Can't delete/move/rename divx avi files after playing them with Windows Media Player in Windows XP... What's going on?

brxndxn

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2001
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This has happened on my desktop and laptop so far. It has also happened on my brother's computer. We are all running Windows XP professional.

About 10-50% of the time I play an avi divx file in Windows Media Player, it won't let me move or delete it after - even if WMP is closed. I have rebooted numerous times and still cannot delete the avi file. I am logged in as administrator.

How do I get WMP to quit 'hanging on' to my divx?
 

bozo1

Diamond Member
May 21, 2001
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It's a bug in XP.

Open up a command prompt window. Change to the drive/directory where the file is located.
Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up Windows Task Manager.
Find explorer.exe in the Processes list. (not iexplore)
End the Process. DO NOT close the Task Manager.
Go to your command prompt window and then delete the file.
In Task Manager, do File, New Task and type in explore. (or you can shutdown from there and reboot if you wish)

Voila