I want to get rid of a .DLL file, but there is an error that says:
*"Cannot delete file: Access is denied.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use."*
Please help me, thank you!
I would think very long and hard before deleting .dll files. If it is broken or corrupt, overwrite it with a good one.
Run one of the windows repair processes. Can’t help at all with XP but in 98 there is a system file checker in System Information [Start->Programmes->Accsessories->System Tools.
For God’s sake back up your files before you mess with this. Should be harmless but don’t rely on it.
No you don’t. At least, not necessarily. Chances are that it IS in use, and might even be a shared system DLL. What is the name of it, and why do you think you want to delete it?
Well I certainly hope you know what you’re doing (obviously not, otherwise you wouldn’t ask about such a task). But the message is telling you exactly what the problem is…the .DLL is in use. You need to kill the process that is using the .DLL before you can delete it. Check task manager, identify the process, then kill it. Or if it isn’t a vital process, restart in safe mode, and delete the .DLL that way. Restart normally. If you don’t know what you’re doing, use the second method, it’s safer.
Firstly, you should let us know the name of the .DLL file that you think is the problem to make sure that it isn’t a required system file, and what the error your getting is, if any. Someone here may know. Also, what OS are you using?
Here is how you do it though, but do it only if YOU’RE SURE!
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! MODIFYING THE REGISTRY OR .DLL COMPONENTS MAY DAMAGE YOUR SYSTEM!!
This is pretty universal for all Win OS’s:
You can do this in 2 ways. (first find where the location of the file is, ex: c:\windows\system32\unwanted.dll
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Click on the ‘start button’, select ‘run’, and type regedit, then press enter. Goto the edit menu and and click on the search function, then lookup the .DLL file. Delete every value you find, press F3 to search again, and delete every other instance of the .DLL value you find.
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Boot into ‘safe mode’. (press F8 before windows splash screen shows up while booting). Find the file via explorer, and delete it. The reason the for regisitry mod is to not have windows load the .DLL file and cause contention. Also, without safemode, Windows likes to guard it’s .DLL files pretty heavily.
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Or, boot into ‘safe mode with command prompt’. Locate the file via DOS commands, delete the file. - The registry mod in step 1 would be required for this too.
Remember what I said about the registry mod, it may have damaging effects if you’re unsure about what to do. Good luck, and get back to us before you do anything.
The Simple Method: rename the dll, then reboot.
BUT: Be VERY careful, as everyone else has pointed out, you can really screw up your system. You really have to know what you’re doing.
I need to use the rename method once in a while to replace a system dll while the system is still up. Here’s what I do if I need to replace “MySystem.dll” with “MyNewSystem.dll”:
o Rename MySystem.dll to MySystem_old.dll. Windows will let you do this because it continues to use the dll image it has loaded into memory.
o Copy the new dll into place (copy MyNewSystem.dll to MySystem.dll)
o Reboot the system. The new “MySystem.dll” will then be used.
Oh, I forgot to mention:
If the dll you’re replacing is a VB / ActiveX dll, then you’ll need to unregister & reregister the dll. (registration tells windows to create an entry in the registry, as the previous poster mentioned). When you rename a registered dll, Windows will automatically rename the registry entries to point to the new location, so you need to unregister / register with regsvr32 to get the link back.
If your dll is a normal system dll, you don’t need to worry about registration.