Cannot start IIS websites because the process cannot access the file

Open Command Prompt by going Start/Run and type CMD

type 'netstat -b'

It takes some time but will tell you what program is listening on which port (with PID).

Doh, that's what doing work at 3 am does for you completly forgot about the -b switch :( Hey ho

another way is opening up task manager on the server and checking that PID is being displayed.  That'll give you the processes executable and you can track back from there.

Wadski - any objections to a PAQ/Refund here (DBrookfield seems to have answered their own question)

alimu/Page Ed. IIS.

You know I'd not even thought about a refund, to earn this i'll sumerise this. the main thing I would say is 2-3 am isn't really the best time to try and sort this problem :)

Anyway if you find that OWA isn't working for the specific reason given above then it is most likley due to two reasons:

•  Another process is using port 80 or port 443 on the computer that is running IIS 6.0. By default, IIS 6.0 uses TCP port 80 as the default TCP port and port 443 for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Or
 
• The ListenOnlyList registry subkey is not configured correctly on the computer that is running IIS 6.0.

In my case it was another programme (raid controller application) that was listening on port 80 being a tad fuddle headed I found the PID of the programme by using netstat -ano this is the netstat command with the -a - n -o command. Netstat -b would of course have told me the programme or as else you could do what Alimu suggests task manager, one thing here though in my case as far as I remember (I can't of course be completly certain here) the process wasn't showing in Task manager. netstat -b confirmed to me what I'd worked out by a process of elimination, i.e what have I installed that may have a browser interface. Remove the offending programme or redirect this to another port will solve yoru problem. Of course you should remember what port you do redirect to as you will need this later if you ever want to access whatever it was that was running. After you've removed the offfending article then you should be able to restart the service. Another piece of advice here sort of relevent is that if you have OWA and exchange on a DC (MS does not recomend this but lets face it how many small businesses need a seperate DC) then stopping the exchange services  prior to shutdown will significantly speed this up.
Coomands below.
    net stop MSExchangeES
    net stop IMAP4Svc
    net stop POP3Svc
    net stop RESvc
    net stop MSExchangeSRS
    net stop MSExchangeMGMT
    net stop MSExchangeMTA
    net stop MSExchangeIS   /Y
    net stop MSExchangeSA   /Y

Plus thanks to the guys who made their comments here as well.

No close away please :-)

Thanks for posting the answer DBrookfield, your detailed instructions saved me a lot of time.

Kudos!

Happy to help :-)