[Windows XP] Can't delete files

Van Der Litreb · Post by **Van Der Litreb** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 9:22 pm

As the title suggests, I'm running Windows XP and experiencing some rather annoying problems with deleting files. Every now and then, a movie file simply refuses to be deleted (and it's not being shared/used/etc.). I've heard this is a common problem with WinXP (something about the thumbnails it makes of the movie files), and I've gotten around it by using Directory Opus. However, I'd still prefer to have a functioning OS.

Anyone here know if there's a fix?

Salvation122 · Post by **Salvation122** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 9:24 pm

Pro/Home? Are you up-to-date on your Windows Update patches?

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 10:16 pm

The fix is to not try and delete the file when there you're looking at the thumbnail of the movie, so do it before the movie opens in thumbnail view. One of the things you can do is to immediately right-click on the file in question, because as soon as the context menu is open, it won't load the movie into the media player.

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 10:17 pm

Oh, and I'm also fairly sure you can switch that view off, though I don't for the life of me know how.

FlakJacket · Post by **FlakJacket** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:14 pm

This any use?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:03 am

Oh, you can switch it off, but it doesn't help. I think this is the most annoying bug in the post-95 Windows editions. Either you can be real quick [and, sometimes, lucky] on the right-click, or you can just delete more than one file at once, in which case, it will [almost] always work. The other thing is to make sure none of your file-sharing apps are using it for anything, but I assume you know that.

Ikarus7 · Post by **Ikarus7** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:17 am

It happened to me with a movie some month ago, XP just wouldn't delete it, even after a complete reboot.

The only way I found to delete the files was to acces the command line only mode (accessible before XP boot sequence) and use the deltree command...

You can also try to put your hard drive into someone else computer but it didn't work for me.

Van Der Litreb · Post by **Van Der Litreb** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:19 am

3278 wrote:Either you can be real quick [and, sometimes, lucky] on the right-click, or you can just delete more than one file at once, in which case, it will [almost] always work.

Yeah, that usually works. However, there was one file that simply refused to be removed, and since it was taking up some 700+ MB it started to annoy me. Like I said, I got around it by using Directory Opus (which is much better for managing files than Explorer, anyway), but I would imagine most file managing programs will work. I'm mostly using Directory Opus for sentimental purposes. Mmm.. Amiga 500...

lorg · Post by **lorg** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:22 am

But the win DOpus is not the old DOpus it is the new crappy DOpus, even thou it is still better then normal explorer. It ain't the good amiga version 4.11 or was it 4.12 before it became all weird and windowy ...