SOLVED Oops a PDF document has got stuck (Preview trouble)

[Plado]

I haven't had many problems with windows 7 64bit but now and then one comes along and stumps me totally !

I downloaded a pdf document from a sheet music site. Opened it in Foxit Reader (being a less invasive app than Adobe) and I when I'd finished with it but wanted to file it away the file can't be Deleted or even Shredded because it says the file is Open in Preview Handler Surrogate Host.

I've tried closing the Windows Explorer preview pane. I've tried renaming the file but still the open in preview gets in the way.

Next I tried uninstalling Foxit in case it was that (maybe a bug?) but that didn't help.
I even resorted to sfc \scannnow in administrator command prompt and that hasn't cured it. Can't do anything with it apart from copy it to another location and the copy retains the stuckness.
Any clues on a good cheat for this one ?
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Plado

 

[Plado]

Best cancel this question before anyone wastes effort trying to solve the riddle.
Thanks for thinking about it, if you have been. You can consider this question solved.

I found that my Windows Explorer had been "Pinned to the Taskbar" and as far as I know it always has been and I didn't know if Windows 7 puts it there by default.
I had tried previously to close Windows Explorer in the Task Manager but that just took away all my desktop icons and I had to log off and restart to get back to normality!

I right clicked the task bar icon for W Explorer and selected Unpin this from the Taskbar and it vanished (not surprisingly); then I went back to my pdf document and deleted it without any problem at all.

What an annoying thing to be tripped up by? Could it be that this is just the type of thing that happens when Windows is a Program package designed to be used by an ever evolving variety of users with a vast range of learned computer-skills? Something like that is bound to end up with things happening by default that not everyone wants to see but some people find it very handy without knowing why - whereas others don't?

Irritations come in bucketfuls when you get programs like MS Word always so proud of showing itself off, that it came with thousands of settings defaulting to "ON" and it took most users 6 weeks of fiddling to shut everything off they didn't want or need. A tutorial would have been better to explain all those features and how to turn them on if needed, rather than the other way around.
That's digital life !
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Plado

 

[clifford_cooley]

Did you only re-boot the one time?

Chances are that is what reset permissions on the file allowing you to delete it.

 

[Plado]

Ah no, I didn't fully reboot at all. At first I went through the following sequence.
I tried fiddling with the File View settings and didn't reboot.
I tried turning off the Preview window in W Explorer
That did nothing to change it.

So then I went to the task manager and couldn't find anything that looked like Windows Explorer so closed one instance of explorer.exe
At that point my screen lost all its icons and even Start Menu wouldn't appear on pressing the windows key. The only abort from this seemed to be Ctrl Alt Del and that brought up the Log off routine, so I logged off and re entered my Windows Password and it came back on again.

At no point in this procedure did I reboot the system.

Finally I tried a Right click on the Windows Explorer bottom left in the Quick Start area and chose unpin this from the taskbar. Then I went straight back to the pdf file and right clicked it and chose Delete - Well no I didn't I used my Shred to discern whether it would shred (it wouldn't before) and it did.

Just to test all was well I went to my saved copy of the same pdf file in another location and copied it one more time so I had a spare, then deleted the original by normal deletion method and it went straight into the Recycle bin.

So there hasn't been a true reboot throughout the road to a cure. I tried resetting the permissions very early on using the Properties of the file, but I got bogged down with stuff I didn't understand so gave that a wide berth !

 

[clifford_cooley]

But you logged out and back in. That is as close to re-booting as you can get without actually re-booting.

I'm failing to see how unpinning a shortcut will reset file permissions. Anyway I'm glad it worked for you. Hopefully it was a fluke thing that will never happen again.

 

[Plado]

Yes that is very odd I have to admit. But I'm certain that the problem wasn't cured by any of the things I did, because I kept going back to the file and trying to delete it and getting that same Preview Handler Surrogate Host message - even after the re-login.

So finally I did that last operation of unpinning the Explorer from the task bar and then the file was released from the Open situation. The file wasn't minimized in Explorer on that task bar, it was simply that the Windows Explorer always has been pinned to the taskbar quick launch left hand end a few along from the Start Menu. I've got Sticky Notes there and Desktop Gadget Gallery and Firefox. But it did have W Explorer too.

I might go back and try pinning the Explorer back on the task bar and seeing if the file gets locked up again. Or maybe open it in Foxit reader (which I've re installed now) and see if after closing the file with Foxit, I can do anything with the basic file in the folder.
If I discover anything useful I will of course post it back here. Thanks for your interest.
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Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

Logging out would free any locking handles because all programs close. So will closing the program that has the handle set. Even pinned to the taskbar the application can be open or closed. See the difference:


Unpinning it should not have an effect but right under unpin is the close window option. In the process you likely closed Windows Explorer and freed the locking handle.

 

[Plado]

I see where you're coming from but the icon I closed/unpinned wasn't like it shows in your taskbar example screenshot, it was just the Yellow and blue folder showing Windows Explorer.
I didn't notice any Close option in the right click menu though, all I clicked on was unpin.

There was no separate greyed-out bar showing a windows explorer minimized but still open window, or one with full colour showing it was active.
Whether my unpinning automatically closed something that was open or not I don't know.
Strangely I had last looked at the pdf document last night and shut down the computer at the end of my day. Booting up this morning I didn't notice any still active or open pdf document in W Explorer, and I wouldn't have expected it to load up with windows this morning - does W 7 have a memory for what you had open the day before?
I'm not sure, but it was very strange the way that file was not giving me permission to do anything to it. A forum I was reading about this very problem suggested there is a bug in Foxit reader which the software developers are addressing at the moment (concerning their latest release of the free program) it has some kind of issue with preview windows - All of which is way outside my experience so I have to just hope this was a fluke and won't happen again.
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Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

Just FYI, there is a program listed in our Freeware DB called Unlocker. It can help you delete files that are still locked and it will also tell you what programs have issued the locking handles. Once installed you would simply locate the file in windows explorer and right-click. Chose unlocker and then specify Delete.

 

[Plado]

A million thanks for that. I will go fetch that application. In fact I had a file unlocker on my old XP Home SP2 (my last PC) and it came in very handy sometimes when a file got stuck. I had clean forgotten about putting a W7 version on my new computer.

Great idea. It's sure to come in handy in future.
Meanwhile I need to start another thread because I have a problem with printing from Windows Fax & Scan application that's just come to light.

Cheers
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Plado

 

[ros256]

Foxit Preview Problem

Hey, I just experienced the same problem, and thought I could shed a little light on it. The Fox-It reader application adds itself as a preview application. Windows Explorer uses these preview applications to display a preview in, of course, the Preview Pane. For some reason Fox-It doesn't properly release PDF's when previewed in this manner.

The above user's problem went away because he uninstalled Fox-It, and then killed and restarted Windows Explorer (the Explorer.exe process he mentioned). A reboot would have done the same thing, after uninstalling Fox It.

Hope that helps someone out there... Cheers.