How do I TELL Windows a file/dir is NOT in use ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank
  • Start date Start date
F

Frank

Sometimes after an application crash, or when Windows just gets lost,
it thinks a file or directory is still in use and will not let me
delete it. How do I tell windows the file is not in use and delete
the object?
Frank
 
Usually restating the machine clears the locks.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Sometimes after an application crash, or when Windows just gets lost,
| it thinks a file or directory is still in use and will not let me
| delete it. How do I tell windows the file is not in use and delete
| the object?
| Frank
 
Yes, rebooting will of course "fix" the problem, but the question is
how to manage Windows in a practical way.
 
You may need to get in touch with the developer of the faulting application.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Yes, rebooting will of course "fix" the problem, but the question is
| how to manage Windows in a practical way.
 
Dave said:
You may need to get in touch with the developer of the faulting application.
Click to expand...

More detail, Frank. Windows will close all file handles an
application has opened after the application ends. Sometimes,
however, and application doesn't really end; it's not showing
a window, but the process is still in the task list.

In a case like this, you can kill the app in task manager.

In other cases, the application uses more than one process.
The process that aborted doesn't own the file handle, and
the remaining process keeps it open.

Finally, sometimes a secondary process that isn't related to
the failing application is keeping the handle open. Sometimes
an anti-virus program scanning on every file open fails to
release the handle when the process ends. Other times, an
explorer shell extension is the problem.
 
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