How to solve "The directory is not empty" error when running rmdir command in a batch script?

Question

I experienced the same issues as Harry Johnston has mentioned. rmdir /s /q would complain that a directory was not empty even though /s is meant to do the emptying for you! I think it's a bug in Windows, personally.

My workaround is to del everything in the directory before deleting the directory itself:

del /f /s /q mydir 1>nul
rmdir /s /q mydir

(The 1>nul hides the standard output of del because otherwise, it lists every single file it deletes.)

I'm familiar with this problem. The simplest workaround is to conditionally repeat the operation. I've never seen it fail twice in a row - unless there actually is an open file or a permissions issue, obviously!

rd /s /q c:\deleteme
if exist c:\deleteme rd /s /q c:\deleteme

I just encountered the same problem and it had to do with some files being lost or corrupted. To correct the issue, just run check disk:

chkdsk /F e:

This can be run from the search windows box or from a cmd prompt. The /F fixes any issues it finds, like recovering the files. Once this finishes running, you can delete the files and folders like normal.

enter the Command Prompt as Admin and run

rmdir /s <FOLDER>