Windows: delete folder fast

When we try to remove a folder in Windows, sometimes we must wait too much. It is because Windows OS calculates time for deleting by checking all the files in the folder. Especially, deleting big folder makes the computer as if it is frozen.

Here, I introduce how to delete such folders fast.

Method

Launch command prompt, and use RMDIR command.

RMDIR

RMDIR command has the following options.

/S: Delete subdirectories too.
/Q: Omit confirmation messages in using /S option.

If we use this command, the folder is not moved to trash box, get deleted immediately.

Here are example usages.

RMDIR /S /Q C:\your\folder\path

1	RMDIR /S /Q C:\your\folder\path

You can use not only absolute path, but also relative path.

RMDIR /S /Q your\folder\path

1	RMDIR /S /Q your\folder\path

RMDIR can also be written RD.

There are another command of deleting, DEL, but it can not delete folder, it can delete only file.

Reference

If you execute RMDIR /?, the following message will appear.

>rmdir /?
Removes (deletes) a directory.
RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
/S      Removes all directories and files in the specified directory
in addition to the directory itself.  Used to remove a directory
tree.
/Q      Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S