Sharing Violation When Deleting a Folder

When you uncompress a directory structure on an NTFS volume and you quit the process for any reason (such as corrupt file or out of free space), you will receive a sharing violation when trying to delete the directory structure. The sharing violation always occurs in the directory of the last file accessed when you quit the uncompression process.

This is caused because Explorer.exe (Windows NT 4.0 shell) keeps an open handle to the directory.

To work around this problem, perform either of the following steps:

• Log off the computer and log back on, which should clear the handle. You should now be able to delete the directory.
  
  -or-
• Restart your system.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.