Cannot delete file

[ceminess]

Ok, i have an old compaq presario 334 mhz pc. 7 gig hard drive, so space is limited.
I upgraded to windows xp.

Im trying to delete a file, its an avi file, when i hit delete, it says cannot delete file in use by other program, close any program that may be using it and try again.

I looked and looked and no other program is using the file(that i know of).

I searched the forums, and the internet with no success.
I only found one case that was exactly like mine, but they didn't get it fixed.

PLEASE help.

p.s.- ive only had problems deleting avi files in the folder its in. I downloaded it with kazaa. all other files delete fine. it won't let me move, or rename the file.

[TwoRails]

Hi ceminess,

Use a DOS startup disk, then just delete the file.

HTH

TwoRails

[ceminess]

how do i do that

[TwoRails]

Hi ceminess,

I don't know the steps in XP, but there should be an option to create a startup disk, or Rescue / Emergency disk. You would boot from that.

If you can't find it (sorry I can't direct you right to it...), read the 3rd post down on this thread

HTH

TwoRails

[Tuf]

I'll tell you what I do. It may or may not work for you.

Open up a command prompt by holding down the WinKey and hitting "R", type "cmd", press "enter". Next open the task manager, highlight explorer.exe and select end process. Next type "del" and the "file path of the file" that you want to delete. Then go back to the task manager and from the applications tab select "new process" and type "explorer.exe"

It works for me ... I hope it works for you.

[Trent Steel]

Try this ceminess, go into my files within kazaa, find the file you want then delete it there. I had one avi file do that to me and could not be deleted any other way (that I could find anyways). Hope that helps.

[ceminess]

sorry about the late reply, but i was able to delete it in dos.

thanks for all your posts

[ryanatalie]

AVI files can cause problems in WinXP. The problem with XP is that it causes Explorer to read the entire AVI file before allowing any access to them. This is caused by shmedia.dll.

To correct this remove the following registry key. Anytime you mess with your registry make a back-up!!!!!!!!!

When deleting a registry key just export it to your desktop or somewhere safe. (It makes a little text file with a .reg extension) and then delete the key from your registry. This way you can double click it to restore if you mess up.

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

This will prevent Explorer from loading shmedia.dll for these files.

Note: You have to look for this key manually. I don't think it will show up in a search.

Alternative: If you want to delete AVIs without the deleting a line from your registry:

1. Open task manager,
2. End the Explorer process, and then restart it (using New Task)
3. Immediately open up a DOS prompt and delete the AVI file