an on ...

I would get your data out of the bad folder structure into a newly created folder structure and then delete the bad file tree.

Answer 5

Thank you for your reply,

The pdf file can be copied to another directory and works well but when I return it to the old directory, the bad path returns with it. Is there any reason for this?

By the way, this issue occurs with many pdf files. So, is there a solution for these bad paths not to occur?

Thank you,