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Deleting Huge Directories in Windows Via Command Prompt

Hi!

If you'd like to delete a huge folder / directory in Windows with maybe thousands or hundreds of thousands of files inside, doing that via Explorer might cost you a lot more time than via command prompt.

Here's how to do it faster:

1. Open the command prompt by using "Start" => "cmd" and navigating to the desired path via "cd <path>" or "pushd <path>"
   - OR -
   navigate to the folder in the Explorer and use Shift + right-click and "Open command window here"
   (Note: if deleting the desired folder requires elevated privileges, you will have to start a command prompt in elevated mode and navigate the old-fashioned way)
2. Use the following command:

   rmdir /s /q folder

A little explanation about rmdir's flags:

• /s: removes the directory itself including all the contained files and subdirectories
• /q: forces deletion and does not ask for approval

Doing this can be very helpful in a coding environment where you can easily end up with thousands of small files.

Thanks for reading!

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/186737/whats-the-fastest-way-to-delete-a-large-folder-in-windows