Cannot delete/copy/move .MOV files

[JoeT]

Copied some .MOV files off my sons camera for him. They play fine, however I
cannot copy/move/delete these files. The system just hangs forever. The
system won't even allow me to right click and look at the properties of
these files. Since they are in subfolders of the pictures folder, whenever I
open the pictures folder the system perpetually scans (green bar moving
slowly at top) for as long as I have that folder open.

I even tried creating blank files of the same name and copy/pasting them
over the originals but that only crashes windows explorer.

Any clues as to how I can rid myself of these files? I find no help by
googling and no mention in MS online knowledge base...

 

[Adam Albright]

Copied some .MOV files off my sons camera for him. They play fine, however I
cannot copy/move/delete these files. The system just hangs forever. The
system won't even allow me to right click and look at the properties of
these files. Since they are in subfolders of the pictures folder, whenever I
open the pictures folder the system perpetually scans (green bar moving
slowly at top) for as long as I have that folder open.

I even tried creating blank files of the same name and copy/pasting them
over the originals but that only crashes windows explorer.

Any clues as to how I can rid myself of these files? I find no help by
googling and no mention in MS online knowledge base...

The operative word is HOW are you trying to delete them?

From what you said it sounds maybe like a file access violation so you
can't delete a file in use even if just the folder it is in is open.
Close everything down and try to delete from Windows Explorer. If that
fails try from the command prompt. If a camera or other external
device is connected turn it off first.

If all fails try this:

or even worse this one: Tip: If you don't know how to check printer
toner, don't try or this may happen to you and you'll freak out
everyone in the office:

Or check out the typical reaction of someone that just installed Vista
after having a perfectly good working copy of XP.

 

[JoeT]

The operative word is HOW are you trying to delete them?

From what you said it sounds maybe like a file access violation so you
can't delete a file in use even if just the folder it is in is open.

Just how would one go about using windows explorer to delete a file that's
in a folder without opening the folder? Is this intended to be humor?

Close everything down and try to delete from Windows Explorer. If that
fails try from the command prompt. If a camera or other external
device is connected turn it off first.

As I said, all attempts to delete the file, (whether by selecting and
pressing the delete key or by right click and selecting delete on the menu
or via admin command prompt) result in system hang. No error messages
concerning access violations etc. All in all quite frustrating. BTW there
are no programs running that should be "using these files" nor is there any
related hardware attached to any system ports. Thanks anyway.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Have you tried to take ownership of the file and then trying to delete it. Try and go into Safe Mode and delete. Use the command line to delete.

Try the above and let us know.

 

[Jume]

most probably the video codec got crashed while making the thumbnail

turn off thumbnails then delete the file, or simply uninstall quicktime

 

[JoeT]

Tried safe mode as well and it just hung same as other attempts. Found the
problem was with QuickTime itself. Removed it and was able to delete the
files as per another respondent's instruction. Apparently QuickTime's codecs
come into play any time you access the file, even only to view system
properties, whether QuickTime is running or not...

Thanks to all for their attempts!



Have you tried to take ownership of the file and then trying to delete it.
Try and go into Safe Mode and delete. Use the command line to delete.

Try the above and let us know.

 

[Guest]

Tried safe mode as well and it just hung same as other attempts. Found the
problem was with QuickTime itself. Removed it and was able to delete the
files as per another respondent's instruction. Apparently QuickTime's codecs
come into play any time you access the file, even only to view system
properties, whether QuickTime is running or not...

Thanks to all for their attempts!

Thank you so much! I've been having the same problem for a while and got
really fed up of those unmoveble .mov files, i allready gave up on a
sollution until i read your post.

 

[Mick Murphy]

Quicktime is part of the software Kodak supplies to watch the Movies you make
on their cameras...