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Attempting to delete video file causes File Explorer to freeze and crash

Anonymous
2020-12-23T14:01:42+00:00

I'm having trouble with 2 video files inside the C:\Users$USER$\Pictures\Video Projects folder which is created by the Video Editor.

The first is the .avi file. Whatever I try to do to it (rename/delete etc), File Explorer freezes and I need to restart it from Task Manager.

The name does not have trailing spaces, the file opens in Video Player without any issues and the file is 1.42GB in size.

On trying to find out if the file is corrupted, I found out that it shows Length: 0:00:00 inside its Details. Thus far, this is the only discrepancy I'm able to find.

The other is an .mp4 file which doesn't give me any sort of freezing, but the file just refuses to get deleted.

I got this file from editing a different file. This file can be opened too and does not have any signs of corruption from whatever I could find.

I have tried to delete them using cmd but even that does not work. RDing the directory does not work either - cmd just gets stuck with a blinking cursor after the Y/N prompt.

In a nutshell, whatever I try to do to these files, File Explorer freezes and needs to be restarted.

Any help you may have that will let me delete these files will be great!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-23T14:38:10+00:00

    Hello varunramakrishnan, welcome to the Microsoft community, my name is Luiz Cruz, an independent consultant and I would be happy to help you.

    When trying to delete these files, is an error code provided?

    Initially I recommend that you try to restart your pc with a clean boot, and check if you can delete these files:

    Clean boot

    Clean boot serves to determine whether a background program is interfering with the system or optimizing system loading.

    1. Press the Windows + R keys, type msconfig and click OK;
    2. In the System Configuration window, click on the services tab;
    3. At the bottom of the screen, check the Hide all Microsoft services box and click Disable all;
    4. Now click on the Programs Startup tab and on Open Task Manager;
    5. When loading the task manager, click on the start tab and disable all non-Microsoft programs (right-click on the program and choose disable), close the Task Manager and click OK on system configuration and restart computer if requested.

    NOTE: This procedure disables all third party services and programs. You can later, if the problem is solved in this way, selectively enable the programs and services that will start with Windows, instead of keeping all disabled. If the problem returns after activating the startup of a specific service or program, the problem is exactly in the startup of this software and it is recommended to remove it.

    I hope I helped, even more.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-24T12:45:03+00:00

    Dear Varunramakrishnan,if deleting files does not work on clean boot try deleting by booting from safe mode.

    I hope I helped, even more!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-24T07:36:09+00:00

    There is no error code provided. In fact, it doesn't even go into the Error Page.

    I'll try the clean boot delete and see if it works

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