Difficulty renaming/deleting folders (TRY AGAIN or CANCEL)

orlando1974

New Member
Member
Messages
173
OK, I've gotten so frustrated by this that I'm now sufficiently motivated to post on the forum and include screenshots in the hopes of finding a solution.

Basically, the problem is that when I try to rename or delete folders, I tend to get the following error, EVEN WHEN NOT IN USE!

Capture.PNG

I will also get the error when trying to move folders around with Drag/Drop or using Keyboard Shortcuts (CTRL X CTRL V):

DragnDropORkeyboardshortcutsISSUE.PNG

SOMETIMES, I have to cancel and try again later. Sometimes, I can just wait like one minute before clicking Try Again and it will work. And the rest of the time I think, I just give up until a restart. The fact I can sometimes just wait a minute before clicking Try Again and it will work makes me wonder if my hard drive has just become extremely slow????

These are not folders "in use" as thats the first thing I check everytime, to make sure all the files in them are closed.

I hope someone can provide a solution to this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
I'm wondering if an antivirus program has set itself a little too assertive -- scanning each and every file over and over?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit [MS blue-disk set]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2 Acers & 1 Antec[?]
    CPU
    i7 in 2 Acers, i5 in desktop
    Motherboard
    Desktop w/Gigabyte
    Memory
    Two w/16GB, 1 w/8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Laptops GameWorthy; Desktop maybe GameWorthy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    flatscreens; 2 are BluRay worthy
    Screen Resolution
    1368x768; 1600x900
    Hard Drives
    1TB internals; 2 ext usb WD 1TB HDs
    PSU
    what's PSU?
    Cooling
    Regular plus external fans
    Keyboard
    desktio w/PS2
    Mouse
    desktop w/PS2
    Internet Speed
    DSL middle level [160?]
    Browser
    from Netscape 0.9 to FF 36
    Antivirus
    well-balanced, well-configured mult-layered defense is best
    Other Info
    From MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 6.22, from Windows 3.1 to WFW 3.11 to Windows 95-98SE, now to Windows 7 Pro.
    Security for now: Windows 7 Firewall, Emsisoft AM, MSE [scan-only], SpywareBlaster, Ruiware/BillP combine
I only use the built-in Windows Defender on Win 8.1.
I've noticed its not restricted to only one drive.. it happens on my primary (SSD) and on my secondary (HDD). Its also quite random, I have a hard time duplicating it consistently.. but usually seems that if I change another folder's name in the directory, then i will get this problem trying to change another folder's name right after.... (although like I said, this issue does not ALWAYS happen...)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
This is the sort of thing that led me to disable all the thumbnail features in Windows 7, which I've done ever since. Using gpedit.msc, there are four thumbnail-related settings under User->Administration->Windows Components->File Explorer. (In Windows 7, it was "Windows Explorer".)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
Im on Win 8.1 and Im not sure that thumbnails have anything to do with it... I didnt have this problem a few months ago before doing a fresh install (of Win 8.1). And I definitely dont want to disable thumbs given my line of work in the arts.
Hopefully other people can chime in and provide some other possible causes/solutions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
Have you tried rebooting, and then trying to delete/rename/whatever before you run any software?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI h97 PC Mate
    Memory
    Kingston Valu Ram 2 x 8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon r7 265
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 22" flat display
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 250 gb 840 evo SSD,
    WD Blue 1 TB HD,
    Fantom 2 TB ext HD
    PSU
    Corsair 600 W
    Case
    Antec 1
    Cooling
    stock CPU cooler, 4 x case fans, GPU fan and P/S fan
    Keyboard
    HP ps/2 keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech Trackman Marble
    Internet Speed
    50 mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton Security Suite
Yes, I just rebooted. Launched a directory on my second drive, tried to change a folder name and got the infamous windows "ding" and the popup telling me the action cant be completed because the folder is open in another program.

Hmm, it just occured to me that this possibly started happening after I enabled these folders in the SHARED Libraries so that I could access them from another computer. The other computer is off but I wonder if this might be related... I will disable the sharing to see what happens.

(although if that solves the problem, then I'll have a new one that I cant share my folders without this issue..) Anyway, let me go troubleshoot...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
I don't use filesharing myself, but I am pretty sure that shared folders are always considered to be "in use" by Windows.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i5-4590
    Motherboard
    MSI h97 PC Mate
    Memory
    Kingston Valu Ram 2 x 8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon r7 265
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 22" flat display
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 250 gb 840 evo SSD,
    WD Blue 1 TB HD,
    Fantom 2 TB ext HD
    PSU
    Corsair 600 W
    Case
    Antec 1
    Cooling
    stock CPU cooler, 4 x case fans, GPU fan and P/S fan
    Keyboard
    HP ps/2 keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech Trackman Marble
    Internet Speed
    50 mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton Security Suite
DARN!!! This did not resolve the problem. Its so annoying. I wonder if it has to do with permissions. Sometimes when I open a folder, it takes a while before "folder is empty" dissappears and I see the contents appear. (I'm talking locally now)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
Here's a solution to the problem, and possibly the ability to see the cause of the problem:

Go to the website: "LockHunter is a free 64/32 bit tool to delete files blocked by any processes" and get LockHunter.
Install it. After doing so, Right click the Folder -> What is locking this folder?
See what is locking it, press the Unlock It! button and then delete/rename the folder.

Please post back of your results for others to see if this was useful =)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Pentium GPU G2020 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    P8B75-M - CSM
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
Thx pepanee for the link to the software.

OK so my test was to rename folder A in the directory. Success (as expected). Rename folder B in the directory right after, FAIL. And here is why:

Rename One Folder Than Cant Rename Another Right Away.PNG

I don't know why this is happening but I'm guessing that it must be related to the issue of sometimes opening a folder and having to wait 3 seconds before it shows me the contents. As I said before, sometimes if I just wait 30 seconds before attempting to rename a file or folder, it will work. So it sounds like my drives are just "lagging" in response time (?!?!) I dont know if this is related but ever since I posted this thread, I find that I've become attentive to a constant subtle hard drive spinning sound in my tower....which I never really noticed before unless I was loading/saving or performing other disk activity.

Is all this possibly related?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
It sounds like your hard disk is busy doing something, most likely that this system process, explorer, is busy doing something... Try Checking the 'More details' option in this program and see what it would say under 'explorer.exe'. Maybe it will pin point information down so you can figure out exactly what's causing this. But I hope this program helps out in being able to delete/rename a folder that got stuck/locked.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Pentium GPU G2020 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    P8B75-M - CSM
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
Yes sir.. that is most definitely it. That thumbs.db file is 'always busy' when you want to delete that folder. I don't remember how my computer configuration is set, yet I have it set so none of my folders are allowed to create a Thumbs.db file, no matter what.

I'd say research "disable Thumbs.db" on the internet, or even create a new post asking how to do that.

*Edit: Yet I also want to point out that if you press the Unlock button, you should be able to delete that folder afterwards. I use this program sometimes since when I'm playing music from some folder and change the song while Winamp is still open, sometimes the folder procrastinates about getting deleted, so I just Unlock it.

Hope all works out buddy.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Pentium GPU G2020 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    P8B75-M - CSM
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
Hmm, well I had installed 2 possibly related programs in the last few weeks. Sage Thumbs so that I would be able to see thumbnails of PSD (Photoshop) files, AND a Windows Explorer extension that allows SVG graphics to be viewed as thumbnails.

I had already uninstalled Sage Thumbs but I believe that the SVG Explorer extension 0.1.1 by Dotz Software is still installed.

Hmmm
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64-bit
Oh lol, right?
My bad bro.

Yet I hope my replies where helpful enough for you to verify that your assumption was 100% correct.
And that you were introduced to this new program that you can maybe use in the future in a different scenario.

So yes, disable all the thumbnail creations. I dunno why Microsoft hasn't fixed this yet. It's been a long running issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Pentium GPU G2020 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    P8B75-M - CSM
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
Oh lol, right?
My bad bro.

Yet I hope my replies where helpful enough for you to verify that your assumption was 100% correct.

It wasn't an "assumption"; it was a description of a possible cause, a recounting of personal experience that might have applied.

ETA: To the OP, who didn't want to consider it because he likes thumbnail generation, I found I don't need it in Explorer. For images, I use other programs like Picasa and FastStone Image Viewer. For music, I use iTunes and foobar2000. For video, I use Kodi and PotPlayer. I just want Explorer to be a fast and non-interfering general purpose file manager.

And that you were introduced to this new program that you can maybe use in the future in a different scenario.

So yes, disable all the thumbnail creations. I dunno why Microsoft hasn't fixed this yet. It's been a long running issue.

Looks useful. It's been so long, I don't remember how I figured out thumbnail generation was causing my problem. I may have used Sysinternals Process Explorer to search for the path with its Handles search.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
You're welcome orlando1974
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Professional (64-Bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Pentium GPU G2020 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    P8B75-M - CSM
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8400GS
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VS247
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 720
Back
Top