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[Biff Hardbody]

When I try and delete a particular file I downloaded, I get the message "Cannot delete file. It is being used by another person or program. Cloase any programs the file might be using and try again".

Then the whole computer basically slows down, and isn't good to go until I reboot. I've scanned for viruses with two different virus removers, and they say I'm clean. I just want to get rid of this file. Any ideas how? Thanks for your time.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Start up in safe mode then delete the file.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Thanks very much, I'll try that.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

That doesn't seem to work. Any more ideas?

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Nope I'm out. What kind of file is it.

 

[MIMIC]

Is it a movie file?

(please say yes 'cuz I know the answer )

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Yes, it is a movie file!

 

[impirius]

Boot from your Windows CD
Go to Recovery Console for your Windows installation
type "set AllowAllPaths = true"
Navigate to your file and delete it (as you would in DOS)

 

[goodcow]

Just open a command prompt (cmd via the start menu) and navigate your way to the folder.

Then, ctrl/alt/del and end task explorer. Then delete the file via command with the DOS "del" command.

del "filename"

 

[The Shadow]

You don't have to use the Recovery console on the CD.

Just go to "Run" and type in "CMD". Navigate to the file using common dos commands and delete it.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Thanks impirius, I may try that if what goodcow says doesn't work.

goodcow, thanks for responding. Can you tell me exactly how to enter a command prompt? I'm unsure of how to from what you say. Thank you.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

You don't have to use the Recovery console on the CD.

Just go to "Run" and type in "CMD". Navigate to the file using common dos commands and delete it.

Thank you Shadow, I don't know common dos commands though. I tried it anwyway, but was totally in the dark in how to do it.

 

[emerge]

I'm with goodcow here.

Click on Start -> Run -> Type "cmd" -> OK

Now you are at the command prompt.

Type "driveletter:" to change to a drive (e.g. c: d: e
Type "cd foldername" to go up in folderstructure (e.g. "cd downloads")
Type "cd.." to go back one level
Type "del filename.extension" to delete a file in the current folder

 

[MIMIC]

I had trouble finding it:

Click Start>Run, type REGEDIT and click Ok. Then make your way to this InProcServer32 key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >SOFTWARE >Classes > CLSID > {87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}> InProcServer32

Right click the InProcServer32 key and choose Delete. And that's all there is to it. This will prevent Windows from loading shmedia.dll when you work with video files and thus you should no longer have problems deleting or moving any video files. Also if you have a video file you can't delete now, deleting this key will allow you to do so. If not, log out and log in again to delete the file.

It worked perfectly for me.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Thank you, MIMIC! It worked perfectly.

Thanks to everyone else who helped, I sincerely appreciate it.

Emerge, thank you for taking the time to write out the command prompts. I appreciate it.

 

[The Shadow]

Thank you Shadow, I don't know common dos commands though. I tried it anwyway, but was totally in the dark in how to do it.

Right click on the file, select "Properties" and just to the left of "Location:" it should show you the physical location of that file. Keep that window open.

Go to the start menu and hit "Run". Type in "CMD" and you'll get a little dos box. It should say something like "C:\Documents and Settings\(your user name)>". Type in "CD\"

It should now look like "C:\>". Depending on the drive letter where the file is, you'll need to switch to that drive. If the Location says something like "D:\blah blah blah", you need to type "D:" to switch to that drive. If it's on "C:\blah blah blah", don't worry abou this.

Type "CD" followed by a space, and then type out everything you see after "C:\" in that window, the "location". If you kept that window open, you can just select everything after the "C:\", right click on the highlight, select "copy", right click on the dos box, and select paste.

You should be in the directory of the file. Now just type "Del" followed by a space, and then the complete name of the file.

That probably sounds more complicated than it really is since I'm not really the best at explaining things. Just let us know if you get stuck somewhere.


Edit:

I typed all that out and it's not needed anymore. Oh well. Glad it's fixed.

 

[MIMIC]

Thank you, MIMIC! It worked perfectly.

Thanks to everyone else who helped, I sincerely appreciate it.

Emerge, thank you for taking the time to write out the command prompts. I appreciate it.

I knew it would work.

From what I hear, this is a problem associated with Windows XP.

I ALWAYS experienced this problem and I got pissed off because I definitely was NOT using the file "in another program." So, I Googled my problem and spent a while searching through the numerous results.

I came upon a Godsend. I knew it would work because all of the comments after the solution were positive.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Thanks man...yeah, I had experienced this prob countless times before. But, never this bad. Thanks again.

 

[goodcow]

I had trouble finding it:



It worked perfectly for me.

What are the disadvantages to deleting this registry key?

 

[MIMIC]

What are the disadvantages to deleting this registry key?

As far as I know, nothing.

 

[goodcow]

As far as I know, nothing.

DUNDUNDUN!!!

 

[Mashing]

I have a question, do these steps also work on files with really long file names (in paticular a certain temporary internet file with an insanely long name... I can't peform any file operations with it in windows... I haven't tried it from a command prompt or recovery console as I'm too lazy to worry about it much).

 

[MIMIC]

DUNDUNDUN!!!

If deleting the registry key makes you uncomfortable, you can export and save the reg key first. Alternately, you can rename the key by preceding the name with something like zzzz or 123.

 

[Flaming Duck]

I think when I had this problem I just opened up notepad, went to file --> open and went to where the file was. Then I ended explorer and deleted the file no problem and restarted explorer... I'm not sure if that's exactly how I did it, though. It's been a while.