More inaccessible files!

[Dan Mitchell]

Okay, I know you guys are getting sick of me, but this Windows ME (stands for Mother ....ing Experience, maybe???) is driving *ME* NUTS! I tried using the little file referred to in mjc's response to my "Getting a Paper print out of directory contents" below. The setup seems to work for directories containing straight files, but I tried it with a directory of about 200 images (jpg & gif, mostly) and the #@*&^$#^))(*$$$! printer proceeded to print ALL 200 **images** (in full color, one per page...)! I managed to abort this (which alone involved multiple warning boxes and exentually a ctrl/alt/delete reboot) but now, I can't copy, delete or move ANY of the 200 files! I keep getting the "access denied, file may be in use" both in ME & dos! You may recall I had a similar experience yesterday with a WMA music file (no, none are read only). So I figured that, despite promises to the contrary, the printer drivers had not cleared the queue, so I un-installed the printer drivers. But once again, ME was one step ahead of *me* in its task of driving me crazy, and the moment I rebooted after removing the drivers it REINSTALLED THEM! God knows from where, the driver CD is in it's sleeve (obviously the executable exists "somewhere" on the HD)! No "printer drivers missing, would you like to reload" message, no NOTHING, it just freeken DID IT!!!! I HATE this!

So, 1) does anyone have any idea how I can "release" these images from the frigid talons of ME and 2) PLEASE tell me if one of the other Windows systems has less of this behind-the-scenes protect-the-user-from-himself crap going on! Honest to god, I'd install 3.1 if I could find a copy!!!

THANKS for your help & patience!

Dan

[tjaymadison]

Did you cut & paste the batch file listing from the MS link or type it yourself?

If you typed it in, be sure that all the spaces, quotes, dashes, forward slashes, and % are exactly as shown.
Make sure you used "(quote) and not two ' (apostrophe).
If the batch file has a syntax error, that may be what's causing the problem.
Specifically the line that starts dir %1.

The printer drivers are in .cab files on the HD. That's why they were re-installed.

You could have stopped the print job by Start > Settings > Printers, selecting the printer,
then File > Pause Printing then File > Purge Print Documents.
If the files are still in the print queue, they are "in use". The drivers are never in the queue.

This does not seem to be a Windows Me problem at all, but rather OE.


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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

[This message has been edited by tjaymadison (edited 05-18-2001).]

[Dan Mitchell]

tjay-I copied & pasted the text. Why risk an error? The utility worked with a small directory of .dat files, which I tried first. It only failed with the 200 image files. I *did* attempt to stop the printing in the usual manner, but every time I cancelled one file, it started to print the next. I'm sure you can appreciate that doing this 200 times verges on the tedious, so I rebooted. The printer queue is (and was) blank, yet I *still* can't move, copy or delete any of the effected files, despite numerous reboots.

What I've tried seems like pretty standard and correct operating procedure to me, I don't know for sure if the error is in ME, the Canon printer drivers (new printer) or elsewhere in the system, but the file printing situation not withstanding, I'm still at a lose to determine why the 200 files remain inaccessible. I'm new to this OS and my computer skills in general are dated, but I have used dos, 3.1 & 95, none of which were perfect, but the stuff I've dealt with in the last 3 days with this OS are on a new level of annoyance in my experience.

Thanks for the tip about the location of the drivers load files, I'll check that out. It may not be part of this particular problem, but automatically reloading drivers w/o even consulting the operator is the kind of thing that just rubs me the wrong way I guess. Why store drivers which will probably be outdated almost immediately on the pc?

I appreciate your interest.

Dan

[mjc]

Here are two possible cause of the "in use error" that I can thinkk of.....

Thumbnails everywhere. In Windows Me, all the graphics in the My Pictures folder are small previews, or thumbnails, of the full image. In addition, if you choose a graphic, you can do various things with it using the Windows Me Image Preview feature. If you want that same functionality in other folders, here’s what you do: Open a new or existing folder and click on View/Customize This Folder. Doing so launches the Customize This Folder Wizard. Click on Next, and then click on Next again as it comes up twice more; finally, click on Finish. You can also customize folders in other ways; each "Next" offers you plenty of options. For more information, search for Image Preview in Help and Support. (Go to Start and choose Help.)





Open sesame. You can easily open the same file with different programs. For example, you can open a GIF (or any graphics file) with Image Preview, Internet Explorer, the PhotoDraw® business graphics software, the Picture It!® consumer photo-editing software or Paint without using special key combinations or wading through the Choose Program list. Here’s how: Select a file you want to open with multiple applications, right-click on it and then select Open With, Choose Program and select a program or utility you want. Each program you choose will appear on the Open With drop-down list for easy selection. You don’t have to open the Choose Program dialog box, and you don’t have to associate a file type with a single program


Also make sure that there are no shortcuts to any graphics programs in Startup, run msconfig and see if there are graphics programs there that need to be disabled.

Looking at the the above quotes from MS promo literature, it seems that these "features" could go awry and end up with your graphics files "being in use". Check and see if any of the files types are multi-associated.


Error message: Cannot delete <filename>. Access is denied. The source file may be in use.

Solution: This error message will occur whenever you try to delete any file that is currently in use by your PC. The first thing to do when you see such an error message is to determine which application is using the file, and then close that application and proceed with the deletion.

The good news is that the Image Preview viewing application lets you look at a file without opening it completely. The bad news is that it may cause this error message to appear on-screen.
Sometimes, however, you may receive this error message even though you’re certain that the file in question is not open. This is most likely to occur when you try to delete a large graphics file. What happens is that Image Preview (WinMe’s built-in graphics viewing utility) grabs hold of the file and begins to load it before the Delete command registers with the rest of the computer. As long as Image Preview is loading the file, you cannot delete it. Once the file is loaded fully in Image Preview, you can safely delete it.

You can prevent future occurrences of this problem by disabling Web View in WinMe. To do so, double-click the My Computer icon to open the My Computer window, select the Tools menu, and click the Folder Options command. On the General tab of the resulting dialog box, click the Use Windows Classic Folders option to select it. Click the OK button to put the changes into effect.


And I think that is it.....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[tjaymadison]

Thanks for the research, mjc. Now I can justify my dislike of Web View with some facts. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

[Dan Mitchell]

MJC-Thanks for the thoughtful reply **& SOLUTION**! The first thing I thought of when this happened was that the image thumbnail which appears when you select an image file in WE had something to do with the OS thinking the file was "open", so I disabled this to "classic" in that individual folder, (see guys, I'm not THAT dumb http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ) but still nogo. (BTW, this was not the "my images" folder, but a separate one I created in my image software directory, ME thumbnails an image file wherever it finds it if this isn't disabled so apparently the problem can crop up in any folder). The method of disabling the web view WE wide seems to have done the trick though (as well as answering one of my first ME posts, how to GET RID OF that waste of space to the left of each WE listing & just get a directory tree w/o having to set each & every folder individually). You know, it's not that having a image thumbnail appear is not a useful feature, it's just that in typical MS fashion they don't seem to have "worked all the bugs out" http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

Thanks again MJC for the thorough reply!

Dan

[kayofcircles]

Know the printing was a side issue here, but I have found that the only way I can get my printer to "stop" printing when I have made a mistake (like clicking on the Printer icon instead of File/Print or Control P) is to turn the printer off. That pause and purge has never worked for my HP, TJay. I do get an error message about program losing communication with printer, but in that same box is a Cancel Print option which beats several pages of "oops".

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"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." -Chinese Proverb

[tjaymadison]

Kay --
You're right, it won't work at all many times, only if the
print job is large enough so that you can still interrupt it.

Depends on a few things, some in combination with others:
The size(s) of the file(s) being printed

How much physical RAM installed

Virtual memory / Swap file setting

How much buffer memory in the printer itself

How your parallel port is configured in BIOS setup (SPP, EPP, or ECP)

Whether your printer supports bi-directional communication

How the Spool and Port settings are configured in Printers > Properties


Sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing most of the time. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Sometimes you may still have to purge, if things are stacked up or
'in transit' from the queue to the printer's on-board buffer, when
you hit the switch. Closing the application may flush the queue too.

If your printer 'magically' starts printing when you turn it back on,
you'll know right away that the queue isn't empty.

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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

[This message has been edited by tjaymadison (edited 05-19-2001).]

[Dan Mitchell]

Kay said "the printing was a side issue here, but I have found that the only way I can get my printer to "stop" printing when I have made a mistake (like clicking on the Printer icon instead of File/Print or Control P) is to turn the printer off. That pause and purge has never worked for my HP..."

Yup! Only problem is, this printer (a Canon BJ I got "free" with the PC) hasn't got a POWER SWITCH (in fact no controls at all except paper eject button)! Must have saved them at least $0.35/printer ;-) So the printer's churning out 200 color images, I'm madly clicking start/settings/printer/etc over & over while trying to keep up with the error boxes AND attempting to find a power switch on the damned printer! I was just about to yank the cord out of the back but decided a reboot was safer. Now I STILL have to find a way to print the directory list which started the whole process, guess I'll try the dos approach.

Dan

[tjaymadison]

Yeah, I have a printer like that too -- no power switch.

I put mine on a surge strip, so if I do have to shut it off, I just use that.

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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

[kayofcircles]

The surge protector is a good idea..with the switch. I have never had any problems just turning off the printer, but know that the closing application part should work also. Takes my printer so long to print on glossy that I minimized (not closed) the application once to go do something else, and the printer just stopped printing...sigh.

I have a very funny image going of you, Dan, with the printer trying to print up 200 pics! Been there, done that.

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"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." -Chinese Proverb

[Reid]

Deleted after re-reading the problem.

[This message has been edited by Reid (edited 05-19-2001).]

[Dan Mitchell]

My first flaming topic, I'm so proud (sigh)... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Kay said "I have a very funny image going of you, Dan, with the printer trying to print up 200 pics! Been there, done that."

To really appreciate it you have to picture the room scattered with cowspot boxes, styro packing material and other assorted landfill cloggers from the new hardware, cables running all over so I could manually connect my ONE monitor from the new to the old pc etc. to retrieve passwords & config settings, and so on. PLUS the 200 images, printer I could barely reach, only to find NO SWITCH... Just thinking about it makes me nauseous (or is that the odor of the new mouse pad? Am I the only one who thinks they smell like a locker room?...Always reminds me of gym class, but I guess that's a topic for another support group...I mean FORUM! forum...) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Dan

[Reid]

Dan, I hope you didn't misinterpret my post. I had suspected that the file attributes may have been set to Read-only, so I was posting how to change that. When I read again, I saw that you indicated that they were not Read-only.

When you tried deleting files in DOS, was that a DOS session opend in Windows? I think you might try booting with a DOS disk, then try deleting. While in a true DOS session, I think a Read-only file attribute is the only thing that could prevent file deletion (except maybe for some kind of file corruption).

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[Dan Mitchell]

Reid said "Dan, I hope you didn't misinterpret my post..."

Reid-Yeah, none of the files were read only. I did try the dosprompt approach, not from a boot disk (gotta get me one o' them ;-)

BTW: I was able to print what I needed from dosprompt, using Tjay's (I think) suggestion.

BTW II: When I said this was my first flaming topic, I meant the little burning icon you see when you come in indicating >10 posts, not that anyone had "flamed" me http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Dan

[kayofcircles]

Funny image just got a whole lot clearer...have to print this for my husband. Sometimes these posts are better than the funny papers.

I got excited too when one of my posts had flames...cool! Then realized it just meant more than 10 replies..not "hot."

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Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.
-- Chinese Proverb