Weird Access Denied Problem

Up front: likely this has nothing to do with DO, but I don't know where else to ask. Maybe there is a straightforward solution... ?

At regular intervals I am encountering the following problem:
I want to delete a folder containing a subfolder and files.

Directory Opus claims 'Access denied' as files are in use.

I have discovered that I can easily delete the individual files in the subfolders and once done I can delete the folder that got me the
access denied error in the first place, i.e. simply delete the underlying
files and then the 'main folder'.

Anybody out there knows how to solve this ?

TIA

[quote="mrwul"]Up front: likely this has nothing to do with DO, but I don't know where else to ask. Maybe there is a straightforward solution... ?

At regular intervals I am encountering the following problem:
I want to delete a folder containing a subfolder and files.

Directory Opus claims 'Access denied' as files are in use.

I have discovered that I can easily delete the individual files in the subfolders and once done I can delete the folder that got me the
access denied error in the first place, i.e. simply delete the underlying
files and then the 'main folder'.

Anybody out there knows how to solve this ?

TIA
==[/quote]

Later ...

ah ... may it have something to do with the fact that the subfolders contain
'setup.exe' files ???

Are they setup.exe files you've just run or ones that have been there for a while?

Setup wizards often stay around for a few seconds after you click Finish and their windows close, cleaning up some remaining stuff.

It could also be real-time anti-virus software getting in the way. If Opus inspects the setup.exe file in some way prior to deletion (e.g. to display its icon in the progress dialog) then it may trigger an a/v scan of the file. Setup.exe files often take a while to scan (especially if the scanner checks the files inside of them as well as the exe's code itself). I've seen setup.exe files which NOD32 takes tens of seconds to scan, for example. That would normally block the thread doing the deletion and thus slow things down a bit but not cause an error, however if another thread looks at the file then it can get in the way of the deletion.

You can use UNLOCKERto get over this
I use it all the time :slight_smile:

Unlocker is a very blunt instrument to use without understanding the reason the files are locked.

[quote="leo"]Are they setup.exe files you've just run or ones that have been there for a while?

Setup wizards often stay around for a few seconds after you click Finish and their windows close, cleaning up some remaining stuff.[/quote]

The setup-files are old, I mean, I was cleaning up old stuff (setup's were not launched)

[quote="leo"]
It could also be real-time anti-virus software getting in the way. [/quote]

I am not sure about this, as said, in this particular case that prompted me to post this mail, it involved some older files on a backupdrive.

I can easily delete the files one by one and then delete the parent folder, that got me the access denied error in the first place.

There may be other programs that might lock the folders (e.g. am running SyncBackPro in the background some times,
but certainly DKService.exe = Diskeeper is active).

But then again, if either my antivirus program, or any other application wud be locking the folders/files, I wonder why it still
allows me to delete the individual files and then the parent folder..?

To make it even more strange...: this is nót happening all the times, but by now regularly enough to know that whén it does,
then I should proceed as above. :wink:

brgds