Lingering flightsim symbolic link, can't delete!

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1

So, you know how Flight Sim links to encrypt your content?

Well, I built a new PC today and I moved my data drives over from the old to the new. On my S: drive, there’s

Directory: S:\WindowsApps


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
da---l        11/02/2021     10:27                Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
da---l        16/02/2021     18:42                Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.13.16.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

And can I get rid of it? No chance! The new system has all content at the default location in appdata, so I don’t need this.

Things I’ve tried:

  • taking the EFS certificate over from the old PC, no joy
  • cipher -D to remove the cipher, nope !
  • delete from powershell with -Force, nope!
  • delete from powershell as Sytem with -Force, nope!
  • take full ownership as me and then delete, nope!
  • grant Everyone:F and then delete, nope!
  • fsutil reparsepoint delete, nope!
  • junction -d, nope!

It seems like this folder is stuck here for good, with who knows how much content in it, and I can’t do a thing about it.

PS S:\WindowsApps> del .\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\
del : S:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\ is an NTFS junction point. Use the Force
parameter to delete or modify this object.
At line:1 char:1
+ del .\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (S:\WindowsApps\..._8wekyb3d8bbwe\:DirectoryInfo) [Remove-Item], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirectoryNotEmpty,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

PS S:\WindowsApps> del .\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\ -Force
del : Access is denied
At line:1 char:1
+ del .\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\ -Force
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Remove-Item], Win32Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

PS S:\WindowsApps> cacls *
S:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe Everyone:(OI)(CI)F

S:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.13.16.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe Everyone:(OI)(CI)F

11/02/2021  10:27    <JUNCTION>     Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe [...]
16/02/2021  18:42    <JUNCTION>     Microsoft.FlightSimulator_1.13.16.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe [...]

From command prompt:

S:\WindowsApps>del Microsoft.DigitalOwnership_1.0.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
The system cannot find the path specified.

It won’t tell me where the symbolic link points any more, and apparently that’s a tricky thing to get rid of if the destination is gone, but one of the above tricks usually sorts that. Throw encryption into the mix tho, and it looks like you’re damned! Any ideas?

2

Find All Symbolic Links and NTFS Junction Points in Windows | SumTips

3

Already been through that sort of thing - it appears to be because the destination no longer exists and it’s encrypted, I think that’s my problem…

4

Anything else on the “S” drive that is useful? If not, I would low level format. That should ‘six’ it.

5

Not really an option at this time - I started moving stuff about earlier with that in mind, but not gonna work unfortunately.

6

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