'Could not find this item' error, Wise Folder Hider created thousands of empty folders, can't delete

[location]

Wise Folder Hider created a duplicate set of all 23,238 of my folders without any files in them, which of course I don't need, and now they can't be deleted. I just spent three hours trying about 15 different solutions from 6 different websites/forums (all listed below). This is on an external hard drive connected with USB. Windows 8.1 and I am furious that WFH dumped this extremely intrusive unremovable garbage on my drive.

It named the parent folder J:\...  (exactly as typed, with the three dots). In right-click > Properties there is NO Security tab, only General, Sharing and Customize. The methods I tried included various in the command prompt, Power Shell, Safe Mode, an external file eraser program, restart Windows Explorer, and System Restore among many many others. Commands included rd, del and ren. In Windows Explorer the folder icons are greyed out in a way that I've never seen before.

Below are title and links for articles i've already consulted, most of which list several methods that I tried.

 

"Could Not Find This Item" - WiseCleaner Forum
"6 Ways to Fix the “Could Not Find This Item” Deletion Error in Windows"
"4 Methods to Solve Location Is Not Available Error"
"How to Fix Access Is Denied "
"Access Denied" or other errors when you access or work with files and folders in Windows"
""Location is unavailable" for C folder"
"Eraser" file deletion program

 

https://forum.wisecleaner.com/index.php?/topic/4625-solved-win7-sp1-x64-could-not-find-this-item/#comment-9780
https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-could-not-find-this-item-error/
https://www.minitool.com/data-recovery/location-is-not-available.html
https://www.minitool.com/data-recovery/access-is-denied.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-access-denied-or-other-errors-when-you-access-or-work-with-files-and-folders-in-windows-219af563-1953-ab4a-f17e-b0182755214e
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/location-is-unavailable-for-c-folder/f5439b70-48bf-4333-b86f-6a0861a881c1
https://eraser.heidi.ie/

 

[wisecleaner_admin]

@location

Thanks for contacting us.

The "..." folder is used to hide and protect the files you selected. If it is easy to delete, how to protect your files?

Don't worry about it. If you have unhidden all files, please download and run the following tool - DelPath, enter your Wise Folder Hider password, right-click the "..." folder, and click Delete.