Hidden folders access

[frailer]

We've had a creeping C Drive issue. It came to a bit of a head this arvo. Seems that available space has been decreasing slowly. Yes, I should have intervened earlier, but had some other things getting in the way, like a week off with gashed/contused shin.
OK, said C Drive, on our XMF HP server box, has a supposed capacity of 32 GB., and is part of a RAID 5 setup. I got our tech on the phone, and we got it onto the 'net, which normally it's not, and he did stuff via Team Viewer. He's in in the morning at 8, but this afternoon he managed to delete enough stuff to enable Clients to open.
Question, in case anyone has an inkling; he was trying to access hidden folders, as the bulk of the used space seems to lie in there somewhere, but he was having trouble getting access. Assume it's a MS system wall of some sort. Anyone have an idea on how to get in there? He knows pretty much what he's doing, but that bit had him stumped. He's researching it overnight.
Annoying, as we're about to need a new box'n'dice for the next major XMF upgrade (to a 64 bit setup). Shame it had to catch up with us just before the end. Tech is thinking it's MS update-bloat.
BTW, all our data files for jobs are held on a separate RAID 5 set, (E Drive), so doesn't affect this problem.

[andyfest]

Not sure of your OS, but in Windows 7 you choose C drive, then go to Organize>Folder and Search Options, then choose the "View" tab. Scroll to the "Hidden Files and Folders" option and click the radio button for "Show hidden files, folders and drives" (the default is usually clicked on "Hide hidden files, etc..). Hope this helps.

[frailer]

Yeah, shoulda mentioned that. Windows Server 2003. Pretty sure he's tried all the more obvious stuff, but thanks for the input. Could be an interesting morning. Mgr. hopping from one foot to the other... on complete schpilkes.   :rolleyes:  'How's it going? Fixed yet?'  + insert the usual suspect comments....

[Farabomb]

A week off for a cut? Damn, I wasn't allowed more than a day when I almost put my radius through my wrist. It's quite hard to drive a stick with a cast up to your shoulder but it is possible.

OT: I had this creep up on my EVO server. I had a lot of junk on the desktop and cleared that crap off. That helped but it's still not 100% right.

Then again it never has been since it was installed.

[DigiCorn]

Not sure of your OS, but in Windows 7 you choose C drive, then go to Organize>Folder and Search Options, then choose the "View" tab. Scroll to the "Hidden Files and Folders" option and click the radio button for "Show hidden files, folders and drives" (the default is usually clicked on "Hide hidden files, etc..). Hope this helps.

That's pretty common on all Windows platforms.

...had some other things getting in the way, like a week off with gashed/contused shin.

A week off for a cut?

Yeah. WTF? I thought you Aussies were tough!

[Joe]

Not sure of your OS, but in Windows 7 you choose C drive, then go to Organize>Folder and Search Options, then choose the "View" tab. Scroll to the "Hidden Files and Folders" option and click the radio button for "Show hidden files, folders and drives" (the default is usually clicked on "Hide hidden files, etc..). Hope this helps.

andyfest is right on the button but just a little different for Windows 2003 Server. See attached screenshots.

Once you get it to where you can see the hidden folders a good place to start cleaning is to get rid of everything in the "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp" folder. (Substitute your user name where you see "Administrator" in that location)

[frailer]

Thanks all. Yep, he was in that region, but he was blocked. In DOS now and treading through the minefield, doing some copying and deleting of the larger ones..  :fingerscrossed:

[Joe]

Thanks all. Yep, he was in that region, but he was blocked. In DOS now and treading through the minefield, doing some copying and deleting of the larger ones..  :fingerscrossed:

Blocked how? By what?

[frailer]

So... some sort of permissions prob. What he found he could do was get into DOS and move Temp files from Docs'n'Settings/Admin/Local Settings/Temp.. into a Temp2 folder (on E Drive). Only then could he delete them. We now have 13GB+ of Free Space back as we watch files being (slowly) copied over.   
But, progress...

[Joe]

That is odd if he is logged in as Admin. He should be able to delete files from his own account. If he is logged in with another account and then trying to delete from the "Docs'n'Settings/Admin/Local Settings/Temp"....well that is going to cause the issue you describe. Might be worth a reboot if he hasn't tried that yet if he is indeed logged in as Admin and can't delete files from the Admin account.

[Joe]

You might also have him to try this app that will allow you to delete locked files: http://lockhunter.com/

[frailer]

Reboot's been done. Trouble is, he can't actually see the files to delete them. It's odd, but he's achieved a result. 

[Joe]

Reboot's been done. Trouble is, he can't actually see the files to delete them. It's odd, but he's achieved a result. 

So he has turned on the setting to view hidden files but he still can't see them? Something sounds very strange there.

[frailer]

So says da man....   :undecided:   And looking over his shoulder, looks to be true.    :laugh:

[Joe]

Are you sure this server doesn't have a virus or malware of some kind?