I've simply done that by using Winrar, this may seem a strange solution but working very well.

• right click on node_modules folder
• select Add to archive ... from the menu.
• Winrar dialog opens
• just check the option delete files after archiving
• Don't forget to delete the node_modules.rar after finished.

DELETE only by using DOS command without any installation:

Create an empty folder "test" on C or D drive and use following DOS command

robocopy /MIR c:\test D:\UserData\FolderToDelete > NUL

After completing above command, your folder will be empty, now you can delete the folder.

Don't worry your test folder will always be empty, so you can delete it at any time.

I used GitBash to remove de folder!

rm -r node_modules

It took a while to delete everything, but worked for me!

You can use Git Bash to remove the folder:

example: c:\users\olefrank\projects\mynodeproject

rm -rf /c/users/olefrank/projects/mynodeproject

Try Visual Studio Code

After trying many solution i find this one is pretty simple. just open the project in Visual code and delete it. the UI may freeze for some seconds but it will definitely works.I test using many large size node_modules folder with it

Thanks

Delete Deep Netsted Folder like node_modules in Windows

1. Option 1

   Delete using rimraf NPM package

   • Open command prompt and change your directory to the folder where node_modules folder exists.

   • Run

     rimraf node_modules

   • Missing rimraf ERROR then Install

     npm install rimraf -g

   • When the installation completes, run

     rimraf node_modules

2. Option 2:

   Detele without installing anything

   • Create a folder with name test in any Drive

     robocopy /MIR c:\test D:\UserData\FolderToDelete > NUL

   • delete the folder test and FolderToDelete as both are empty

Why this is an issue in windows?

One of the deep nested folder structure is node_modules, Windows can’t delete the folder as its name is too long. To solve this, Easy solution, install a node module RimRaf

Please save yourself the need to read most of these answers and just use npx rather than trying to install rimraf globally. You can run a single command and always have the most recent version with none of the issues seen here.

npx rimraf ./**/node_modules

I think this was not mentioned before. but the best way to delete unwanted node_modules is to install an utility called npmkill.

Installation:

From your terminal:

npm i -g npkill

And to use it:

From your terminal:

npkill

or alternatively, you can directly use it without installation by writing:

npx npkill

You will then be presented with a list of projects, and by hitting space bar you can delete their node_modules.

simple just run for windows I haven't tested it for other operating systems

rm -r node_modules

in fact, you can delete any folder with this.

like rm -r AnyFolderWhichIsNotDeletableFromShiftDeleteOrDelete.

just open the gitbash move to root of the folder and run this command

Hope this will help.

Thanks, Ajay Kotnala

You can use Git Bash to remove the folder:

example: c:\users\stu\projects\mynodeproject

rm /c/users/stu/projects/mynodeproject -rfd

I had a similar problem and RD didn't work, for some unknown reason.

NPM can get rid of its own mess though, so if you do npm uninstall [module-name] for each directory in node_modules, you'll get rid of them.

(I'll look up how to batch loop this later, for those who have lots of dependencies.)

1. npm install -g remove-node-modules
2. cd to root and remove-node-modules
3. or remove-node-modules path/to/folder

Source:

I just do del node_modules inside my project folder on PowerShell, it will ask you if you want to remove it and its children folder, just hit 'Y' and that's it

On Windows Platform the simplest way is to use the terminal.
Please Run the command RMDIR /Q/S foldername to delete the folder and all of its subfolders.

Example: RMDIR /Q/S node_modules

The Above Command deletes node_modules folder and its subfolders.
For information please visit this

On Windows, using Total Commander all you have to do is select the folder click shift + delete . Don't forget about the shift key.

Any file manager allow to avoid such issues, e.g Far Manager

Tried everything but didn't work. All the above methods did nothing. At last I was able to delete via VSCode.

1. Just Open your root folder with VSCode.
2. Select node_modules folder and delete.
3. Profit. (It will take few milliseconds to delete.)

I made a Windows context item to fast delete node_modules or other folders. I use it when Windows doesn't delete a folder because of some invalid chars in the directory path.

HOW TO INSTALL?

1. Install rimraf => npm install rimraf -g

2. Create a new file named delete.bat, set the content as below and copy it into c:\windows\system32\

   delete.bat:

 @ECHO OFF
 ECHO.
 ECHO %CD% 
 ECHO.
 ECHO Are you sure to delete the folder with Rimraf?
 PAUSE
 SET FOLDER=%CD%
 CD /

 rimraf "%FOLDER%"

 rem DEL /F/Q/S "%FOLDER%" > NUL
 rem RMDIR /Q/S "%FOLDER%"

 EXIT

3. Run fast-delete.reg file to import into registry.

   Done!

I needed to clean up an entire Projects directory for backup purposes, so I installed rimraf and ran this at the root dir (inside a git bash prompt):

find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec rimraf '{}' +

Very effective, truly recursive (avoids children node_modules) and fast on windows (thanks to rimraf).

Sources:

2. The accepted answer in this question that suggests rimraf but lacks in the recursive aspect

This really worked for me:

npm i npkill

npx npkill

select with CURSORS and press SPACE key to delete

Just use powershell..

Run powershell and cd to the parent folder and then:

rm [yourfolder]

as in:

rm node_modules