winget install --id=JessieWadman.SecureDelete -e SecureDelete adds a "Secure Delete" command to the Windows Explorer context menu for files and folders. It shows a confirmation dialog, then invokes Microsoft Sysinternals SDelete to securely overwrite and delete the selected item. SDelete is a separate Microsoft download and is not bundled. Runs as the current user with no elevation.
A small, safe Windows Explorer wrapper around Microsoft Sysinternals SDelete. It adds a Secure Delete command to the right-click menu for files and folders, shows a clear confirmation dialog, and then invokes SDelete to securely overwrite and delete the selected item.
SecureDelete does not perform the overwrite itself — it is a thin, careful front-end. All secure-erase work is done by Microsoft's official SDelete.
SDelete.exe out-of-process with the target passed as a single argument.The actual secure overwrite is performed by SDelete, a free Microsoft Sysinternals tool that implements the DoD 5220.22-M clearing pattern.
Under Microsoft's Sysinternals license, SDelete may not be redistributed by third parties. SecureDelete therefore does not include it and never downloads it automatically. You must obtain it from Microsoft:
> Official download: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sdelete
After downloading, place sdelete64.exe (or sdelete.exe) either:
SecureDelete.exe in the installation folder, orPATH.If SDelete cannot be found when you run Secure Delete, SecureDelete shows a dialog with a button that opens the official Microsoft download page.
The winget package declares a dependency on Microsoft's official
Microsoft.Sysinternals.SDelete package, so:
winget install JessieWadman.SecureDelete
installs SDelete first (from Microsoft), then SecureDelete. SDelete's portable
package places sdelete.exe / sdelete64.exe on your PATH, where SecureDelete
finds it automatically — no manual setup. This is a dependency reference, not
redistribution: winget fetches SDelete directly from Microsoft. If you install
SecureDelete any other way (the standalone installer or a portable copy), you
still obtain SDelete yourself as described above.
SecureDelete looks for SDelete in this order:
sdelete64.exe, then sdelete.exe, in the same folder as SecureDelete.exe.sdelete64.exe, then sdelete.exe, on the PATH.(A configured location could be added between these two steps in future; it is not currently implemented.)
SecureDelete-1.0.0-Setup.exe.
%LocalAppData%\Programs\SecureDelete and registers the context-menu verb
under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.sdelete64.exe next to SecureDelete.exe, or ensure it is on your PATH.The installer writes a classic shell verb to the registry:
HKCU\Software\Classes\*\shell\SecureDelete (files)
HKCU\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\SecureDelete (folders)
(Default) = "Secure Delete"
Icon = "\SecureDelete.exe,0"
CommandFlags = 0x60 ; separator above + below
command\(Default) = "\SecureDelete.exe" --delete "%1"
CommandFlags = 0x60 requests a separator above and below the item
(ECF_SEPARATORBEFORE | ECF_SEPARATORAFTER), where Explorer honors it.%1 as a single quoted argument and handed to
ProcessStartInfo.ArgumentList — it is never concatenated into a shell
command line, so there is no command-injection surface.On Windows 11, classic shell verbs appear under Show more options (the
legacy context menu, also reachable with Shift+F10), not in the compact
primary menu. This is expected and intentional: placing the command in the
primary Windows 11 menu would require an IExplorerCommand COM shell
extension, which this project deliberately avoids for simplicity and
maintainability.
Confirmation is always shown and can never be disabled or remembered.
The selector offers 1, 3, 7, 10, defaulting to 1. The value is validated before use even though it comes from a fixed list. More passes take longer and, on modern storage, rarely add meaningful assurance (see limitations below).
Aborting is not an undo. If you abort mid-run, the item may have been partially overwritten and/or partially deleted. Nothing is recovered or restored, and no claim is made that the data is intact or recoverable.
SecureDelete is a convenient safe wrapper around SDelete. It does not change SDelete's underlying guarantees, and overwrite-based deletion has real limits.
Overwriting a logical file does not guarantee physical erasure on, among others:
On these technologies the physical media may retain earlier copies of the data that a logical overwrite cannot reach. SecureDelete warns when the target is on a network location, where secure overwrite generally cannot be guaranteed.
For disposing of a storage device, rely on full-disk encryption and cryptographic erasure (destroying the key), and/or vendor secure-erase / physical destruction — not file-level overwriting.
To avoid destroying data outside the visible target:
SecureDelete uses an asInvoker manifest and runs strictly as the current
interactive user. Neither SecureDelete nor the SDelete process it launches
requests elevation. If you lack permission to delete the target, the operation
fails with a clear access-denied message — there is no automatic UAC
elevation offer. (The installer itself may prompt for elevation only if you
explicitly choose a machine-wide install location.)
Uninstall from Settings → Apps (or Add or remove programs). Uninstalling
removes the application files and all context-menu registry entries
(uninsdeletekey on the verb keys). SDelete, being a separate Microsoft tool
you installed yourself, is left untouched.
Requirements: .NET 10 SDK, Windows x64. (Inno Setup 6 for the installer.)
# Restore, build, and test
dotnet test SecureDelete.sln -c Release
# Publish the app (self-contained x64; includes the .NET runtime + WPF)
dotnet publish src\SecureDelete\SecureDelete.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 `
--self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=false -o artifacts\publish
# Build the installer (adjust the ISCC.exe path as needed)
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" installer\SecureDelete.iss
Artifacts:
artifacts\publish\SecureDelete.exeartifacts\installer\SecureDelete-1.0.0-Setup.exe> Contributing & releasing: commit conventions, the automated versioning /
> release flow, and how winget publishing works are documented in
> CONTRIBUTING.md.
The app is published self-contained (framework + WPF included) so end users do not need to install the .NET runtime separately — they only need SDelete. Single-file publishing is intentionally not used, to avoid issues with WPF native resources, the application icon, and process-location logic. The Inno Setup installer compresses the ~131 MB publish output to roughly 43 MB.
The placeholder icon is src\SecureDelete\Resources\appicon.ico (a multi-size
PNG-in-ICO). Replace that file and rebuild to change the executable, window, and
context-menu icon.
SecureDelete.sln
src/SecureDelete/ WPF app (see source files below)
tests/SecureDelete.Tests/ xUnit tests
installer/SecureDelete.iss Inno Setup script
installer/SDELETE-NOTE.txt Prerequisite notice shown during install
docs/MANUAL-TEST-CHECKLIST.md
Key production classes: CommandLineOptions, DeleteRequest,
TargetInspector, SDeleteLocator, SDeleteArguments, SDeleteRunner
(+ ISDeleteRunner), SDeleteResult, plus the WPF App, MainWindow, and
SDeleteMissingWindow.
SDelete and Sysinternals are products of Microsoft. SecureDelete is an independent wrapper and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.