Unlocker - manage unmovable files

[guinness]

Next release will support x64

[webfork]

I would get a permanent and free website host as a pointer. Google Sites, or any number of other free and permanent tools out there.

Then have it point to the various different mirrors. I'd be happy to host one of them on my Dreamhost account.

[donald]

Is anyone going to put this up in favorites?

I would vote for it.

[CodesAway]

I'll add it, but I don't know who to give credit to - I know the suggestion wasn't mine.

I'll post a link here when I get the info added.

[CodesAway]

Ok, I added the program - Unlocker. I'm not sure who suggested it, so I put "Unknown".

The site didn't really have much details and I haven't used it in enough environments, so feedback is welcome. If any of the following info is incorrect, please tell me.

Synopsis: Unlocker Assistant stays in your system tray bar and automatically launches Unlocker if you are trying to delete/rename/move a file that is locked.
How to extract: Download the ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch UnlockerAssistant.exe.
Path portability: Don't know
Unicode support: Don't know
Dependencies: Don't know (maybe Administrator rights are necessary, but not sure)
Stealth: Don't know

Also, for the description, I just copied the answer to the "What is Unlocker Assistant?" question on his site. If you have a better description, I'll be happy to modify it.

[-.-]

You need admin rights I think. pretty sure you did before and I never checked with the newer unlockers lol
It is kind of stealth, writes to registry I think but it was just a legacy thing which all programs write to I think.
It doesn't need unicode since it isnt opening documents.
No real path either so its portable since you launch it from where you place it.

Another thing I like to do and I mentioned in on previous page I think, but I like making a shortcut of the unlocker.exe and placing it in sendto older. Then I can send files/folders to it and have it unlocked automatically. But this isn't really a "portable" thing because shortcut breaks when you unplug usb

[CodesAway]

You need admin rights I think. pretty sure you did before and I never checked with the newer unlockers lol

Ok, thanks. I'll update that.

It is kind of stealth, writes to registry I think but it was just a legacy thing which all programs write to I think.

I'm going to wait on this, since you're not sure. There are several people that download ONLY if it's stealth and I don't want to lead them astray.

It doesn't need unicode since it isnt opening documents.

In that case, can it unlock files whose filenames contain unicode characters? If yes, then it supports unicode; otherwise, it doesn't. Also, can you rename the file to a filename containing unicode characters?

No real path either so its portable since you launch it from where you place it.

So, should I leave it as N/A, since it doesn't apply? The other options are ones like "automatic relative path", "manual relative path" and other options which define how the path is stored.

Another thing I like to do and I mentioned in on previous page I think, but I like making a shortcut of the unlocker.exe and placing it in sendto older. Then I can send files/folders to it and have it unlocked automatically. But this isn't really a "portable" thing because shortcut breaks when you unplug usb

Yeah, I do something similar by making Unlocker a "favorite tool" in FreeCommander. As a favorite tool, I select the file I want, click the Unlocker icon and it opens that file in Unlocker.

In FreeCommander, you can make the path drive independent by using the "%FcSrcDrive%" FreeCommander environment variable. This variable contains the drive letter (e.g. "E:") from where FreeCommander was run. So, I have "%FcSrcDrive%\Unlocker\UnlockerPortable.exe" as the program path for the Unlocker program in my "favorite tools".

[Ruby]

I use http://portableapps.com/node/12210 which doesn't leave any trace on the machine as it unregisters UnlockerCOM.dll and deletes HKCR\CLSID\UnlockerShellExtension & HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_UNLOCKERDRIVER5. I would presume the 'Official' version doesn't clean the appropriate RegKeys.

I agree with Guinness, I also use the AutoIt Wrapper created by Wraithdu.
It registers & unregisters the UnlockerCOM.dll (shell extension).
Right-click a file, folder or drive and open in Unlocker, no need for SendTo.

Will prompt for UAC elevation in Vista, and will terminate if it does not have admin rights (any OS)
Now includes SetACL to facilitate removal of the Enum\Root\LEGACY_UNLOCKERDRIVER5 reg key

I tried that portable zip download and it just seemed awkward, no right click ext. etc.
I think the PortableApps version should be an alternate if not the download link in the database.

[CodesAway]

I agree with Guinness, I also use the AutoIt Wrapper created by Wraithdu.
It registers & unregisters the UnlockerCOM.dll (shell extension).
Right-click a file, folder or drive and open in Unlocker, no need for SendTo.

Thanks, I updated the description with a link to it. Also, I emailed Unlocker's developer to see if he can add support for the right click extension.

[Ruby]

Nice job CodesAway, I posted some more info on the PortableApps version in the comments, as I feel this is one of those rare occasions where the 'Official' portable version is not as good as the alternative. It should also be noted that the PortableApps version is only an AutoIt Wrapper to register the ext. and load the driver, and not the usual PAF, NSIS Launcher.

[-.-]

I can add Unlocker to right click instead of sendto, but i think it's more organized with sendto lol.
I also don't want unlocker to be running in background so I use it from sendto. I don't need it to be portable but I like programs that are stealth

[Ruby]

I don't need it to be portable but I like programs that are stealth

Unlocker is not stealth.

Code: Select all

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_UNLOCKERDRIVER5

[-.-]

ruby the legacy thing is something windows does for every program you run... its like the prefetch thing...
I'm not going to worry about it, stealth to me is just writing files outside of application folder

[crownixx]

ruby the legacy thing is something windows does for every program you run... its like the prefetch thing...

Which article said about that key is something regular for every app?

[CodesAway]

I just did a google search for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY" and it seems like many programs have "LEGACY_FILE" keys in that location. Granted it's not 100% certainty, but that means that more than likely, it's something that's not "created" by the program itself, but instead for using the file. Notice that the key is "LEGACY_UNLOCKERDRIVER5" and that there is a "UnlockerDriver5.sys" file.

Edit:
I just checked out that folder in the registry, and there are TONS of "LEGACY_FILE" keys in that location. Again, not 100%, but it implies that it's not something the program creates.

Apart from that key, does it write any other? Should I specify that the program is stealth? Or wait to pass judgment?