Basically I was trying to delete a video file and an error message comes up that says "cannot delete because the file is being used by another person or program". It is weird because I dont have any other programs running. Can anyone help?

 

Media Player probably still has a handle on the file. Try opening another video file in Media Player before deleting that one.

 

i have a vid file that's like that...


absolutely nothing is running that would be "using it" - cant figure it out...

 

If what Cyber_x doesn't work - reboot, then delete the file.

 

still doesnt work


its been like that for 1.5yrs

 

Alex,

Does that error still appear following a reboot? File "handles" are retained even after the program using the file has been closed. Normally, you can just open a different file, so that the handle on the first file is released.

 

What's the full error message? Also try logging into Windows as the Administrator. There's an outside chance that some sort of service or underlying process has a handle on it...what file is this?

 

Ya, I've rebooted thousands of times - still no worky.

I've opened each program and tried what you said, but still no worky.

I think it has something to do with it being an unfinished download - I was downloading it with Direct Connect, then cancelled the file transfer halfway through. Now, the vid file doesn't work and I can't delete it.

 

What's the name of the file? Try searching your hard drive for any files that are a partial match. If it's an unfinished download, there might be a backup (something like a symbolic link) of it somewhere else on your system, most likely in one of the Internet temp directories. Delete the backup first and then try to delete the file itself. The backups usually are only a partial match...for instance, if the name of the file is ABCDEFG.AVI, the backup might be named something like ABC$%@[1].AVI.

 

It's a 750MB avi file.


I have 2 or 3 files like that, so I just set them as "hidden" because every time I see it and try to delete it (unsuccessfully), I get pissed off and turn homicidal.