cant delete

i have a file "Leon - The Professional [DivX]" in my backup folder from previous windows xp (i had to send pc back to get xp reinstalled) only ths file i cannot open it to play, cant look at properties, (which reminds me when i check properties on any film file it takes about 5 secs or more efore properties are displayed, is this normal) cant delete... even if i go into safe mode.

all i know is it was an .avi or mpeg \file that used to play on my old xp setup.

how do i dump it?

thanks for any help

 

As far as the properties problem, I have removed the second page of info from my avi properties page to prevent XP from scanning an entire file to find this information:

1. Open up regedt32
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E} "

To delete an undeletable file/folder, this from Kelly Theriot's site:

"Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the command prompt type DEL <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager. "

An alternative is to run the Recovery Console from CD and use the del command, or install the Recovery Console for later use:

Go to Start--> Help and Support and search for "Recovery Console" for information on how to install it as a startup option.

(It sounds like you don't have file types being shown. You may want to go to Folder Options and make them visible.)

 

verdi you didn't say what format your file system was using.

If you happen to be running FAT32, you can boot to a Win98 boot disk and delete anything you need to in a DOS session.

Not all XP systems are installed using NTFS formatting but the majority seem to be. If you have NTFS, then a full dos sessions isn't available unless you use 3rd party software. In that case, you are stuck with installing the Recovery Console that Abraxas mentioned.

My XP was delivered with NTFS as the format. I have since converted it to FAT32 using Partition Magic; I have no regrets. For many of us, the NTFS good points do not outweigh the bad ones.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the note, verdi . I'm glad the reg tweak did it for you.

I don't think XP handles avi's very well, and incomplete avi's often are difficult to delete.