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Accepted
Ian Kelling
Asked: 2009-09-23 09:35:32 +0800 CST

powershell how to remove broken symlink

  • 772
PS C:\> cmd /c mklink /d testlink non-existent-dir
symbolic link created for testlink <<===>> non-existent-dir
PS C:\> rm .\testlink
Remove-Item : C:\testlink is a NTFS junction point. Use the Force parameter to delete or modify.
At line:1 char:3
+ rm <<<<  .\testlink
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (C:\testlink:DirectoryInfo) [Remove-Item], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirectoryNotEmpty,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

PS C:\> rm -force .\testlink
Remove-Item : Could not find a part of the path 'C:\testlink'.
At line:1 char:3
+ rm <<<<  -force .\testlink
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (C:\testlink:String) [Remove-Item], DirectoryNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : RemoveItemIOError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

PS C:\>

The error is related to the fact that rm -force tries to remove items inside wherever the link is pointing. How can I remove this thing using the command line? Where can I report powershell/shell bugs? It seems powershell is not on ms connect.

powershell

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Try:

    cmd /c rmdir testlink

    cmd doesn't know about rm

    • 8

  2. Use the mountvol /d command

    List the GUID:

    PS C:> Mountvol

    then

    PS C:> mountvol \?\Volume{2eca078d-5cbc-43d3-aff8-7e8511f60d0e}\ /d

    replacing the relevant GUID in the above

    • 1

  3. I use .net from powershell to do this

    [System.IO.Directory]::Delete($Path,$true)

    Where $Path is equal to the path of your symlink. rmdir does not provide consistent result and will almost always return an error when run from powershell, regardless if it was successful or not.

    • 1