I get this message all the time – even when in a folder and I want to delete a file. Is this a Windows thing? Macs don’t do this!
I have to re-boot just to delete a file – and this stinks. Is there a way to fix this or do I just have to learn to live with it?
Thanks
JWright
something must be hanging on to the file (trying to create thumbnails? archiving or backup?). impossible to tell from here because we don’t know what’s running on your system.
JW,
Is this a Windows thing?
Most likely.
Macs don’t do this!
Mine do it all the time.
My guess is that you’re looking at a Windows permissions issue. Do you share files across a network? Do you have administrator’s rights? Have you ever created a user login with the same name as an older account?
Creating an entirely new login account with admin rights might solve your problem.
=-= Harron =-=
I have tried changing my login, and rebooting the files still remain. Do you have any other ideas?
are you an administrator?
Under properties administrator is selected. However, I am not using the administrator login.
try starting in safe mode (f8 during start up, right before the xp logo screen). log on as administrator (or as a user with admin rights) then delete them from the desktop. SOME app is holding them, but I can’t tell what it is from here… it’ll definately take some sluething on your end.
They have changed our administrator password so I cannot take this particular route. However I did open the file in Illustrator and tried to resave the eps in the hopes that I could delete this updated version, but I got the error message that said that the file was locked and that I could use the properties command in windows explorer to unlock the file. ( Do you know how to do this? Do you think this approach will work?)
so your user does NOT have admin rights? that’s probably the problem. If it’s locked right click, select properties and uncheck "read only". but I don’t think that’s it.
That would be correct. I am limited under my login. I have tried right clicking and delete IS selected under permissions, but I am still not allowed to delete the file.
If I don’t hear from you again, thanks for the suggestions.
but I am still not allowed to delete the file.
possibly they were created with an id that had admin rights? or another standard user? if so, i think there should be a permissions tab under properties, you may need to "take ownership" of the files before you can delete them. if you can’t, you’ll need to get an administrator to move or delete them.
For what it’s worth this got me out of a similar situation:
How do I delete an "undeletable" file?
Thanks to MS-MVP Kelly Theriot for this tip.
Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.
Cheers – John
Thanks a lot, that worked.