Symptoms
When you try to delete folders that are stored on a mounted drive and to send them to the Recycle Bin, you may receive the following error message:
Cannot delete Foldername: Access is denied. The source file may be in use.
Cause
This behavior occurs because the Recycle Bin does not understand mounted volumes. For example, assume that the following drive layout is in use:
C: -- 1-gigabyte (GB) drive using the NTFS file systemC:\Host-dir -- The mount point for a separate 9-GB driveWhen you try to delete a folder with the path C:\Host-dir\Mydir, Windows Explorer interprets the folder as being on drive C and tries unsuccessfully to place it in the Recycle Bin on drive C.
Workaround
To work around this issue, use either of the following methods:
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When you delete the files or folders by using Windows Explorer, use the SHIFT+DELETE key combination. This bypasses the Recycle Bin.
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Open a command prompt window and then use the rd /s /q command to delete the files or folders.
Note Both of these methods permanently delete the data. You cannot recover the data unless you have a current backup.
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
