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i have a serious problem in my computer....my system runs on win7 ultimate. there is a folder like icon(default win 7 icon) with a lock at its bottom left named "a705f30c64459f1d91f3e0dc988aa77f". i dont know how it was created.it was there in my 'd' drive....one day i deleted all the data in 'd' drive..it deleted every item other than that folder....so i formated the drive..it showed an error message and the format was not done...from then the drive is not working.. it shows 0-used space and 0-free space....i lost 120gb of free space... i formatted my whole system...reistalled the windows but no use :(...i thought it was gone and so i left it... and now the same folder with a lock is formed in my 1tb external harddrive...i scaned it for virus but it shows no virus..i also scanned it in my frnd's computer nd it also showed no virus....

I am not sure how to fix this and/or recover the 120GB lost. Any help is appreciated, thx!

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  • Most of the time folders with this notation are drivers. What files exist inside of the folder? Make sure you are viewing hidden files as well. Jul 18, 2013 at 16:49

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This is very likely to be a folder left by a Windows Updates package, most likely a service pack. I would just leave it alone. If you really need to get rid of the folder and you can't find a Windows installation that would let you remove it, get a Linux LiveCD, mount your drive within, and remove the folder. As for the missing space on your hard drive, also try Linux and use GParted to do the formatting. Take care to avoid formatting the recovery partition on your computer.

If the same type of folder shows up the next time you install Windows updates, just leave it. IIRC it contained extracted files from the service pack setup, and could possibly be used to restore system files.

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I believe the folder is owned by SYSTEM which is why you are seeing the lock. I'm also guessing @JasonBristol is right, that its a system operation, you normally see this when Microsoft is making updates to your machine, but I don't recall them being locked... do you have BitLocker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker_Drive_Encryption) turned on?

Anyhow, after you determine if you can delete the files, you should be able to change the permissions to the folder so you can delete them.

Some leads:

http://windows7themes.net/how-to-remove-lock-from-folder-in-windows-7.html

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/16474fcf-688b-4eae-88f4-804306bafc0f/how-do-i-remove-padlock-icon-from-all-my-files

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