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Cannot delete empty folders, says Winlogon.exe is using them

Y

Yousuf Khan

Flightless Bird
I have a couple of folders under the "Program Files" folder which are
completely empty, scanned them, and no files left in them. However, when
I go to delete these two directories, it says other programs are using
them. I have a utility called Unlocker which I could use to break these
locks, and it's the util that tells me exactly which program is using
these folders, but I am hesitant to delete something that winlogon in
using.

The two subfolders that I'm trying to remove are "microsoft frontpage"
and "xerox", neither of which are programs that are still installed on
my system. Is there a registry setting I can set or unset to prevent
winlogon from using these folders? Why would it be using either of these
folders if there's nothing in these folders?

Yousuf Khan
 
I

Iceman

Flightless Bird
On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:34:23 -0400, Yousuf Khan wrote in message
<news:ht6dnZ9XL9ld-eTRnZ2dnUVZ7oGdnZ2d@giganews.com>:

> I have a couple of folders under the "Program Files" folder which are
> completely empty, scanned them, and no files left in them. However, when
> I go to delete these two directories, it says other programs are using
> them. I have a utility called Unlocker which I could use to break these
> locks, and it's the util that tells me exactly which program is using
> these folders, but I am hesitant to delete something that winlogon in
> using.
>
> The two subfolders that I'm trying to remove are "microsoft frontpage"
> and "xerox", neither of which are programs that are still installed on
> my system. Is there a registry setting I can set or unset to prevent
> winlogon from using these folders? Why would it be using either of these
> folders if there's nothing in these folders?

You can try disabling File Protection in the Registry and then delete the
folders. Make sure to re-enable it afterwards, BTW.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows

NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
Value Name: SFCDisable
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: 0 = enabled (default), 1 = disabled

The empty Xerox folder seems to be an extremely difficult thing to deal
with. Here's a discussion thread on the subject, but maybe you should just
leave that folder be.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1063931130
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

Flightless Bird
On 8/28/2010 3:16 PM, Iceman wrote:
> The empty Xerox folder seems to be an extremely difficult thing to deal
> with. Here's a discussion thread on the subject, but maybe you should just
> leave that folder be.
>
> http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1063931130

Thanks, I was just looking through a bunch of forum threads about the
"microsoft frontpage" folder and it seemed to be completely all
questions and no answers. This thread you pointed to about the
"xerox/nwwia" folder is more technical, and it seems the main solution
is just leave it alone, don't bother with it.

Yousuf Khan
 
P

Pegasus [MVP]

Flightless Bird
"Yousuf Khan" <bbbl67@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ht6dnZ9XL9ld-eTRnZ2dnUVZ7oGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
> I have a couple of folders under the "Program Files" folder which are
> completely empty, scanned them, and no files left in them. However, when I
> go to delete these two directories, it says other programs are using them.
> I have a utility called Unlocker which I could use to break these locks,
> and it's the util that tells me exactly which program is using these
> folders, but I am hesitant to delete something that winlogon in using.
>
> The two subfolders that I'm trying to remove are "microsoft frontpage" and
> "xerox", neither of which are programs that are still installed on my
> system. Is there a registry setting I can set or unset to prevent winlogon
> from using these folders? Why would it be using either of these folders if
> there's nothing in these folders?
>
> Yousuf Khan

You can delete any folder without restriction when booting the machine with
a Bart PE Boot CD or a Windows 7 Repair CD (yes, it will work on a Windows
XP machine). You can download the latter from here:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/.
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

Flightless Bird
On 28/08/2010 6:30 PM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:
>> The two subfolders that I'm trying to remove are "microsoft frontpage"
>> and "xerox", neither of which are programs that are still installed on
>> my system. Is there a registry setting I can set or unset to prevent
>> winlogon from using these folders? Why would it be using either of
>> these folders if there's nothing in these folders?
>>
>> Yousuf Khan
>
> You can delete any folder without restriction when booting the machine
> with a Bart PE Boot CD or a Windows 7 Repair CD (yes, it will work on a
> Windows XP machine). You can download the latter from here:
> http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/.

Well that raises the question, what is it about these folders that makes
them special, and therefore is it safe to remove them at all?

Yousuf Khan
 
P

Patok

Flightless Bird
Yousuf Khan wrote:
> On 28/08/2010 6:30 PM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:
>>> The two subfolders that I'm trying to remove are "microsoft frontpage"
>>> and "xerox", neither of which are programs that are still installed on
>>> my system. Is there a registry setting I can set or unset to prevent
>>> winlogon from using these folders? Why would it be using either of
>>> these folders if there's nothing in these folders?
>>>
>>> Yousuf Khan
>>
>> You can delete any folder without restriction when booting the machine
>> with a Bart PE Boot CD or a Windows 7 Repair CD (yes, it will work on a
>> Windows XP machine). You can download the latter from here:
>> http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/.
>
> Well that raises the question, what is it about these folders that makes
> them special, and therefore is it safe to remove them at all?

Somebody explained in the Annoyances forum, that the Xerox one was
for the native OCR engine in Windows. Apparently it was licensed from
Xerox, thus the name, and the reason for its permanence was that it was
expected to exist for temporary files during operation.
Quite separate is the issue, why did it have to sit in "Program
files" and not in Windows, and why the engine couldn't have just created
a temporary folder for itself, if it needed one.
I give it for what I got it. :)

--
You'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone.
--
Whoever bans a book, shall be banished. Whoever burns a book, shall burn.
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

Flightless Bird
On 29/08/2010 7:13 PM, Patok wrote:
> Yousuf Khan wrote:
>> Well that raises the question, what is it about these folders that
>> makes them special, and therefore is it safe to remove them at all?
>
> Somebody explained in the Annoyances forum, that the Xerox one was for
> the native OCR engine in Windows. Apparently it was licensed from Xerox,
> thus the name, and the reason for its permanence was that it was
> expected to exist for temporary files during operation.
> Quite separate is the issue, why did it have to sit in "Program files"
> and not in Windows, and why the engine couldn't have just created a
> temporary folder for itself, if it needed one.
> I give it for what I got it. :)

Microsoft, a law unto itself.

Yousuf Khan
 
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