Stubborn File

[rumcooler]

I was fixing someones computer and I downloaded a file on my personal computer for a lucent zoom modem. After using the file I tried to delete it ,but it won't delete. Win 2000 pro.it says the file cannot be deleted or moved because it is being used by another program

 

[Boilermaker]

i had the same problem with an exe file, even after a reboot, i couldnt delete it. during bootup, hit F8 when prompted to get the boot options, and choose "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". the boot may take a while, but when its done you will get a prompt. navigate to the directory where the file is and delete it from the prompt.

if you are unfamiliar with shell commands, here is a <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/server/help/default.asp?url=/windows2000/en/server/help/ntcmds.htm" target="_new">link</A> to a list of them.

 

[rumcooler]

I did go in "safe mode" but I did not know about the cmd prompt. thanks it worked.

 

[Ris3n_Da3mon]

If it's transfered from another computer you may need to take ownership of it, right click on the file, select propeties.
Go to the security tab, and click the button advanced, and then go to the owner tab, select the current user, and hit apply. Also while your in the security tab make sure the current user has the correct permissions for deleting it and such

01001001 00100000 01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01110100 00100001

 

[harvyk]

administrator should get rights to delete the file. in any case unless a file is created by a user the administrator is considered the owner. also permissions and annoying things do not transfer from one computer to another (I have actually been looking into this for the last few weeks for data migration from one server to another) What can sometimes happen is a process opens the file and won't close it again. All the time the process has the file open you can not do anything with the file. If ownership of the file doesn't fix the problem check your list of processes and terminate any which could be taking a holdon the file (use some common sense, however most of the critcal processes are protected and can't just be terminated)