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How to delete hidden files created by WMP?

So, I'm slowly cleaning up all of my music library (i.e. making sure all of the ID3 tags are correct, files are organized in folders, etc).

I've been adding 300x300 JPEGs to each song in an album via ID3 tags, in the hopes that I'll have consistent album art (that is also slightly larger than the standard 200x200 album art used in WMP). Because of this, I have no real need for the JPEGs downloaded by WMP, as all they do now is muck up my library.

What I want to know, is there any way to delete the additional JPEGs and desktop.ini files that added by WMP and do so in bulk instead of deleting the files manually?

For example:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ce/Capture.png
Highlighted files = do not want

First make sure that the only JPG files in your music directory are wanted to be deleted. Then make sure that the desktop.ini files are wanted to be deleted.

If you follow this method there is limited chance of undoing a cock up.

Enter at your own risk.

Press "Window" key.

Select "Run".

Type CMD and then enter.

In the DOS window that opens, type

cd X:\{directory}

where X is your drive letter and {directory} is the path of your music drive (in my case this would be C:\music)

type:

del /?

and enter.

(this brings up a list showing what all the terms I've used below mean. If you don't understand them, do not follow the next instructions).

del desktop.ini /s /f /q

and enter.

when that's finished, type:

del *.jpg /s /f /q

and enter.

Thanks, Daniel_! That saved me a long time in manual labor... :bowdown:

About the only thing I needed to do was add

Code:

/AH

to select the files that were hidden, so I used:

Code:

del *.JPG /s /f /q /ah

and

Code:

del desktop.ini /s /f /q /ah

I figured that there was something easy to do in "DOS" (or whatever CMD is considered now in Vista).

Thanks again! :thumbsup:

Just FYI, desktop.ini is not created by WMP. It's created by Windows, and it (along with a few other things) represents the "thumbnail" view of a folder.

There are many things that create it, but doing View > As Thumbnails will cause Desktop.ini to be created.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JinnKai

Thanks for the heads up.

I did know this, but the contents of all the desktop.ini files that were in the music folders were merely a URL that pointed to where ever you can download/buy the track from the Windows Media site, that or where ever the information was downloaded from their database.

Such as:

Code:

[.ShellClassInfo]

FolderType=MusicAlbum

MusicBuyUrl=http://redir.metaservices.microsoft.com/redir/buynow/?providerName=AMG&albumID=2A847268-8ADF-4057-B001-690B750F5AC2&a_id=R%20%20%20928280&album=New%20Young%20Pony%20Club%20EP&artistID=B8644709-88FB-4C2B-8D92-CA9355965455&p_id=P%20%20%20775197&artist=New%20Young%20Pony%20Club&locale=409&geoid=f4&version=11.0.6000.6324&userlocale=409

Other than the folder type (which was a throw back to when I had XP), this information is completely useless to me/not needed for my library.