Deleting a file that is being used by another process?

[ComradeBadger]

How can I do it.. the .exe file in question is an installer for a Red Alert patch.. but it always says it's in use - so I can't delete it. It's rather annoying really. I've tried it through CMD as well.

Anyone got any other ideas?

 

[SAJ]

Safe mode is the only thing that comes to mind.

 

[Laivasse]

Hmm...if you have a Win98 cd or boot disk you can use it to boot to a DOS prompt - that ought to do it. I could be wrong but I think with WinXP you have to wait for windows to start before you can have a cmd prompt.

edit: have a look here http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

 

[WhiteZero]

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Unlocker/1115825635/1
No need for safemode or boot disks for a simple problem like that

or get process exporer, search for handles using the exe and end their process

 

[Barney Fife]

Check if application is active in the Task-Bar. If not, try; Ctrl+Alt+Del to Task manager, click Processes, right click the program in question and End process.

Good Luck.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Check if application is active in the Task-Bar. If not, try; Ctrl+Alt+Del to Task manager, click Processes, right click the program in question and End process.

Good Luck.

It's not active I know full well it isn't..

Unlocker did it. For some reason explorer was calling the process :|

 

[WhiteZero]

Yeah, task manager will rarly fix that problem, since the file is usualy just a handle being used by another program, usualy explorer.

 

[Laivasse]

This sometimes happens with corrupt files - I had it happen to me with a temporary movie preview file created by emule once.It was so bad that my comp would slow down and start crying just by my opening the same folder.

Thanks for the Unlocker link, btw, handy prog.