I'm having a real struggle trying to delete a large application on my PC, specifically SOLIDWORKS Corp. I initially attempted to uninstall it through its uninstaller but ran into an error. After a few tries and restarting my device, I still couldn't get it off. I even tried deleting the folders directly but got a message saying they were open.
I installed PowerToys and used File Locksmith with admin rights to discover that svchost.exe keeps running the application. Closing it through both Locksmith and Task Manager doesn't seem to work, as it just restarts immediately. I also tried to block it using the Local Group Policy Editor and ran a command to force deletion as an administrator, but that hasn't worked either. Any advice on how to move forward?
3 Answers
Have you tried booting into safe mode to delete the files? Sometimes that helps with stubborn files that won’t budge normally.
Another option is to try using Revo Uninstaller. It can help remove leftover files and registry entries after an uninstall fails.
Just to clarify, are you trying to delete an entire folder or specific files? I noticed mention of *.evtx files in one of your comments, which are event log files. Those can sometimes get locked by applications that are still running, saving logs.
I initially went for the whole folder but switched to targeting individual files. Even in safe mode, I did a search for SOLIDWORKS on C:, selected everything, and attempted to delete. I only had a few files left, with the evtx file being a consistent issue.
I did try that! I managed to get rid of most of the files, but there's still this one SOLIDWORKS-DTS.evtx file that gives me the 'open' message. Plus, whenever I right-click a file in TreeSize, it tries to open the SOLIDWORKS PDM, which attempts to reinstall itself but fails.