weird behaviour in a Windows 2019 .BAT script

I have to restore a backup from a Linux MariaDB to a Windows MariaDB, where the PowerBI gateway will import its data. "mariabackup" is MariaDB's physical backup tool. But to restore it, the destination folder (%programfiles%\MariaDB 10.3\data\) must be empty.

Since rmdir /S /Q "%programfiles%\MariaDB 10.3\data\ will remove the "data" directory (what I don't want!!!), I have been working to avoid this unwanted behavior in the following script (uncompress.bat):

rem Uncompress the backup sent by the linux server
rem and imports it to MariaDB
rem Gilberto Martins - 19/11/2021

rem Uncompress the backup
rem The backup path is "mnt\external01\"
tar -xf c:\users\mariabkp\bkp.tgz -C c:\users\mariabkp\

rem Stop MariaDB
net stop mysql

rem Prepare the Backup for Restoration
"C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\bin\mariabackup.exe" --prepare --target-dir="c:\users\mariabkp\mnt\external01\backup"\

rem Erase the Database files
del /q "C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*.*"
FOR /D %p IN ("c:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*") DO rmdir "%p" /s /q

rem Import backup to MariaDB
"C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\bin\mariabackup.exe" --move-back --target-dir="c:\users\mariabkp\mnt\external01\backup"\

rem Restore MariaDB conf file
copy "c:\Users\Administrator\my.ini" "c:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data" /y

rem Start MariaDB
net start mysql

I works well, up to the point where I have to erase the files to the restoration, as you can see ahead:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17763.1935]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Administrator>uncompress.bat

C:\Users\Administrator>rem Uncompress the backup sent by the linux server

C:\Users\Administrator>rem and imports it to MariaDB

C:\Users\Administrator>rem Gilberto Martins - 19/11/2021

C:\Users\Administrator>rem Uncompress the backup

C:\Users\Administrator>rem The backup path is "mnt\external01\backup"

C:\Users\Administrator>tar -xf c:\users\mariabkp\bkp.tgz -C c:\users\mariabkp\

C:\Users\Administrator>rem Stop MariaDB

C:\Users\Administrator>net stop mysql
The MySQL service is stopping.
The MySQL service was stopped successfully.


C:\Users\Administrator>rem Prepare the Backup for Restoration

C:\Users\Administrator>"C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\bin\mariabackup.exe" --prepare --target-dir="c:\users\mariabkp\mnt\external01\backup"\
C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\bin\mariabackup.exe based on MariaDB server 10.3.31-MariaDB Win64 (AMD64)
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 cd to c:\users\mariabkp\mnt\external01\backup\
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 open files limit requested 0, set to 0
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 This target seems to be not prepared yet.
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 mariabackup: using the following InnoDB configuration for recovery:
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 innodb_data_home_dir = .
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 innodb_data_file_path = ibdata1:12M:autoextend
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 innodb_log_group_home_dir = .
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 Starting InnoDB instance for recovery.
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:29 mariabackup: Using 104857600 bytes for buffer pool (set by --use-memory parameter)
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Uses event mutexes
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.11
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Number of pools: 1
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using SSE2 crc32 instructions
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, total size = 100M, instances = 1, chunk size = 100M
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Starting crash recovery from checkpoint LSN=7032026737757
2021-11-22 16:26:29 0 [Note] InnoDB: Starting final batch to recover 68 pages from redo log.
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:30 Last binlog file , position 0
[00] 2021-11-22 16:26:31 completed OK!

C:\Users\Administrator>rem Erase the Database files

C:\Users\Administrator>del /q "C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*.*"
\Program was unexpected at this time.

C:\Users\Administrator>FOR /D \Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*") DO rmdir "p" /s /q

C:\Users\Administrator>

My questions:

1. Why the message \Program was unexpected at this time. when I try to del /q "C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*.*"

2. Why the original instruction FOR /D %p IN ("c:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*") DO rmdir "%p" /s /q is echoed as FOR /D \Program Files\MariaDB 10.3\data\*") DO rmdir "p" /s /q ? It SEEMS (but I'm not sure) it might be something related to the "%p" variable.

3. Why the remaining instructions (import backup, restore my.ini and start MariaDB) are not executed?

I have to admit, I am a rookie in Windows Scripting. And I consider unnecessary to install the full Python3 for only one script!

Update: I tried to "Erase the Database files" before the "Prepare the Backup for Restoration", but I got the same result, that is it stops on the "FOR" instruction.