Find what is using a file

Can anyone drop me a hint? Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1 1 1 silver badge.

Neil Neil MichaelBest Search the link in the Wayback Machine to get a nicely formatted result, or to see the migrated version here. Marc Marc 1, 2 2 gold badges 10 10 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. On Linux this is not much of a problem since inodes are refcounted, so you can remove a file even if someone is holding it open. AndreasN AndreasN 2, 2 2 gold badges 23 23 silver badges 29 29 bronze badges.

The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. To get the process holding those folder or file, we can use these two utilities: Resource Monitor Process Explorer.

For Windows 7 and above, you can use the built-in Resource Monitor. Open Resource Monitor, which can be found By searching for resmon.

Open Process Explorer running as "administrator" by running procexp. Type in the name of the locked file or other file of interest in the Search dialog box, then click "Search".

In older versions of Windows, you might get "Access Denied - you might not have rights, or the file might be in use". If you find through Process Explorer that the files are, in fact, not opened by anyone, odds are that there is an issue with security. Using an administrator account, select the files in Explorer, right-click and select Properties, Security, Advanced, Owner. Odds are that the files are owned by an account that no longer exists or can no longer be verified to exist because of changing Active Directory trust settings.

Apparently, this backup process leaves enough of a "ghost like file. However, I kept getting the error message:. Close any programs that might be using this file and try again.

I have created a small utility ShowWhatProcessLocksFile which shows what processes lock a selected file or folder f. It integrates into the File Explorer's context menu to allow selecting a file or folder. Note: the application requires admin permissions. If for some reasons you don't like my program, I recommend you to try Lock Hunter.

I was having trouble finding out the process that locked my epmd. So, I thought of giving it a try and it worked so, this can be another option :. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows Ask Question. Asked 11 years, 8 months ago. Active 1 month ago. Viewed 1. How can I find out which process is locking a file or folder in Windows?

For instance, when trying to delete a folder, Windows reports this: The action can't be completed because the folder is open in another program Happens the same with a file, but how do I find out what program or application is currently using it and preventing me from deleting the file or folder? Improve this question. See this ServerFault question. Is your file a video? You may find that Windows Explorer itself is "using" the file How is this a duplicate?

He's specifically asking how to find out which process is locking a file, not how to delete a locked file. I can't add an built-in, simpler answer here because it was incorrectly marked as a dupe, nor can I add it to the other thread because that only applies to XP.

Imagine living in and Windows still doesn't just tell you which process is using the file when it reports the error. Show 3 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Any help is greatly appreciated! Am I doing something wrong? When I search for it, I get over hundreds of matching items. How do I find what process is locking the file?

Hi Leo, i created a bit locker key without a TPM using your instructions from a different post and it works great. Comments violating those rules will be removed. Comments that don't add value will be removed, including off-topic or content-free comments, or comments that look even a little bit like spam. All comments containing links and certain keywords will be moderated before publication.

I want comments to be valuable for everyone, including those who come later and take the time to read. Search Ask Leo! Do this Subscribe to Confident Computing!

I'll see you there! Unfortunately, the terms are often misused. I'll look at alternatives. Good luck! Thanks, Juan Carlos Reply. That was covered in the article. Double click on Network Neighbourhood on your desktop R-click on the Server name, and choose properties Click on the Tools tab Click on Net Watcher and there you can see a list of all files open Hope this helps David Reply. MC Reply. Thanks Reply.

I do not recognize it. Not sure at all what it might be. Outlook does not allow multiple simultaneous access of PST files. Also the link for SysInternals just takes me to massive microsoft site Reply. Thanks for your attention. Thanks JM Reply. Use it to identify the process that has the handle, and then close that program. It works fine for me. It really is not that complicated…. Can anyone provide me the specific file PLS??

Thanks for the support.. Thank you Leo! Worked perfectly.