Can't Delete Thumbs.db

[pbusardo]

When I try to delete a folder, I sometimes get:

"Cannot delete thumbs. It is being used by another person
or program. Close any programs that might be using the
file and try again".

Sometimes, I can click on another folder, go back to it and delete it then.

I've read about some workarounds, but this requires suppressing Windows Features such as:

Always show icons, never thumbnails

Thanks for any help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Pbusardo,

You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear and reset the thumbnail cache if that was your intensions. The free program CCleaner is a great program for this as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10797-thumbnail-cache-clear-reset.html

If you are having icon issues displaying incorrectly, then you might also consider this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[KelJow]

You won't beleive this... but here is the fix

Uninstall Adobe Reader, restart, and it will stop.

Then you can re-install Adobe Reader and the problem doesn't come back.

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone, but it works!

WINDOWS 7 BUG: Explorer Locks "thumbs.db" in most recently viewed folder

 

[NoN]

When I try to delete a folder, I sometimes get:

"Cannot delete thumbs. It is being used by another person
or program. Close any programs that might be using the
file and try again".

Sometimes, I can click on another folder, go back to it and delete it then.

I've read about some workarounds, but this requires suppressing Windows Features such as:

Always show icons, never thumbnails

Thanks for any help.

You can also copy from system32 the "cmd.exe" in C:/ ,then open cmd.exe as elevated prompt and type: del /ash /s thumbs.db

It will scan all thumb.db on your drive and delete them. You can also do that for all your Hdd.

Do not forget to delete cmd.exe (not the one in system32) from drives after finished the cleaning job.

 

[KelJow]

You can also copy from system32 the "cmd.exe" in C:/ ,then open cmd.exe as elevated prompt and type: del /ash /s thumbs.db

It will scan all thumb.db on your drive and delete them. You can also do that for all your Hdd.

Do not forget to delete cmd.exe (not the one in system32) from drives after finished the cleaning job.

NoN, you don't need to copy cmd.exe to do that. If you just type "cmd" in the search window, cmd.exe pops up, then all you have to do is right-click, "run as administrator," then pin the app to your taskbar if you like.

But let's be clear here, deleting ALL thumbs.db files for your entire disk is a complete waste of time! The PC will just create a new thumbs.db as soon as the folder is opened again. Therefore, this is neither a fix nor a workaround. It's just going to take a ton of time, make your drive grind like crazy and the problem won't even go away. The system will re-create all thumbs.db files as soon as the folders are accessed again.

Just do what I did, the real fix is to remove and reinstall Adobe Reader. Then you don't have to deal with the issue at all.

PS. Thumbnails are a great feature and they are very useful when looking at folders full of pics. All other solutions posted by Microsoft geeks all over the net involve turning off thumbnails completely, but then all of your pictures look like simple icons which is incredibly lame. Of course, music files look like icons anyway and In my case I was constantly running into this problem when sorting my music collection. I realized a long time ago, going to a different folder and then coming back after about a minute would allow me to delete the folder, but only if I didn't view the contents first. Again, because viewing the contents of a folder in Win7 (and Vista) will generate thumbnails which are stored in the hidden "thumbs.db" file, by design.

 

[logicearth]

Again, because viewing the contents of a folder in Win7 (and Vista) will generate thumbnails which are stored in the hidden "thumbs.db" file, by design.

No, Windows Vista and 7 only create "thumbs.db" for network locations (shared files). You are confusing with Windows XP's behavior. Windows Vista and 7 now save thumbnails here: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

If you have group policy I can show you how to turn off network thumbnail caching and local caching.

 

[NoN]

You can also copy from system32 the "cmd.exe" in C:/ ,then open cmd.exe as elevated prompt and type: del /ash /s thumbs.db

It will scan all thumb.db on your drive and delete them. You can also do that for all your Hdd.

Do not forget to delete cmd.exe (not the one in system32) from drives after finished the cleaning job.

NoN, you don't need to copy cmd.exe to do that. If you just type "cmd" in the search window, cmd.exe pops up, then all you have to do is right-click, "run as administrator," then pin the app to your taskbar if you like.

But let's be clear here, deleting ALL thumbs.db files for your entire disk is a complete waste of time! The PC will just create a new thumbs.db as soon as the folder is opened again. Therefore, this is neither a fix nor a workaround. It's just going to take a ton of time, make your drive grind like crazy and the problem won't even go away. The system will re-create all thumbs.db files as soon as the folders are accessed again.

Just do what I did, the real fix is to remove and reinstall Adobe Reader. Then you don't have to deal with the issue at all.

PS. Thumbnails are a great feature and they are very useful when looking at folders full of pics. All other solutions posted by Microsoft geeks all over the net involve turning off thumbnails completely, but then all of your pictures look like simple icons which is incredibly lame. Of course, music files look like icons anyway and In my case I was constantly running into this problem when sorting my music collection. I realized a long time ago, going to a different folder and then coming back after about a minute would allow me to delete the folder, but only if I didn't view the contents first. Again, because viewing the contents of a folder in Win7 (and Vista) will generate thumbnails which are stored in the hidden "thumbs.db" file, by design.

Hi,

Well, i'm using this cmd.exe "del /ash /s thumbs.db " only before backing up files from my shared folders, as the backing sofware do not apply/save thumb.db even if it does skip them, so i prefere clear it before backing up!

I do use thumbnails most of the time and it is turned on.

Thank for for having clearing it!

 

[KelJow]

Again, because viewing the contents of a folder in Win7 (and Vista) will generate thumbnails which are stored in the hidden "thumbs.db" file, by design.

No, Windows Vista and 7 only create "thumbs.db" for network locations (shared files). You are confusing with Windows XP's behavior. Windows Vista and 7 now save thumbnails here: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

If you have group policy I can show you how to turn off network thumbnail caching and local caching.

Network locations are what the entire thread is talking about. We have been referring to that the entire time. I'm not confused, I just didn't think I had to repeat that fact at every point since it's assumed in context.

Group policy modification isn't necessary, it's better to turn it off in folder options. Then you don't have to mess with all the users on the machine. Just the users who have difficulty. But still, it's not a fix just a workaround.

 

[logicearth]

Network locations are what the entire thread is talking about. We have been referring to that the entire time. I'm not confused, I just didn't think I had to repeat that fact at every point since it's assumed in context.

What? There is not a single reference to "network" in this entire thread until I mentioned it. You could just admit you were mistaken...

Group policy modification isn't necessary, it's better to turn it off in folder options.

There is no option to turn off thumbnail caching in Folder Options, you can only turn off thumbnails which is not wanted.

 

[expatriate]

Adobe reader has nothing to do with it. I don't have it installed - I use Foxit and have the same problem. There is a fix here, but I have not tried it yet.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10794-thumbnail-cache-enable-disable.html

 

[KelJow]

Network locations are what the entire thread is talking about. We have been referring to that the entire time. I'm not confused, I just didn't think I had to repeat that fact at every point since it's assumed in context.

What? There is not a single reference to "network" in this entire thread until I mentioned it. You could just admit you were mistaken...

Group policy modification isn't necessary, it's better to turn it off in folder options.

There is no option to turn off thumbnail caching in Folder Options, you can only turn off thumbnails which is not wanted.

I confused this thread with the thread on technet linked to above. And I also confused your post with disabling thumbnails, I didn't realize the option to turn off caching only was available in GP.

 

[KelJow]

Adobe reader has nothing to do with it. I don't have it installed - I use Foxit and have the same problem. There is a fix here, but I have not tried it yet.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10794-thumbnail-cache-enable-disable.html

Adobe is definitely somehow connected to the issue, or uninstalling and reinstalling wouldn't have any affect. It could be the adobe updater, with is also used for Flash and Shockwave.

Still disabling features is a workaround, just like removing and re-installing Adobe is a workaround. Yet another workaround was posted on technet, if you go to system properties -> advanced -> performance settings -> select best performance + apply -> switch back to best appearance (or whatever you want) + apply. For some reason that also causes the issue to temporarily go away.

As far as I know, this issue seems to be far more prevalent with people who are accessing files on network shares. I personally have only experienced the issue in that situation, it's never happened on my local drive.

 

[runfineline]

Windows 7 Cannot delete folder with thumb.db

My contribution - move the folder and attempt to delete from the new location. I moved, and did not copy, a recalcitrant folder contains an undelabel thumb.db from a Windows SBS network location to my local C drive where I could just delete it.
The only "extra" on my machine is the registry hack to add "copy to" and "move to" the explorer right click menu.

 

[sam77]

I believe neither of the "solutions" listed in this thread truly work (uninstalling Acrobat & deleting via cmd.exe). They only seem to work because you engaged the computer in some other activity, or because you let enough time to pass to allow Windows to "release" the thumbs.db file, thus, it could be deleted. I tried both, and both seemed to work at first, but when I recreated a new thumbs.db file and then immediately deleted it, it didn't delete (giving the same message).

A few observations (on my computer):
1) I get them when I click on a music file that has a picture in the tag.
2) I have my HDD partitioned into several drives, and I only get them on one particular drive. If I copy the entire album file to another drive, I can then click on the same music file withOUT generating a thumbs.db file.
3) On the first drive, if I delete all the other files in the folder, I can then delete the thumbs.db file (after waiting a few seconds). So, that makes me think that it must be the music files that are keeping the thumbs.db file engaged.

I don't have any explanations for this, I'm just saying that that is my experience. Maybe someone else can come up with more.

 

[bar2d2]

FIX

Renaming a network folder in Windows 7 Explorer fails with "the action can't be completed..."

 

[loupacek]

Quick fix - Restart explorer.exe and try to delete the folder again.

Step-by-step for n00bs (not that You are one):

1. Summon the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
2. Click on the Processes tab.
3. End explorer.exe (find it in the list, press delete and confirm it).
4. Start it again (File->New task, write explorer.exe and click OK)

 

[CreeDo]

I had a fix for this old problem that doesn't involve registry, gpedit, killing explorer, wiping out all thumbnails, waiting for hours, or doing anything else drastic. I'm not sure if it works in every situation but it's worked for me so far.

Just copy any random image file, like a jpeg, to the folder with the stubborn thumbs.db file. Change your view setting to, say, large icons (or something else if you're already using large icons). This forces thumbs.db to update, and simultaneously unlocks it. Now you can just click on it and delete it without an error message (delete the random jpeg too). Once it's gone you should have no trouble deleting the folder(s) that housed it.