can't delete mscdex.exe file from windows xp

[gmwilson72]

Hope someone can help. I was downloading drivers for my second computer (reinstalling win98), but using my winxp computer to download them and put them on floppy. I saved the mscdex.exe onto desktop to move it to a:floppy, but now i can't remove it from desktop. It says another user or program may be using it.... the typical statement on files. I tried going into command propmt and deleting it from there....but same message. 1st..if I delete it...is it going to ruin my cdrom or files...and 2nd...how can i get rid of it. My dvdrom and dvd-burner seem to work fine, but not sure why it won't let me delete it. Thanks for any help.

 

[ATIRAGEPRO]

"del.exexexe....."

IÂ’m not sure, but if you type:
DEL mscdex.exe
in dos mode, and press enter. (Go in dos mode by accessing the MS-DOS prompt application, by going in the accessories menu in the programs menu.) Please tell me if this works.

 

[Worked4me]

A lot of times when a file is locked by or in use by the system
you can open task manager right click Explorer.exe and then
delete the file. If that doesn't work then use Moveonboot
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/moveonboot.html
It allows you to move or delete files that are locked by the system.

The other option is booting into Safe Mode and trying to delete
the file but I think the Moveonboot is the best solutions for
this instance.

Good Luck.

 

[gmwilson72]

do u mean delete the explorer.exe file in the task manager? I right click on it and it asks for priority type. I tried the command prompt routine a couple times.. it tells me that it is in use. The problem I have is that i don't know what service or app is using it. I did a search for the file on my system and it only shows the location on desktop. I went into safemode and tried to delete it that way, but still won't work.... any other suggestions besides the program move???

 

[gmwilson72]

MOVE ON BOOT PROGRAM WORKS!!!! IT worked like a charm...Thanks for the information on the program.... it helped me.

 

[Worked4me]

Glad it did the trick