New
#1
Phantom folders and files in C:\Windows\Temp
I recently started getting strange folders in Windows 10 Pro Temp on a laptop. Names all start with tmp which is followed by 8 characters, including letters, numbers and _. They are all marked "Read Only," which I'm unable to change. Although I have full control of the Temp folder and everything in it, I can't even open these folders to see what's in them. From what I can see, they aren't taking up any space on the drive. There are now 83 of them in addition to 5 zero-size mat-debug-xxxx.log files that I see inside Windows, but none of them are visible when I run Command Prompt on a rescue USB drive from outside. I ran PowerShell command Remove-Item C:\Windows\Temp\* -Recurse -Force, but was warned for each folder that I had no access. When I try to check for folder owner, I don't even have permission to do that. Full and offline scans by Defender showed no threats.
Any ideas? I'm unable to find much helpful info online. Suggestions there either won't work or don't apply since the laptop doesn't have installed drivers or programs identified as possible culprits. There is some mention that Windows updates could be at fault, but no indication whether it may be the updates themselves or faulty installation. I do still have a good backup from before the last 2 CUs, so could try that. 2 Windows 10 Pro desktops have the same Windows updates as the laptop and have no problems.