Cannot remove item. The directory is not empty

Question

I am trying to delete a folder with subfolders/files.

Remove-Item -Force -Recurse -Path $directoryPath

I am getting the error Cannot remo

Answer 1

File is open in another program

I forgot that I had Visual Studio open with my project open and was getting this error.

Close any files associated with that directory, run PowerShell as admin, then run the command:

Remove-Item "C:\path\to\dir" -Recurse -Force

Pro Tip

You can also run this command to open file explorer:

ii "C:\path\to\dir"

If you right click and try to delete it, it might give you a more verbose error than command line.