Can't delete, rename, or move file in Windows XP: "It is being used by another person or program."

  • Thread starter Thread starter aramis62
  • Start date Start date
A

aramis62

OS: Windows XP Pro

Problem: I download an mp3 or video file to the desktop. I then try
to rename, delete, or move the file (without having ever opened it),
but can't b/c windows says "It is being used by another person or
program." I have administrator privileges, and I'm the only one
logged on.

I have been reading several posts about this, and it appears that it
is a genuine bug in Windows XP. Apparently, the other person or
program is none other than explorer.exe, the freakin windows shell.
The "fix" that people quote is:
1. open a command prompt (dos window)
2. goto task manager, kill explorer.exe
3. delete, rename, or move the file using the command line
4. restart explorer.exe via "New Task" in the task manager

This is hardly a fix in my book. This problem is so frustrating that
I'm actually considering going back to Windows 2000. There is one
other fix that I've seen quoted: using Process Explorer (from
www.sysinternals.com), find all and kill all handles to the file, then
proceed as usual. This would be acceptable except that there are
sometimes 50 or so handles to the same file, and no easy way to kill
all of them at once. At this point, it's easier to do the command
line trick.

Does anybody know of another method? Microsoft reps, will there be a
patch or update for this sometime soon?

Thanks,

aramis62
 
OS: Windows XP Pro

Problem: I download an mp3 or video file to the desktop. I then try
to rename, delete, or move the file (without having ever opened it),
but can't b/c windows says "It is being used by another person or
program." I have administrator privileges, and I'm the only one
logged on.

I have been reading several posts about this, and it appears that it
is a genuine bug in Windows XP. Apparently, the other person or
program is none other than explorer.exe, the freakin windows shell.
The "fix" that people quote is:
1. open a command prompt (dos window)
2. goto task manager, kill explorer.exe
3. delete, rename, or move the file using the command line
4. restart explorer.exe via "New Task" in the task manager

This is hardly a fix in my book. This problem is so frustrating that
I'm actually considering going back to Windows 2000. There is one
other fix that I've seen quoted: using Process Explorer (from
www.sysinternals.com), find all and kill all handles to the file, then
proceed as usual. This would be acceptable except that there are
sometimes 50 or so handles to the same file, and no easy way to kill
all of them at once. At this point, it's easier to do the command
line trick.

Does anybody know of another method? Microsoft reps, will there be a
patch or update for this sometime soon?

Thanks,

aramis62
Click to expand...

I am having the same problem and would also like to know if a fix is
planned? After rebooting my system, I can go to a cmd prompt and
delete a .mp3 file, but if I just single-click on the file and
highlight it, it becomes locked and I cannot delete without shutting
down explorer.exe. It seems to happen with any .mp3, .wav, or .avi
(probably other a/v formats too) and it has become impossible to
organize my files using explorer. I have scanned with AVG, Spybot,
and Ad-Aware and come up with nothing. I have a fast bootup with no
additional programs running on startup. Any advice would be much
appreciated.
 
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