Cannot delete certain video files......

Hi Guys,

I have two video files that seem to be corrupt. When double clicked on, it opens Windows Media player, but nothing works. Anyways, now I am trying to delete it and it won't delete. Error comes up that someone or something else is using it. So I tried in Safe mode, still won't delete. Next I disabled the WFP (Windows File Protection) with LitePC trial, and I still cannot delete these two video files.

Any Ideas? Thanks in advance...


Heeter

Have you tried checking task manager to make sure that that the file still isnt running in the background etc

Try deleting it from the DOS prompt..that usually works.

Was it a kazza download *cough*...try running a virus checker etc etc

Same problem here Heeter. I've never found a true fix. Let me know if you get one. the only thing that's ever worked was finding another file of similar format (and I think it may have been the same codec) and played it. That freed up the file so I could delete it. There was no science to it though - pure dumb luck.

It was not a Kazaa download. I, personally, would never download anything from there.

How would I go about deleting from a prompt command?

In the Task manager, everything seems to be okay. Nothing with HijackThis as well.


Heeter

the fix.

just do what nuclear said and it *should* work.. some programs are very **** about it....

u could just delete it in command prompt if u know a few dos commands

you prolly could but that is more work then the other..

Deleting files - Access Denied Error

Just open NOTEPAD and then click on "OPEN". Navigate to the file in the little Notepad "explorer" window and right click on the .avi file and delete it.

OR this

Explorer.exe in XP has a bad habit of wanting to hang on to files, even when you have finished using them - therefore when you try to delete the file, XP will say "Access Denied".
This error occurs more often when working with media files - mp3, avi, mpeg etc.
TIP:
Close all open applications.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory with the offending files.
Then open the Task Manager and click on the Processes tab. select "explorer.exe" under Image Name. Click "End Process".
That will leave you with only the command prompt and the task manager running.
Now at the Command Prompt, its time to delete the file(s). Using the DEL command. Example c:>\movies\DEL movie.avi
Now the files are deleted, go to the task manager and click on the Applications tab. Click the "New Task" button. in the dialog, type explorer.exe and click OK.


For folders the command is 'rd'.

Hahaha,

Both the registry edit and the Hipster Doofus fix worked. Thanks HD and CPUGeniusMV.

Heeter

Yeah, I have this happen all the time and just go through the command prompt like Hipster recommended. Sure is a pain though.

a lot of times the application that is using the file and wont let you delete the file is explorer.exe itself, this is esp true for files where it makes a thumbnail image or anything like that.

Best think is to change the view method to list for the directory, logout and back in again and then try to delete it

You're right, it usually is explorer.exe, and what makes it worse is if you choose to show common tasks in folders, instead of using the classic folder-style. When you click on the video file, it's like a race to delete the file before the preview starts to load up in the left pane. I hope that this problem is something that will change with Longhorn.

Always have this same problem. But I've been using McAfee shredder to get rid of files. Still get error messages about it being in-use, but after about two tries, it gets erased from the folder.
Need to try that avi fix.