I had a folder and 2 files within a folder on my PC. I selected both the files and left click dragged and dropped them into the folder (i.e. a normal move). DOpus moved the 2 files into the directory, but it left behind zero byte files with the original filenames in the original location. I now cannot delete these 2 zero byte files. I've tried searching on here, but as you can probably imagine it's a bit difficult to search for "cannot delete files". What I've tried:
Normal deletion within DOpus (select file, hit delete key and click on delete). Result: Error dialog titled "Item Not Found", message: "Could not find this item. This is no longer located in . Verify the item's location and try again"
Secure deletion within DOpus (using the Secure Wipe button on a custom toolbar).
Result: I click on Delete on the confirmation dialog. The dialog disappears and nothing happens. The file is not deleted and there is no error message.
Deleting through command prompt (navigating to dir and using del )
Result: Error message from command prompt stating "Could not find "
Booting into Safe Mode and trying above: No changes.
When I right click on the files in DOpus I don't get the right click menu.
My system:
Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
Directory Opus 9.1.1.7.3307
Are they video files? What you describe happens to me fairly regularly with video files. I don't know the cause of it for sure but it is definitely not Opus as it happens identically on my HTPC which does not have Opus installed.
Exiting the program which played (or examined) the video files causes them to vanish if I had attempted to delete them earlier.
For example, if my HTPC is locking a file that I have shared from my desktop, then if I log-on and exit Media Center (or reboot the HTPC) the file I was trying to delete then vanishes.
The problem can also be triggered within Opus sometimes, since it opens video files via the same splitters and codecs (i.e. DirectShow) that Media Center, Media Player, etc. use; however it's not Opus itself causing the locking but the codecs, as evidenced by it happening on machines without Opus.
[quote]A request to delete a particular file is sent to the system. Message 'Cannot delete xxxxx.wmv: Access is denied message' is returned.
The particular file remains available on the file system but it cannot be accessed anymore by any means. When viewing the properties of the file in Windows Explorer the 'security tab' is not available. I have seen this before on Windows and this usually indicates the file already has been issued a delete command but has not yet been freed because of another process accessing it.
When using the Sysinternals 'Process explorer' utility I can see the particular file has an active handle by process 'WMServer.exe'.[/quote]
It's not specific to WMServer.exe, that's just the process that happened to open the file in their example. It affects so many different processes that it has to be a bug in an underlying, shared component.
You could also try programs like DelinvFile. DelinvFile is an utility that you can use to delete data files and folders that you are not able to erase using the standard Windows Delete function.
This bug is over a year old BTW but who knows if it'll ever be fixed. Maybe in Windows 7. I suspect it's a Windows / Windows Media bug because I've seen it affect WMV files as well as AVI and MPG.
...
Here's one with lots of people talking about it being triggered by Explorer when it generates thumbnails (as with the other programs, it's not Explorer's fault, it's just opening the files via DirectShow and something in that is going wrong):
There's an interesting post on page 2 which suggests inline-renaming (F2) the file to the same thing but with .avi.avi instead of .avi for the extension. I'm not sure if you'll be able to rename the file when it's in that weird "there but not there" state but it's worth a try. I'll try the same thing the next time it happens to me.
[quote="Christiaan"]You could also try programs like DelinvFile. DelinvFile is an utility that you can use to delete data files and folders that you are not able to erase using the standard Windows Delete function.
I ran into a problem today whilst trying to delete a folder and vaguely remembered some discussion from a while back, hence the bump on this one year old thread. It's not obvious to me how to use Sysinternals to debug this. Your guidance would be appreciated. The folder in question was one of a suite - 2009-01, 2009-02, 2009-03, etc. - all of which contained many files. I performed a delete (no recycle) on the parent folder. All files and folders were successfully erased except for this recalcitrant folder. Apart from not wishing to be deleted, it also resists all attempts to open it. Double click has no effect and right mouse click does not bring up a menu.
If right-click doesn't display a menu it suggests that the permissions are set such as to deny you access to the folder. Try viewing the permissions; see who is set as the Owner, and what your own permissions are for it.
By the way, the dialog in the above screenshot is not an Opus error dialog - presumably this is coming from the recycle bin.
Something is corrupted. The parent folder lets me view the full set of Properties tabs - General, Sharing, Security, and Customise - but the errant folder just shows General and Customise tabs. I imagine I'll need some sort of sledgehammer approach to get rid of this tenacious wee devil. Suggestions welcome.
Are you running as Administrator account, and what version of Windows is it?
If it truly is a permissions issue, then you can try subinacl... It's an old utility from the Win2003 Server Resource Kit, and can be used to reset permissions on registry and filesystem objects. Might want to google around to make sure it's ok to run on newer Windows versions (or run a test on some junk data first)... I think something like THIS should do it...
You also could have some sort of fubar or corruption on your drive now... probably couldn't hurt to run a chkdsk or whatever it is for your version of Windows as well.
Thanks Steje. It's a standard XP Pro setup which has been stable "for ever". This is the first time I've ever had a problem of this nature. I'll try CHKDSK as a first step and then SubinACL if that doesn't help. Both good suggestions.
Happy to report that CHKDSK did the job. After it ran, the errant folder was nowhere to be seen and I have successfully deleted the parent which was previously blocked from erasure by the sub folder that caused all the hassle.
I suspect it's a Windows / Windows Media bug because I've seen it affect WMV files as well as AVI and MPG.
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