Solving the Windows 7 Thumbs.db Error
Written by Alan Wednesday, 13 July 2011 07:00
Windows 7 users have come to know, and hate, that “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in Windows Explorer. Close the file and try again.” message that pops up when moving or deleting files. It almost always cites the thumbs.db file as the culprit. Disappointingly, there is no fix for this known Windows 7 issue.
There are several work-arounds, some of which even work. So far the most effective I have found involves an edit to the Local Group Policy Editor, which is a lot less scary than it sounds.
1. Click Start and and type gpedit.msc in the search, then hit Enter.
2. Expand User Configuration => Administrative Templates => Windows Components.
3. Click on Windows Explorer.
4. Right-click on Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files.
5. Choose Edit and then Enable the setting.
6. Click Apply and then OK and exit Group Policy Editor.
You should now be able move and delete files freely. It doesn’t appear that Microsoft plans to fix this bug in Windows 7, but maybe in Windows 8 they may do something? If anyone knows of other work-arounds or has found a fix please let us know in the comments below.
Related posts:
- What is Thumbs.db?
- Search The Internet From The Windows 7 Start Menu
- Quickly Give Different Names To Multiple Files In Windows
- Take Ownership Of A File In Windows 7
- How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7
