The files that desired existance

[Kalle]

On my HDD I have two files that I cannot move, rename or delete without receiving an error message saying that another program is using them. I have tried shutting down each and every program except for essential system proceses, I have even tried rebooting and starting up the computer in failsafe-mode. Nothing has worked.

The files in question are a 200 MB partial DirectConnect download and an aborted 100 MB bittorrent download. How do I get my system to let me remove them?

[Chris Nahr]

Boot disk with Windows 9x/Me, or recovery console with Windows 2000/XP. The recovery console is available either again via boot disk, or by editing the startup configuration to give you a menu. Look up "recovery console" in the Windows help, it's a rather involved process unfortunately.

[TimElhajj]

Maybe try pulling the network cable out and then rebooting. I've had this happen and it eventually goes away when it's ready. How annoying!

[Lunch of Kong]

Hey, Kalle.

Are these .avi files? If they are, I can help you.

Windows XP has a bug regarding .avi files. Explorer tries to read the entire contents of broken .avi files any time you try to access -- or even hover your mouse over -- an .avi file.

Since the .avi file is broken, Explorer gets stuck and leaves the file handle open. This prevents you from moving or deleting the file.

A related problem also surfaces if you try to access .avi files located on a network share. Explorer tries to read the file in its entirety across the network. This also puts a lock on the file that can't be removed until Explorer "lets go". This can be a couple minutes, depending on the size of the .avi file and the speed of your network.

To fix both these issues, remove the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D9 4-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

The side-effect of removing the registry key is that if you right-click the .avi and view properties, it will no longer report media properties such as the dimension or play length of the .avi.

But explorer wont' be buggy any more, and you can delete the files.

[bee cubed]

i've had similar trouble with incomplete DC files in the past. i just kept trying to delete them, and finally the did go. or, if you have a FAT drive, you could boot to DOS and delete them through there.

[Tyrion Lannister]

That's awsome Roger! Now I have visions of Kalle desperately trying to delete HotMilf.avi and SheepLube.avi that he was downloading from Kazaa when interupted by his significant other! And nothing will work. The frantic panic! What to do! What to do!!

[Erik Andersson]

If the file is actually used by the OS, you can remove it in another OS on the same machine. I couldn't install my ms multimedia keyboard because I had installed an intellimouse explorer first. Apparently some dll was incompatible and system dlls can't be removed. So I removed it in Linux instead.
Having Linux installed has been very nice also when trying to solve Windows problems. The ntfs-driver still can't delete (safely) though, so in that case the recovery console is probably the best choice. And installing Linux might be slightly harder than accessing the recovery console...

[Kalle]

I'll just leave Tyrion to his visions then, because they are quite amusing.

[Kalle]

The registry key thing works great, thanks Roger.

[Lunch of Kong]

Any time. Enjoy!