I have also posted an email question on this subject, however, it
appears that explorer.exe may not be the only reason for not being
able to delete a file. I found this article on a newsletter from
www.langa.com on this subject. It also provides a link to a Windows
toolkit program that helps identify which file is responsible for
locking a file - the program is called oh.exe apparently it works on
Windows XP even though it is designed for Windows 2000 server:
The following is copied from the Langalist Standard Edition
2004-06-03:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------
7) Forced Unlock/Deletions
Sometimes you run into a wall when you try to delete a file that's in
use or otherwise "locked" by the OS. In Win9x-based systems, you
could drop to DOS and delete the file that way, but it's harder do in
NT/2000/XP. At the least, you have to install the Recovery Console (
http://langa.com/u/4z.htm ) or boot to a separate NTFS-capable OS.
It's a hassle.
Well, it was, until these tools became available:
Hi Fred, First of all thanks for a great newsletter- I almost always
learn something new from it. I ran into a problem recently with some
files I was down loading- they became locked and I couldn't delete
them. Thought your readers might be interested in this page which
describes how to identify which process locked the file [so you can
kill the process and thus unlock/delete the file]:
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/processlock.htm
or this page which has an app that can delete locked files:
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/W-P/files/fileio/article.php/c1287
John -CaptNemo
Thanks, John. Forced deletion is always a last resort, but it's still
a good resort to have, if or when you really need it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
end of copied selection.
Hope this helps,
Regards, ... bordan
----- RexRhino wrote: -----
While browsing this newsgroup I have noticed a common problem
with users not being able to delete a folder, file or program. I was
having to reboot my computer just to delete a My Documents Folder
after moving or deleting its files. I have found that by ending and
then restarting EXPLORER.EXE in Task Manager, it resolved the issue
without having to reboot or use any special programs or commands. Do
any of you techies have any caveats or advice about this, plus why
this is a problem to begin with?
