Can't get rid of locks on all mp3/audio files

[pszalapski]

I cannot delete/copy/move any mp3, mp2, ogg, wma, wav, mid, or au file anywhere on my hard drive or on removable (USB flash memory) drives--it as if all such files (over 10,000) are locked by another process. I've made sure no programs are running (even tried safe mode and killing all significant processes). Using Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/), I try to see what process has the lock(s)...it is always Explorer.exe. Whether I restart Explorer.exe or the whole machine, there are still several locks on every audio file by Explorer.exe that I cannot kill (according to Unlocker). What gives? How can I make Explorer stop acquiring these locks on any audio file?

I have Windows XP home, fully updated, with fully updated AVG antivirus which comes up clean. I have Winamp, WMP, Exact Audio Copy, Audacity, and iTunes for Windows, among other programs, installed but not running. This problem even happens if I create a 0-bye TXT file and rename it to .mp3. Immediately on the rename, Explorer acquires several locks on the file (according to unlocker). All other files, including video files, text files, etc. have no locks on them, and I can delete/rename these files normally.

Below is a link to a portion of my screenshot, which shows the locks in an example and all the processes (having killed anything non-essential.) Any help is appreciated, thanks.

P-Sz

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zo...ne?id=687664368&size=o

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'd guess Explorer is busy trying to index / build info on all 10,000 files and if you let it run for a few hours the copy might work.

If so, the faster solution would be to go into your folder options and turn off all of the options relating to showing tooltips, thumbnails, extended properties, etc.

Also turn off drive indexing, fast finding, searching options.

 

[Anubis]

could be a virus or spy/malware program running hidden, have you done a virus sweep?

 

[pszalapski]

Thanks for the thoughts. Indexing is disabled, Office "Find Fast" is not installed, status bar is off, tooltips are off, thumbnails are off for this folder, and no extended property columns are viewed in this folder. I did these things to be sure, even though Explorer should be able to do all of the above without holding a lock on every file.

A virus scan with AVG reveals no viruses, and a malware scan with Windows Defender reveals no spyware. sfc.exe reports all files correct.

Choosing to force-unlock all locks in Unlocker results in new locks (with different handles) being placed.

Any other thoughts? This is driving me up the wall.

 

[0roo0roo]

use a program called unlocker

 

[pszalapski]

I hope you are joking, 0roo. If not, please reread either of my posts above.

 

[dealmaster00]

There is probably better advice out there somewhere...but this is the best I can come up with.

You could try popping in an ubuntu live CD (or any other bootable CD for that matter) and move files around from there. Or you could try installing an extra copy of XP on your computer, move the files, and then uninstall it. A workaround, I know, but I think you would be able to move around your files this way.

 

[pszalapski]

Thanks for the help, all. Dealmaster, it actually would work if I booted to "Command prompt only", so I know that using ubuntu/knoppix would work too--but not solve my problem (I like XP 🙂

It turns out that any file associated with Winamp was always locked by Explorer. Nor sure why, but as soon as I reassociated MP3's with Windows Media Player, my locking issue went away. Quite strange...