Can't Delete .AI Files

[Carol Gasen]

I'm running windows xp and Illustrator 9.0. I have 800+ .ai files in my recycle bin which I'm trying to permanently delete and cannot. When I click delete, I get an error message that says (for example) "Cannot delete Dc37. It is in use by another person or program." Each illustrator file seems to have its own "Dc" number. I did not assign these Dc file names. I'm not running illustrator and the files are not open when I'm doing this. Please help.

Carol

[Jeff GG]

I would try opening the DOS Window, going to the actual folder that holds Recycle Bin files and doing the old DEL *.* /F /S /Q, then rebooting for karma's sake.

On my XP, that folder is currently named "C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1709136994-1434109735-2322020850-1006." No idea what all that gobbledygook in the folder name means, but I do know if I trash something, it shows up in that folder. The name on your system may be completely different, but the "RECYCLER" root is probably identical.

Mind you, this is just something I would try; it may cause no end of grief if you try it, for which I assume no responsibility.

[Carol Gasen]

So how do I do that? Go to the command prompt, and then how do I find the files?

Why are these files such a huge pain to delete?

[Carol Gasen]

So how do I do that? Go to the command prompt...then how do I find the files?

[Jeff GG]

So how do I do that? Go to the command prompt, and then how do I find the files?

Before proceeding, reboot first and try deleting the normal way, if you haven't already. Otherwise:

1. Jot down the names of a couple of those files you can't delete.
2. Open DOS window.
3. Enter CD.. until it gets you the C: root directory.
4. Enter CD RECYCLER.
5. Enter DIR.
6. It should be showing one or more directories named something like the one I described earlier. Enter CD [that directory name].
7. Enter DIR to check its contents.
8. If it shows the filenames you jotted down in step 1, it's time for DEL *.* /F /S /Q.
9. If it doesn't, check any other directories residing within RECYCLER.

Why are these files such a huge pain to delete?

Because ten years ago, Bill Gates knew a lot more about marketing and market saturation than did Steve Jobs. As a result, a vastly inferior copycat operating system was eventually recognized as being superior by virtue of its ubuquity.

[BobHill]

Carol,

Have you updated to Illustrator 9.0.2? Also a reboot should give you access to delete the files.

Bob

[Donna Ruth Johnstone]

Hi Carol,
I was having the same problems. I also have XP (Home Edition) but some of the .ai files just would not delete. So I called tech support. She had me empty out all my temp files both under windows and under my account name in documents and settings. I was glad to get rid of all that garbage anyway. But I still could not empty the files from the recycle bin. The message was the same as yours. So she had my go into safe mode (and in my case with networking), which is way better than going into DOS. Then I right clicked on recycle bin and then on empty. It emptied it all out!
I was also having problems with copying .ai files to different areas and getting the same message that it was in use by another person or program, which was untrue. So as time goes on, if I should have any more problems, I will accurately document exactly what is happening and call tech support again. If I get any more issues resolved, I'll let you know.
If you need any help accomplishing any of the above, let me know and I'll help you where I can.
Donna Johnstone

[Donna Ruth Johnstone]

Another message from Donna:
I forgot to mention that I have Illustrator version 10.0.3
Donna

[Derby]

I am running 10.0.3 and XP. Did Safe Mode to clean up recycle bin and worked OK. tried to delete temp files but ZLT012ff.tmp could not be deleted. Not seen in safe mode to delete. Cannot delete at command prompt

I cannot copy to make CDROM

Please help!

Steve

[Peteris...@adobeforums.com]

I guess that inability to recycle .ai files has something to do with Windows trying to generate preview of .ai files as you click on them. It usually has errors if the .ai file is large enough - something like 300 MB. What I tried was do a little registry editing and it seemed to work for me. (Make a backup of what you do in the registry though - I cannot guarantee the result!)

Run regedit.exe
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{59FA8CE5-08AF-4c42-86F5-2F61C9369649} and delete the two subkeys named InProcHandler and InProcHandler32. Do not touch the other subkeys.

Hope it works for you.

[Donna_Ruth...@adobeforums.com]

Steve,
This morning I was on the phone with Microsoft for an hour (after holding 1-1/2 hours) about my ongoing issue with not being able to view the ai files after I have copied them to a CD. I cannot view the file names from Windows Explorer without it closing down. I get the message that Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and has to close. The same thing happens when I try to open an ai file from the Illustrator program that I burned on the CD. I can, however, view and open other files such as jpg or tif files without the problem. And I am still getting inconsistant inability to delete some of the ai files. It's about as aggravating as anything. I have to get the CD issue resolved (it's doing the same thing on my 3 windows XP computers, all with different CD burner drives) as I have to get these files off to our advertisers. I will probably call Adobe tech support again since I still have a case #. But the last time, she thought it pointed to XP problems. I don't have this problem on Windows 98 SE machines. When I get more help, I'll definitely let you all know.
Donna