Can't delete.

[Tricky]

I wanted to download a one gigabyte demo yesterday. I cancelled the download and forgot to delete whatever was left of it. When I try to delete it now, it waits and claims this file is being used by another process. The file (an executable) is FAR from finished downloading. It has reserved one gigabyte of space on my desktop though I practically cancelled the download the moment it started.

The file is not write protected. It most definitely not malware. I tried going to safemode, figuring I'd be able to delete it without system-level administrative restrictions. You can pretty much do anything in safemode, but I could NOT delete it from there. There are none other than critical processes running while in safemode. This is very unusual and leads me to believe I've stumbled on some kind of Windows XP bug.

What is going on here? I have a very small hard drive, only 40 GB. I'd like to be able to use what I have. Is there any other way to forcibly remove a file?

[Xandax]

What if you boot up in command prompt safemode? Will that give the same result?
Does it still say (in safemode) that the file is being locked by another process?

Try to download http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx processexplorer, which allows you to search for filehandles in processes. Then you can try to search for your file to see if any process does indeed have a handle to it, in which case you can close said handle and try again.

Other then that - I have no immediate advice.

[Tricky]

There is a difference between safemode and the command prompt in safemode? I hadn't thought about that. Rebooting now.

[Tricky]

Using process explorer I can figure out it claims to be part of explorer.exe. But it will only show up in there after I try to delete it. If I kill explorer and use the Task Manager to locate and delete the file, I get the message the file is in use by a process. Thén it starts to appear listed under explorer.exe again

I'll try deleting it from safemode again.

[Tricky]

No luck. This shouldn't even be possible. I'm going to check the disk's integrity to see if there is some other problem and then I'm shelving the problem. This is where my Windows-fu falls short.

[DesR85]

Are you, by any chance, using a download manager (like Free Download Manager)? If you are, you should delete it from the download manager itself to remove any traces of the file.

[dragon wench]

In cases like this I've been known to backup what I've wanted to keep from my hard drive and then just wipe the thing and start from scratch...

I don't know if you want to do anything that drastic though...

[Tricky]

Originally Posted by DesR85

Are you, by any chance, using a download manager (like Free Download Manager)? If you are, you should delete it from the download manager itself to remove any traces of the file.

I used Bittorrent to download the C&C demo. It doesn´t leave cache in any place other than the eventual path of the file and doesn´t remain active in memory after closing down. Especially not in safe mode.

I won´t format my computer. It is mine, I bought it and I refuse to believe I can have anything less than absolute control over what happens inside. :fascist:

[Magelord648]

Overwrite it with another executable.

Go to your program files.
Find an exe. (Search folders until you find one.)
Copy it.
Paste and rename it in a different folder.
Drag it onto the desktop.

[DesR85]

Originally Posted by Tricky

I used Bittorrent to download the C&C demo. It doesn´t leave cache in any place other than the eventual path of the file and doesn´t remain active in memory after closing down. Especially not in safe mode.

What kind of Bittorrent client are you using? I suggest deleting that program and see whether it is possible to remove that file. Hope it helps.

[Tricky]

The bittorrent program doesn't have anything to do with it. It's listed as an Explorer critical process, however incorrect that may be. Besides, it's not loaded in memory. And I can't overwrite the file because it's being protected on system level. That's not even accessible when you have an administrator level account.

Boot disks might help me strip down even more windows components from safemode. I just need access to the file system. Lowest possible level.

[Kipi]

Have you tried to check if it has virus in it? Viruses tend to have that affect on files... and as it's downloaded from Bittorrent, it could be more than possible...

[Tricky]

Came out clean. But thanks for pointing that out. =/

#Edit: Checksum matches with the original from Fileplanet. Strangely enough I can overwrite the file on the desktop this time around. It's busy downloading now, I wonder what will happen.

[Curry]

Try this