Why can't I delete Divx files?

[alpinechill]

As the subject states, I am having problems deleting Divx files. I am using Windows XP Pro, and my hard drive is formated with NTFS, if that makes a difference... I just thought I'd mention it. When I go to delete an incomplete Divx file (*.avi) it waits a couple seconds, then tells me that "The file is being used by another person or program" and that I should "Close any programs that might be using the file and try again". The file is NOT being used by any programs, and I do not have any sort of file sharing enabled, yet it still does not let me delete the file. Sometimes I have to wait an hour, sometimes a couple days before I am finally able to delete it. To make matters even strangers, sometimes hitting the delete button to delete the file fails, but right clicking and then going to delete actually gets the job done. If anyone has ANY idea what is going on here, I would appreciate some feedback... anything, anything at all. This has been going on for a long time now, and it is just getting frustrating. Thanks

[frag_dog]

Reboot the computer. If that doesn't work, try doing it from a command prompt. Windowz sucks anyway

[Poy]

Open Movie by WMP. Player say something (if it is incomplete). Press ok or stop (if movie is complete). Player is still open. Delete file! That worked when I was using XP (Now using win2k). If WMP is using file then other aplication cant use it.

[aow]

This happens to me, too...

Windows XP with NTFS5, Divx 3.11 (low & hi), Divx 5...

If I "single_left_click" a INCOMPLETE DIVX (.avi) the explorer eats all the CPU time. (look the Taskmanager: CTRL+ALT+Del)
The bigger the incomplete Divx is, the longer i can't do anything else with the computer, sometimes it takes 30 seconds only to bring up the taskmanager...

So deleting or moving is impossible to me, too...

The only way, i've figured out so far is to select the INCOMPLETE DIVX, right_click it, select "Properties".
Then i have to wait (10-60 seconds, depends on Harddisk & CPU-Speed and Filesize) for the Properties-Window poping up.
When the Properties-Window pops up, click OK or CANCEL, wait another 10 Seconds...
Then the Explorer allows deleting or moving the File (if it is still selected (highlighted))

I know that the problem with incomplete Divx is, that there is no index, because the index are the last bytes of the Divx, but don't know why the XP-Explorer tries to access the whole divx (virtually rebuilding the index???), simply by single_clicking (selecting) the file.

If I fix the index with DivFix, everything is ok...
But I don't like the behavior of the Explorer!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone have a soloution, or a link please drop a line here!


aow

[setarip]

The simplest solution, regarding ANY incomplete file activity on a PC, is to simply shut down and restart the computer...

[khp]

The problem is that the explorer window tries to create a preview window of the avi file.

To stop this behavior you need to remove the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D9 4-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

[aow]

Originally posted by setarip
The simplest solution, regarding ANY incomplete file activity on a PC, is to simply shut down and restart the computer...

This doesn't work, every time (after a fresh start or a reboot) selecting an incomplete divx my windows xp-explorer tries something with the file - and the longer the file the longer the explorer eats all the cpu-time, so deleting, renaming, moving is impossible to me for a long time...

aow

[aow]

Originally posted by khp
The problem is that the explorer window tries to create a preview window of the avi file.

To stop this behavior you need to remove the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D9 4-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

Great tip, thank you, i hoped someone can tell me what the explorer tries (but i can't understand this behavior the explorer shows, nor i never saw a preview of a .avi by simply selecting it)!

It works, no freezes, no hidden access by the explorer, now i can move, rename, delete all divx-files, incomplete or not....

BUT(!) ;-( now (the registry changes were applied) there is no Detail in the properties-window, telling me something about the codec, the audio/video rate, etc...
Only "the details are not available"...

Looks like the disabled registry-key stops the explorer knowing to parse or handle a .avi file...

Is there a another Registry-Key to stop the explorer making a "preview" (or whatever the explorer tries) by simply selecting a file in a explorer window (or file-selector-box, etc...)??

This is strange to me, but no windows 98 or windows 2000 i tried shows this behavior, only my windows xp pro (same codecs installed, no "single click instead of double-click", no "view as website/thumbnails" selected, index-service off...)

thanx, aow

[nibbler]

I have had this as well and ended up doing the reg fix suggested above. As far as I am aware but don't qoute me on this, the issue is how explorer deals with displaying the file properties of an avi file if you are viewing in either the detail display or the thumbnail display (this is where the preview bit comes in). Unfortunately the reg fix applies to both areas. The work arounf is to apply the fix to stop explorer going mad and hogging all of the cpu time and then use a utility like avipreview to get the detail.

[Enchanter]

An easier alternative, when explorer starts spitting around like this, is to use a different file browser, such as PowerDesk (the free version 4 is unfortunately no more), which does not attempt to preview video files.

You can also use, say, Winamp to access the folder where the to-be-deleted file resides and set it to open All Files. The video file will be displayed and you should be able to select and delete the file without a problem. It usually works for me.

[wingy]

where did you get the divx file from???
is the downloading program running in the back ground
hit crtl-alt-del and close any file sharing programs then delete the dixv file.
wingy

[nibbler]

Lets clear this up

Thanks for the feedback, but I do not have any problems with this. I have applied the reg fix and use a different utility to get the file info from avis.

[V10]

Hello Guys,

All i can tell about this problem is that when you have a LAN (local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network) you will have this problem!!

When you are using Xp with or without Sp1 standalone (without a LAN or WAN) you do not have any problems!!!!

I know this, because i'm trying to fix this problem for a long time and i have run a lot of tests with this ** Xp problem!!!

A network is really the problem!!!
A real solution i don't have!!! Maybe waiting on Sp2???????

C U Around

V10

[machstem]

I cna make life so simple for you guys.

alright, when I have a big problem that I can't figure out for the life of me, I reinstall my operating system. Actually, I get a second HDD, and make a backup of all my important stuff, databases, movies, mp3s, whatever I need to backup.

I then fdisk, format, and start from scratch. I finish the install, getting all the latest drivers, I visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and update everything from there, and once that is done, everything is put back ont he HDD. This fixes all my problems everytime. Windows gets corrupted and confused very easily. Everything is tied to each other, so playing inthe registry can do some interesting things in the long run, whether it be by you, or a misguided programmer's software, thigns can screw up.

So yeah, I know it's not the best idea, but if you never had the problem before, and then it happens, it's something that occured while you did something. Nothing happens for no reason.

That, or you're running out of HDD space or not enough RAM.

PEACE

[nibbler]

Read it

Chap...

Read the rest of the thread - it is an acknowledge issue and the fixes are listed. See no reason to do a reinstall