I cannot delete some video files that I downloaded. the message is “Access denied, Make sure the disc is not full or write protected.”
Other files delete with no problem, but these files won’t go away.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Did you recently watch them or email them? Is your email program and/or your video viewer still open? I find under such circumstance I cannot delete such files; the aforementioned programs still have their hooks in the files although it’s not apparent. So close your email app and your video viewing program.
If that fails, reboot your computer. That should sever any link to the files you want to delete.
what is your operating system and version?
Rebooting will probably fix it. As will closing any programs currently accessing the files.
Sometimes, if you have a “sideshow” enabled device (some Logitech keyboards, for example), even if you close media player, the sideshow app will hang on to the file for some reason. you can disable side show through the control panel.
windows xp-home edition-version 2002-service pak 3
If rebooting doesn’t help. Try Malware bytes, More Tools, File Assassin, click run tool.
Never seen File Assassin fail yet. 
If it did fail then there’s probably an error on the drive’s FAT and chkdsk might fix it.
Malware bytes is free.
rebooting did not help, closing the programs didn’t work. darn!
File Assassin DID NOT fail.
Thank You!
For future reference, this problem can come up in a variety of contexts - for example you format an NTFS drive under on OS version and then try to access it on another machine, some files may be inaccessible.
You can get around this by right clicking on the directory (or single file) and selecting propertied (in Windows). Then select the security tab and hit the “advanced” button.
In the new window, select the “owner” tab and make yourself (as administrator) the owner for the directory, subdirectories and any files. When you execute the command, it will change the privileges on all files and directories (assuming you checked the box to make it so). This could take several minutes or longer if you try to do it on the root directory or a directory branch with thousands of files and subdirectories.
A quick fix I always try is to open a command window (Run, cmd) then do CTRL ALT DEL and bring up Task Manager, Processes, find explorer.exe and End Process. This basically kills the Windows GUI but will leave the DOS box open. Use it to navigate to the folder the file is in and delete it (type del filename.ext). If the Windows GUI or its dependencies are the ones locking the file this will work. Won’t hurt anything if it doesn’t.
You don’t have to reboot, if your DOS box is still open just type explorer and hit enter. Or from the Task Manager window do File, New Task (Run), explorer, and click Ok.