Can't delete file, other program is using it (WinXP)?

[wchang99]

I have an .avi file that I want to delete off my hdd, that was in parts, assembled using Hjsplit. Halfway through assembling it, I ctrl-alt-del'ed out of Hjsplit, but for some reason, WinXP seems to think Hjsplit (or some other app, I'm not really sure) is still using the file, and won't let me delete/rename/do anything with the .avi file -- *even after rebooting*!

I understand WinXP doesn't have a true MS-DOS mode, is that true? What sorts of things are there that can be done to get around something like this?

Thanks very much for your time!

 

[Xtremist]

Reboot and then try to delete it.

 

[Xtremist]

Actually, the quickest way (particularly if you've done it a few times) is to use Sysinternal's Process Explorer tool (http://www.sysinternals.com/).

Load it up and then click Find -> Find Handle (Ctrl+F). Enter at least part of the filename you're wanting to delete and click Search. This will then show you EVERY process that has a handle to this file.

From there you can go back to the main window and look it up by the process ID (or process name too really, the PID just helps if you have multiple of the same name running). If it's something you think you can kill, go ahead and do it. You should then be able to delete it without any issues whatsoever.

 

[Xtremist]

Oh yeah, another note in case someone has a similar issue with a file that's being shared through a network drive... Go to your Computer Management MMC (under Administrative Tools), select Shared Folders, then Open Files. This will show you what files are open through your shares. You can close them from here if you'd like.

Another Sysinternals tool that's part of the PsTools package I believe, is psfile.exe. It's pretty easy to run this guy against an entire directory with the -c switch to close a bunch of files at once. This doesn't apply to you directly, but it might help someone else. Cheers!

 

[wchang99]

Thanks, that's a really good app, I think I'll hold onto it for the future (WinXP seems really complex in terms of what processes it has running at any given time). However, it didn't show any process having a handle to the file I wanted deleted, which unfortunately confirmed part of my suspicion that something weird might be going on (sometimes, for example, it takes two tries to empty something out of the recycle bin, for no apparent reason)...

I guess there's no alternative to rebooting in ms-dos mode in WinXP, really, then?

Thanks again for your info...

 

[Paperlantern]

there is a program called NTFS pro, i have a copy on a boot disk, it loads its own os, and mounts the NTFS partition and can read it like dos, you can copy, delete etc, if you do a search you might be able to find a copy

 

[LoStZ]

This used to happen to me. I think its because XP is trying to preview the file or something. Fixed it by deleting this registry key:

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