"del /f /s /q" doesn't work

I have a Win10 script that tries to delete ...\User*\AppData\Local* from my backups. It uses del /f /s /q, but it doesn't seem to always work. The command runs, but nothing gets deleted.

For example, below shows what happens when I try to manually delete the folder "Apps" - first I try with del /f /s /q, then with rmdir /s /q. Neither works - the folder remains.

What am I doing wrong, and how can I delete these folder trees?

f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>dir Volume in drive F is Backup 1 TB Volume Serial Number is 427B-96E5 Directory of f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> .
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> ..
08/10/2016 02:10 PM <DIR> 3Dconnexion
06/11/2016 06:06 PM <DIR> ActiveSync
09/27/2017 02:00 AM <DIR> Adobe
08/05/2016 04:37 PM <DIR> Amazon
11/10/2014 04:53 PM <DIR> Apple
11/10/2014 04:54 PM <DIR> Apple Computer
09/27/2017 04:16 PM <DIR> Apps 0 File(s) 0 bytes 9 Dir(s) 457,199,636,480 bytes free
f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>del /f /s /q Apps
f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>dir Volume in drive F is Backup 1 TB Volume Serial Number is 427B-96E5 Directory of f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> .
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> ..
08/10/2016 02:10 PM <DIR> 3Dconnexion
06/11/2016 06:06 PM <DIR> ActiveSync
09/27/2017 02:00 AM <DIR> Adobe
08/05/2016 04:37 PM <DIR> Amazon
11/10/2014 04:53 PM <DIR> Apple
11/10/2014 04:54 PM <DIR> Apple Computer
09/27/2017 04:16 PM <DIR> Apps 0 File(s) 0 bytes 9 Dir(s) 457,199,636,480 bytes free
f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>rmdir /s /q Apps
The directory is not empty.
f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>dir Volume in drive F is Backup 1 TB Volume Serial Number is 427B-96E5 Directory of f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> .
09/27/2017 04:23 PM <DIR> ..
08/10/2016 02:10 PM <DIR> 3Dconnexion
06/11/2016 06:06 PM <DIR> ActiveSync
09/27/2017 02:00 AM <DIR> Adobe
08/05/2016 04:37 PM <DIR> Amazon
11/10/2014 04:53 PM <DIR> Apple
11/10/2014 04:54 PM <DIR> Apple Computer
09/27/2017 05:32 PM <DIR> Apps 0 File(s) 0 bytes 9 Dir(s) 457,199,636,480 bytes free
f:\mirrors\1day\ENOUGH\Users\dave\AppData\Local>

2 Answers

I tested your command, with del /f /s /q the subfolders weren't deleted, only the files in it. I assume there still are subfolders in your case, please do a dir Apps after the deletion to verify.

To solve your request you could run this:

del /f /s /q Apps
rmdir /s /q Apps

I still don't know why del and rmdir don't work as expected, but this does delete the folders that I couldn't otherwise delete:

powershell "rd -r \"Apple Computer\""