A common problem faced by novice users is that a file or folder is not deleted (due to some file) that needs to be deleted. At the same time, the system writes the file is in use by another process or action cannot be performed because this file is open in program_name or that you need to ask permission from someone. This can be encountered in any version of the OS - Windows 7, 8, Windows 10 or XP.

In fact, there are several ways to delete such files at once, each of which will be discussed here. Let's see how to delete a non-deleting file without using third-party tools, and then I will describe how to delete busy files using LiveCD and the free Unlocker program. I note that deleting such files is not always safe. Be careful that this is not a system file (especially when you are told that you need permission from TrustedInstaller).

The past has a supernatural way to come back to haunt us. The company has begun sending photos they posted 10 years ago to their old users to "re-engage them through a personalized experience," which many bloggers interpret as more likely in hopes of embarrassing them back into submission.

That's a lot of data and a lot of potentially red-faced users. The cloud is a stunning and terrifying beast. This can increase flexibility and efficiency. This can facilitate communication and collaboration. This can lead to humiliation and exposure in every way. For this reason, cautious users take great care in protecting themselves. They use strong passwords, implement two-factor authentication, encrypt their files, and take other precautions. However, they have no control over what service providers do with their data, especially deleted material.

Note: if the file is not deleted not because it is in use, but with a message that access is denied and you need permission to perform this operation or you need to request permission from the owner, then use this guide: How to take ownership of a file and folder in Windows or Request permission from TrustedInstaller (also suitable for the case when you need to request permission from Administrators).

Providers, of course, want to stay in business, which means a strong and trustworthy reputation built on trust and a labyrinth of redundant systems that can span the world. They want their users to be happy and satisfied. Even so, clearing files from their systems may seem like a low priority compared to the task of maintaining those systems and keeping data transferring and secure.

Even encrypted data can be compromised. Yes, the cloud can be an amazing tool, but know that whatever you can find there can come back to haunt you for a long time to come. It's basically "add or remove files as usual and your library will detect changes when you update". If you no longer want a video in your library, you can delete it wherever you store all your videos, for example.

Deleting a file without additional programs

As a rule, if the file is not deleted, then in the message you can see what process it is busy with - it may be explorer.exe or some other problem. It is logical to assume that in order to delete it, you need to make sure that the file is “not busy”.

So you are deleting or moving the directory corresponding to that series on your disk. Leave the rest of your TV content alone. Once you have removed the desired content, you will need to update your library. Many people will have their own server to detect changes automatically and so they don't have to do anything. If you need or want to initiate a manual library update, you can do so as usual.

Note. If you remove all content from the original location, the update may not remove the content because the server may treat such things as if the content was not available. If you want to remove all content, you can either remove this source folder from your library settings or delete the library.

It's easy to do - start the task manager:

• In Windows 7 and XP, you can get to it by Ctrl + Alt + Del.
• In Windows 8 and Windows 10, you can click windows keys+ X and select task manager.

Find the process that is using the file you want to delete and stop the task. Delete the file. If the file is occupied by the explorer.exe process, then before canceling the task in the task manager, run command line on behalf of the administrator and, after you remove the task, use the command in the command line del full_path_to_file to remove it.

Depending on your server settings, content may not be immediately removed from your library. Instead, it will be placed in the "Trash". When in the trash you can restore things by simply returning the contents to their original location. If you want to remove cart items from your library, you can make an empty cart in your library.

Be very careful about being able to use and use this ability. Warning!: Deleting an item in this way will immediately remove it from your library and also delete the associated media file. This is usually placed in your operating system's recycle bin or trash can, but it can remove the item from your drive immediately and permanently.

In order to return the standard view of the desktop after that, you need to run explorer.exe again, for this, in the task manager, select "File" - "New task" - "explorer.exe".

Removing a locked file using a bootable USB flash drive or disk

Another way to delete such a file is to boot from any LiveCD drive, system recovery disk, or boot Windows flash drives. When using LiveCD in any of its variants, you can use either the standard Windows graphical interface (for example, in BartPE) and Linux (Ubuntu), or command line tools. Please note that when booting from such a drive, hard drives computer may be under different letters. To make sure you are deleting a file from desired disk, you can use the command dirc:(this example will display a list of folders on drive C).

Typically, you access the features from the details page or preview for an item. Specifications may vary from application to application. When copying, downloading or writing images, this file is also used, which is meaningless. It is often impossible to delete empty picture folders. . Click "Start" and type "Run" in the search box. Click on a search result in the list.

Explanation: A value of 1 means that buffering is disabled - a value of 0 means that buffering remains active. So another hint HDD to deplete. Then you can delete all found records of this file at once. After this cleanup, you should have plenty of free space, depending on how many images have been saved to your hard drive. Author's note.

Using bootable flash drive or installation Windows disk 7 and Windows 8, at any time during the installation (after the language selection window has already loaded and in the following steps), press Shift + F10 to enter the command prompt. You can also select "System Restore", a link to which is also present in the installer. Also, as in the previous case, pay attention to the possible change in drive letters.

When deleting and moving files or directories, you get an error when the file is still open or in use. However, for security reasons, the program asks if the uninstall process should actually run while the programs are open or in use.

These files can also be copied or moved. However, errors can occur quickly. Every day there are many files that we delete from our hard drive and which we store directly in the basket. However, it's always much more convenient to try to automate certain tasks so that you don't have to manually do them or forget them.

Using DeadLock to Unlock and Delete Files

Since the following Unlocker program even from the official site recently (2016) began to install various unwanted programs and is blocked by browsers and antiviruses, I suggest considering an alternative - DeadLock, which also allows you to unlock and delete files from your computer (it also promises to change the owner, but in my tests it did not work ).


So, if when deleting a file you see a message that the action cannot be performed because the file is open in some program, then using DeadLock in the File menu you can add this file to the list, and then, using the right click - unlock it (Unlock) and remove (Remove). You can also move the file.


The program, although in English (maybe a Russian translation will appear soon), is very easy to use. The disadvantage (and for some, perhaps, the advantage) - unlike Unlocker, it does not add the file unlock action to the Explorer context menu. You can download DeadLock from the official website http://codedead.com/?page_id=822

Free Unlocker to Unlock Files That Can't Be Deleted

The Unlocker program is probably the most popular way to delete files that are in use by a particular process. The reasons for this are simple: it is free, it does its job well, in general, it works. You can download Unlocker for free on the official website of the developer http://www.emptyloop.com/unlocker/(recently, the site has been identified as malicious).

How to delete files by setting their expiration date

It is a free and portable tool, so it does not require installation and we can get it on the computer we want without problems. Automatically we will see how a large icon appears on the desktop in the form of a basket in which we can drag and drop all the files that we want to delete within a certain period of time. If we do not see this icon, we will have to double-click on the icon that appears automatically on the taskbar.

When dragging one or more files, we will have a list of all of them with the option to specify if we want them to expire in 1 month, 6 months or a year. When you click on the huge recycle bin icon on the desktop, we can quickly see the files that are expiring soon and the first ones that expire later or that have expired and have been eliminated will be eliminated first. From each of the lists, we can exclude the expiration date of any of the files and even set them aside from there if we are not sure what it is or contains any of them.

Using the program is very simple - after installation, just click right click mouse over the file that is not deleted and select in context menu"Unlocker" item. In the case of using the portable version of the program, which is also available for download, run the program, a window will open for selecting the file or folder that you want to delete.

Clip and share sequences Photos extracted from videos or time-lapse shots. The selected photo is saved in a specific location based on the original location of the video or the time delay used as the source.

• Montages are classified into the following categories.
• Where are the extracted photos stored on my hard drive?

For more information on the exact location given file please try the following procedure.

They appear as a small yellow icon that indicates the number of tags in the lower right corner.

• Select a media file in the tool preview sketches.
• Right click on the thumbnail.
• You can only sort media files by the date they were created in the camera settings.
• Please refer to this question for the required configuration.

However, once the file is imported to your hard drive, this will not be possible. overwrite this metadata so new permanent tags cannot be added.

The essence of the program is the same as in the first described method - unloading from the memory of the processes that the file is busy with. The main advantages over the first method - using the program Unlocker file it is easier to remove and, moreover, it can find and end a process that is hidden from the eyes of users, that is, not available for viewing through the task manager.

This has been done to make it as easy as possible to transfer and play your media files.

• It will then be moved to the trash.
• You can find the user manual by clicking on this link.

This software can also automatically download and install updates.

See How do I achieve maximum upload and download speeds? . If you want to display it on the dock, click "Settings" to uncheck "Hide dock icon". Click "Settings", open the "Select Folders" tab and click "Select Folders". . For each folder, you can sync everything in the folder, separate folders inside the folder and files that are not in subfolders within the folder.

You are trying to delete a file, and you are told that its name is too long, or you do not have permission to delete it. And no matter what you do, there is no deletion. Familiar situation? So you've come to the right place. There are several ways to delete such a file, or even an entire folder, but all of them are not for novice computer users. Some of you will probably give up on such a file and forget about it, but there are those who this file will be like a thorn in their side and will not rest until they remove it, even if it means demolishing the entire operating system. I also belong to the second type of people, which is why I love the computer, because it always has such problems in bulk.

In fact, you can delete any file from the computer, another question is whether the computer will work after that.

Video on how to delete a file that is not deleted:

In fact, you can delete any file from the computer, another question is whether the computer will work after that. Before deleting any folder or file, make sure that it is not system files, after the removal of which, at best, you can be left without sound, and at worst, your system simply will no longer boot.

Once upon a time, when the largest computer was 10 GB in size, and there was operating system Windows 98, I thought there were too many unnecessary files on my computer, and I deleted what I could delete. It ended up that my sound simply disappeared, and I had no choice but to reinstall the system again.

All this mess cost me a pretty penny, because I was a novice user, and apart from how to turn the computer on and off, I didn’t know how to do anything. No, I'm lying! I also knew how to delete folders and files. After that incident, I made a promise to myself that I would never delete what I did not know. And for this I had to learn a computer.

Then I found out what a hard drive is, how it is, what a hard drive is and why it is needed, where is the free space on the disk, how is the disk for errors, what are recovery points, and how are they, what is it and why is it disabled by the administrator, although I did not disable it, and much, much more.

If you work at a computer, then all these problems will sooner or later confront you, so my advice to you is to study the computer and try to solve problems with it yourself. There is nothing wrong with a computer! Today I will teach you how to delete files that do not want to be deleted, and then you yourself can help someone with this.

So, what if a file or folder doesn't want to be deleted?

• First, make it a rule, before any configuration, installation or removal operations, to do backups folders that are most precious to you, and even better, store their duplicates in or on your hard drive, and be sure to restore points. Then you will not be afraid to experiment.
• Download a free program from the Internet Unlocker. To do this, type in the search for its name and add the word "download".

• If you have an antivirus installed, and it swears on the page with the program, then close such a site and look for the program elsewhere.
• If the program is packed into an archive, then run it and run the file by double-clicking the left mouse button. Select the desired language and click the button OK.

• In the welcome window, click the button Further.

• Accept the license agreement and click the button I accept.

• But in the next window, be careful! Set the switch to record Advanced(just left-click on the circle to the left of this inscription), and uncheck all the checkboxes that are located with the inscription Advanced. If you do not do this, then along with the program Unlocker a few more will be installed desired programs, which will probably only interfere with you. That's the price for being free. Click the button Further.

• In the next window, do not touch anything and press the button Further.

• In the next window, leave everything as it is and click the button Install.

• The program installs quickly. At the end of the installation, press the button Ready.

• Now, in order to delete a file or folder that does not want to be deleted, you need to right-click on this file or folder and select the item in the drop-down menu Unlocker with an icon in the form of a magic wand with an asterisk at the end.

• In the small window of the program, select an action (Delete, Rename, or Move) and press the button OK.

• Sometimes the program cannot immediately delete files, then it will write that the deletion will continue after the system is rebooted.

This program, as you already understood, can not only delete capricious files, but rename them and move them to another location.

Now you know how to delete a file that won't be deleted. Be sure to take this program in your kit. She will come in handy again and again.