Windows – Action can’t be completed – open in another program

network-shareswindowswindows 7windows-explorer

I have two screens with two Explorer windows open. Both are showing different subfolders in the same network path.

I pick a folder on the left window that I'd like to move to the right window, I drag it across, and an alert pops up:

The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program.

This is probably just the file indexer or the thumbnail database or whatever. I don't care, I want to do it anyway. This happens literally every time I want to move or rename a file or folder on a network drive.

How do I fix this?

Best Answer

This is a known problem with Windows 7 related thumbnail caching which locks hidden files, thus preventing deletion or moving them.

  1. Empty the recycle bin. If this doesn't resolve the issue move to the next step.
  2. Disable thumbnail preview in Windows Explorer - How to Enable or Disable Thumbnail Previews in Windows 7 Explorer. If this doesn't resolve the issue move to the next step.
  3. Start/Run/gpedit.msc
  4. UserConfig/Admin Templates/Windows Components/Windows Explorer
  5. On the turnoff the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files choose enable.
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