cannot delete exe file, cannot view its properties, cannot do anything except run it
I have an exe file on my system that I can't delete, nor can I view the file's properties. The only thing I can do with it is run it. I am using an administrator level account as I want to install the program that this setup exe is for. So I should have sufficient privileges. I downloaded a program I just bought and extracted it from the zip file it was in. I renamed the setup program to something that would tell me what the file was when I looked at it a year from now. I decided to run it using 'Vista' compatibility, so tried to open the file properties by right clicking on it. It wouldn't open. In fact when I right clicked, nothing happened at all. So I tried to delete it and re-unzip it from the compressed file. It wouldn't delete. A small pop-up window came up on the screen with "Preparing to recycle" in the title bar. It also appeared as a title in the body of the pop-up window I clicked on the "more" arrow at the bottom right it showed a list saying: Name: (nothing else appeared on this line... it was blank) From: blank again Time Remaining: Calculating... (followed by blank) Items Remaining: Calculating... (followed by blank) Speed: Calculating... (followed by blank) A progress bar showed a green blur thing moving from left to right, but other than that, nothing happened. It stays like that until you cancel. The file will not delete. I hope someone can help me out here, and someone from Microsoft can suggest something and try to replicate this and fix it. This is very bad. I would say that this should be considered a show stopper.
June 21st, 2009 9:49am

Well folks, took an old timer to remember an old Windows 3.0 trick we used to use. Close all windows, shut down and reboot the machine, open the file manager to the directory the file is in and retry the operation. And it deleted no problem. OK, so maybe it didn't take an old timer, but it still reminded me that even though we are looking at Windows 7... well the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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June 21st, 2009 10:28am

I presume you really meant Explorer in this case, not File Manager.Otherwise, I was wondering how you got it to run.I would have probably just used a command prompt.
June 21st, 2009 9:41pm

It may be the NTFS file permissions have somehow got in a twist. It happens. To check this, right click the file, get Properties. Click the Security tab, click Advanced.Click on the Owner tab. Is the 'Current Owner' a long string of numbers or characters? If so, the SID (owner ID) belongs to a member that doesn't exist on this machine. If so, click Edit, and change the owner to your own user name, or the Administrator. OK it all. Now go back to the main Security tab, and click Edit (permissions), and allow Everyone - FULL CONTROL. Now see if you can remove the file.Hope that helps...Steve Mwww.stevenmunden.info/candoforyou
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June 22nd, 2009 11:25pm

Hy. I ran into that damn problem too. And after days of searching I finally found this software: Long Path Tool. It's GREAT. You can find it here: http://www.longpathtool.com/ Regards.
November 3rd, 2010 6:52pm

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