Question

How can I determine what process is using a file?

Asked by: ilyaz

I am trying to open an input file and get an error message that the file is being used by another process. So I have 2 questions:
- How can I determine what process using the file? Is there a tool I can download and use for this purpose?
- In case the process can't be detected and killed, is there any way of releasing the file without having to reboot the machine?

Thanks.

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Asked On
2009-03-26 at 17:47:12ID24269695
Tags

Microsoft Windows

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
2
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Answers

 

by: rknetworkPosted on 2009-03-26 at 17:54:41ID: 23997222

The easy way is to launch Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) then go to Processes tab and select the checkbox  "Show processes from all users"

After you have the full list of processes ->  right click on each process and select End Process
So try to delete your file after each process Ending. =)

 

by: ilyazPosted on 2009-03-26 at 18:08:02ID: 23997269

That's hardly a solution since there are a lot of processes that I can't identify and killing them will eventually force me to reboot.

 

by: rknetworkPosted on 2009-03-26 at 18:17:05ID: 23997317

 

by: rknetworkPosted on 2009-03-26 at 18:18:29ID: 23997329

 

by: jckingjcPosted on 2009-03-26 at 19:13:01ID: 23997554

Hi ilyaz,

Use Killbox

http://killbox.net/

or Unlocker

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

to free the file and then delete it.

Good luck!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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