Recursively remove desktop.ini files

Question

I'm trying to delete all of the desktop.ini files in a given directory; namely Documents\Gio. I've tried del /S desktop.ini and del /S *.ini in cmd (admin mode) and get-childitem .\ -include desktop.ini -recurse | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname} and get-childitem .\ -include *.ini -recurse | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname} in PowerShell (also admin). Neither have worked. What should I do?

The desktop.ini files contain the following:

[.ShellClassInfo]
InfoTip=This folder is shared online.
IconFile=C:\Program Files\Google\Drive\googledrivesync.exe
IconIndex=12

I move the directory from my Google Drive folder but all the folders still have the shared icons on them. I was trying to change the directory and all it subdirectories and files' ownership to a different account. I tried to do this with Google Drive but only the root directory changed ownership; I can't delete any of the files or directories therein.

user_953496 · Answer

This is what I used for Windows 2012 server

Create Desktop.ini files

My desktop.ini files were created from running this script which sets default folder options

$key = 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced'
Set-ItemProperty $key Hidden 1
Set-ItemProperty $key HideFileExt 0
Set-ItemProperty $key ShowSuperHidden 1
Stop-Process -processname explorer

Remove Desktop.ini files

# Remove from your user desktop
gci "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop" -filter desktop.ini -force | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname -force}

# Remove from default desktop
gci "C:\Users\Public\Desktop" -filter desktop.ini -force | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname -force}

user_2917210 · Answer

This will grab every folder in your home directory, and then search that folder for desktop.ini and delete it. It should be faster than using -recurse because it won't search subfolders. It should finish neatly with no errors

foreach ($file in Get-ChildItem -path \server\homedrivedirectory) {
Get-ChildItem $file.FullName -Filter desktop.ini -force | remove-item -force -WhatIf
}

This will grab every folder in your home directory, and then create a path for every folder to \server\homedrivedirectory\user\desktop.ini and then delete that file. It should run a little faster as it doesn't have to search each user folder but it will turn up errors for every user folder that doesn't have a desktop.ini

foreach ($_ in Get-ChildItem -path \server\homedrivedirectory) {
$path = $_.fullname
Remove-Item "$path\desktop.ini" -Force -WhatIf
}

I've left a -whatif so you can see what it would do in your environment without it doing it. If you want it to actually delete the files remove the -whatif

Recursively remove desktop.ini files

5 Answers