Windows error 32

[Richard Gaskin]

I'm making an uninstaller for one of my apps on Windows, and 
everything's working swell except for one detail:

I can delete all files and folders related to the install with ease, but 
when I try to delete the application folder sysError returns 32, which 
means it's in use by another process.

Here's the setup:

The uninstaller works as we're required to do on Windows: when launched 
it makes a copy of itself into the temp folder, and launches that copy 
after which the original quits.  We have to do that because of course an 
app can't delete itself.  The copy has the UI that the user clicks to 
start the uninstall.

That copy in temp works great, and clears out everything, even the 
original uninstaller that launched it.

The one thing it can't do is delete the folder the app was originally 
in, which is in the Program Files directory, e.g.:

   C:\Program Files\MyApp\

It seems weird to me that I can so easily delete all the contents of 
that folder, even all the nested subfolders that were in it, yet not the 
folder itself.

And yes, I've checked: the folder is indeed empty.

Even weirder, I can open LC afterward and run this in the Message Box:

    delete folder "C:/Program Files/MyApp/"

...and it deletes as expected without complaint.

My first hunch was that since the original uninstaller app is launching 
the one doing the deleting, maybe I could add another layer of 
misdirection by having a copy of that app make another app in temp just 
to delete the damn folder.  No go, same error 32.

Any of you come across something like this before?  How did you get 
around it?

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com