Deleting C:|msi*.tmp empty folders

They are NOT malware, they temporary folders left over after installing / running various programs / apps, they can be safe removed once windows has no further use for them. Some can be deleted straight after use, other, may take several days before they can be deleted.

The action has been around for years, unfortunate some resist deleting using Disk Cleanup & require to be deleted individually.

Windows automatically deletes out of use temp files, but not the folders they are stored in.

Disk Clean-up, cleans up unwanted / no longer required files not folders.

Thanks.

But I did not say the empty directories were malware. I said that the program that Microsoft posted on one of its responses was labeled malware by its own operating system, Windows 10. Win-10 told me that the Microsoft program was not safe because it's certificate was not valid - it advised me not to run it.

I am fine with deleting the empty directories ---- they cannot be really important since they have zero bytes.

I also tried to use Disk Cleanup but it did not do anything - I suppose this is (as you say) because these are empty directories, not files. And deleting them would not free much disk space. However, having 104 extra empty directories in C:\ is unsightly.

Again - the problem is that Windows will not allow the empty directories {C:\msi*.tmp] to be deleted even with administrator privileges. And it will not allow me to take ownership and delete them either.

Incidentally, all of these files are from 2013. It appears that I was able to delete the more recent directories.

Yea, I most probably overstated the malware comment.

Over the years of using Windows I have found removing temp files / folders has been a bit of hit & miss, as you say sometimes newer ones remove OK, older ones try now & no go, try next day and it's OK.

I just do not allow temp files/folders to use up to much space, generally clear on a 1/2 week clean up, depending on work load. I do not notice requiring Admin rights to often.

Some one with better understanding may come up with an answer.

Cheers Shilohbob  

shilohbob,

OK - I finally was able to remove these directories.

Note that there were 98 directories msi*.tmp and 6 that start and end with an underscore.

First I enabled the Administrator account - this account has more power than a normal account that has administrative privileges. I was able to delete about half the msi*.tmp directories right away. The rest of them needed more help ... clearing the read-only and hidden flags, changing the permissions. The underscore directories had to be deleted one at a time by taking ownership and then changing permissions.

During this process somehow the recycle bin got corrupted and Windows 10 harassed me about it every thirty seconds or so, asking me if I wanted to empty it. But it would not allow me to empty due to the permission stuff. So I checked the web and found a way to reset it [open an Admin command prompt, enter the remove directory command "rd /s /q C:\Recycle.bin", and then reboot]. This worked.

So I was able to remove all these empty ghost directories.

After all this I wonder if I could have just gone to the Admin command prompt and entered "rd /s /q C:\msi*.tmp". I am curious if this would have worked - but I can no longer test this since I do not have any more ghost directories!

Thanks for the input.

John

First of all, install puran delete empty folders software. Open puran software. Scan only c drive. After scan, mark only empty msi.tmp, config.msi, etc. empty folders. Delete them with puran. After that left click on c drive, right click properties – security – edit - permissions for everyone, mark full control, modify, read and execute, list folder contents, read and write. Apply and O.K. No more empty msi.tmp and another empty folders. Greeting

This may have long since been solved, but I too have had this problem. I think it occurs when I manually run Windows Update, rather that have it do its stuff automatically, but whatever.

I finally found that a program, "ExplorerXP," which mimics the behaviour of the Windows Explorer which came with Windows XP (my current OS is, sigh, Vista) will let me delete the many empty directories which Windows Updates saves on my C: drive.

I start it with a right-click and run as Administrator, and it is a bit slow to start, but then I can mark a range of MSI*.tmp directories and delete them in one go.

I am not sure if this is a prerequisite, but when I was struggling to get rid of the files before discovering the above, I made sure that I had permission to delete all files in the root directory of my c: drive (for some reason this was not the case).

Thanks Peter and all.  I have just discovered that my root directory has just become filled with empty msi.tmp directories and the only things installed recently were automatic WIN10  and Norton Security 2016 Updates.  Now I have 168,000 temp directories in C:\.  I'll try the last routine above, but I'm really hesitant to try the "puran" solution.  These are very stubborn directories to get rid of, I haven't been able to delete or move them by any means, admin or not - and I really don't want another "solution" program to bite me in the butt later.  I'll repost later.

Oops, I just found that MS Office 365 has updated - that's probably where the temps came from - investigating now.

21

First of all, install puran delete empty folders software. Open puran software. Scan only c drive. After scan, mark only empty msi.tmp, config.msi, etc. empty folders. Delete them with puran. After that left click on c drive, right click properties – security – edit - permissions for everyone, mark full control, modify, read and execute, list folder contents, read and write. Apply and O.K. No more empty msi.tmp and another empty folders. Greeting