Summary

Symptoms

When building an InstallShield Express project, the following error may occur:

Error -5044: Cannot delete directory [2].

[2] is a placeholder that contains the full path to the directory causing this error. An example of this error message is:

Error -5044: Cannot delete directory C:\Projects\MyProject\Product Configuration 1\Release 2.bak.

Cause

This error occurs while building an InstallShield Express project if the path specified in the error is locked by another application or process, and InstallShield is attempting to remove it during the build process.

Resolution

To resolve this error, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you have full administrative rights on this machine. For details on these types of permissions, contact your system administrator.

2. Make sure no other applications, including utilities, such as virus scanners, are running in the background. Close all running applications and utilities and attempt to rebuild the project. Other running applications or utilities could be using this directory, which would trigger this error.

3. Navigate to the folder specified in the error in the Windows Explorer and make sure it can be deleted manually. If it cannot be deleted manually, InstallShield will be unable to remove it as well.

4. Build a different type of release. For example, if currently using the CD_ROM release, select another release type, such as SingleImage. If the release folder is locked, using a different release type should resolve this behavior.