Unable to backup frx files

J

Julia Hopkins

I use Windows Messenger on XP. My PC Backup keeps failing, and reports that
this is due to 6 files that it cannot backup. These six files are all in the
format:

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Messenger\[email protected]\SharingMetadata\[email protected]\DFSR\Staging\CS{53BE73AB-596D-5679-5813-03C490B105BE}\17\17-{60452617-D0A3-4F87-964D-6F84F24F906F}-v17-{60452617-D0A3-4F87-964D-6F84F24F906F}-v17-Downloaded.frx

Could you please advise on the best action to take - can I safely delete
these files from my PC?
 
J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Greetings Julia,

Yep, this is just part of the Sharing Folders database for that particular contact. You can
either delete it manually yourself or just remove their sharing folder from within Messenger.

It's probably failing because you have Messenger open, but it's useless data anyway unless
you have pending incomplete files in that sharing folder.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
 
J

Julia Hopkins

Many thanks - sorry that it has taken me a while to read this

If I do remove the files, and then find that there is some issue as a result
with my sharing with this contact, can I just restore them i.e. is this safe
/ reversible? I ask, because whilst I do want to get the backup completed, I
also want to continue sharing with this contact in the future, and don't want
to do anything that would disrupt that

Thanks again for your helpful response
 
J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Hi Julia,

Yep. Worst case scenario is that you have to delete that particular Sharing Folder and and
create a new one. If you have some important files within that contacts' Sharing Folder, I'd
move them out beforehand though.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
 
J

Julia Hopkins

Many thanks again - I'll give it a try and let you know how I get on

Julia
 
J

Julia Hopkins

OK, I'm trying this now, but not quite there yet I'm afraid, despite your
very helpful advice.

I've found the Sharing Folder in Messenger, but it appears to be empty.

I don't really want to delete the Folder itself from Messenger, because I do
still want to be able to share with this Contact

I've exited Messenger prior to running the Backup, but the Backup is still
failing saying that the same files are in use

So I think that I have two options:

1. Delete (or move) the files myself manually i.e. find them in Windows
Explorer (at C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Messenger ...) and delete them. I know how to do this, but
I'm just worried about any effects or implications that it may have, given
that I'm not clear what these files are for

OR

2. Find a way of "properly" stopping Messenger before running the Backup. I
thought that I'd done that, but perhaps not. I do know how to use Windows
Task Manager, but when I do Cntrl-Alt-Delete I can't see anything to indicate
that Mesenger is running. I do also have Spybot installed, and in the
Advanced Mode under System Startup I can see MsnMsgr with Command Line
"C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe" /background, against HK_CU:Run.
I could untick this to stop Messenger loading at Startup and then run the
backup, but again I'm a bit nervous because I do like to have Messenger
running when I startup, and don't want to do anything to mess that up

What do you think - either of these options look the safest, or do you have
any other ideas?

Many thanks again - Julia
 
J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Hi Julia,

Messenger's sharing folders feature actually has a service which may be holding onto the file
in question. If you go to Start, Control Panel, Administrator Tools, and then Services,
you'll see it listed as the 'Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal Reading Service' or
something similar. Just right-click and choose Stop to shut it down before you do your
backup. Messenger will automatically restart it when it starts so you don't even need to
restart it later.

Don't worry, you really can't "break" this irreparably or anything ;)

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
 
J

Julia Hopkins

Excellent - many thanks - more very helpful (and reassuring) advice

I'll try this as soon as I can, and let you know how I get on (may be a
little while, because I'm away from that machine for a bit now)

Julia
 
J

Julia Hopkins

Right, finally got round to it!

However, what I found was that 'Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal
Reading Service' was shown with Start Up Type Manual, and the only option on
RMC was to Start it, not Stop it i.e. it didn't appear to be running.

Furthermore, I then used Spybot to stop Messenger loading on Start-up, and
found that the Backup still failed with the same files implicated.

So it's very mysterious - the Back-up seems to think that the files are in
use, but stopping the programme that you would think is using them from the
filepath doesn't sem to resolve the issue

The only option that I can think of now is to either Cut or Delete the files
manually, but I'm really rather hesitant to do this for files that I don't
know the purpose of.

Do you have any other ideas?

The files are all in the format:

"Data\Microsoft\Messenger\[email protected]\SharingMetadata\[email protected]\DFSR\Staging\CS{53BE73AB-596D-5679-5813-03C490B105BE}\17\17-{60452617-D0A3-4F87-964D-6F84F24F906F}-v17-{60452617-D0A3-4F87-964D-6F84F24F906F}-v17-Downloaded.frx"

Many thanks

Julia
 
J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Hi Julia,

Again, these are basically throw away files, you don't need to really worry if they're in
use, deleted, or otherwise gone into oblivion. Messenger will keep working and so will your
PC.

What I do in this case is use Process Explorer (a free tool from Microsoft) to see if this
file really is in use and by what process. You can grab the tool from here and simply run it
from the zip:
http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip

You can do so by opening up Process Explorer, clicking the Find menu, choosing Find Handle or
DLL then in the box provided, type in say, SharingMetadata and choose Search.

You should get a list processes and the handle (which is the file) that's in use. If you
find nothing than it may be a file permission problem instead.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
 
J

Julia Hopkins

I know that this is a remarkably long time between raising the issue and
closing it, but FYI I was never brave enough to delete these files! However,
in the space of a week recently I had a Windows SP upgrade and a Backup
service provider upgrade. Following both of these, the problem has
apparently just gone away of its own accord! So I suspect that there was
some sort of issue with one or both of them that was causing this, resolved
through the upgrade process. Thanks anyway for all your help - I'm sure that
if I had been brave enough to take your advce it would have solved it too!
Julia
 
J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Hi Julia,

Well that's good to hear, I quite assure you it was harmless to remove them though.

Interestingly enough they've actually totally removed this feature from the next version of
Messenger, so eventually when you might upgrade to that new version the problem would go away
that way as well.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
 
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