How to close open files in Windows?

Question

When I want to delete a file, Windows complains that it is open in another program. How can I find the program so that I can close it or force the file to be deleted?

I'm a big fan of [Unlocker](http://emptyloop.com/unlocker/). — Luc, Oct 26 '12 at 15:02

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 12 '10 at 00:13

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Try Process Explorer (or Handle if you like CLI). You can get them both from Sysinternals

answered Oct 12 '10 at 00:13

maristgeek

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+1 for Process Explorer. – Oct 12 '10 at 00:31

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 17 '12 at 17:55

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open a command prompt with elevation and type in:

for /f "skip=4 tokens=1" %a in ('net files') do net files %a /close

The files should be closed and you can delete them

edited Oct 17 '12 at 17:55

Thomas Berger

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answered Oct 16 '12 at 21:15

Robert Berkenpas

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A [related answer](http://serverfault.com/a/391290/247168). – DavidRR Oct 08 '14 at 15:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 26 '12 at 14:54

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+1 for unlocker, which has a new site.

I can also recommend LockHunter and OpenedFilesView, especially LockHunter. I sometimes find files said to be locked, there is no process locking them and unlocking-apps say so. Others can't delete it, but LockHunter can.

Though Unlocker has the option to "delete on reboot" if all else fails.

edited Oct 26 '12 at 14:54

HopelessN00b

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answered Oct 26 '12 at 12:00

Gaute Lund

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 12 '10 at 20:43

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Not an answer, but an observation... EXPLORER.EXE has a nasty habit of locking files. HANDLE.EXE is a very good tool.

answered Oct 12 '10 at 20:43

Simon Catlin

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score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 27 '12 at 18:29

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I'd try this software if you're still having problems. It's free and give you a list of the processes blocking the delete with options to kill process etc.

Or you could try killbox (just Google killbox) again same sort of thing but you don't need to install killbox.

edited Jun 27 '12 at 18:29

mgorven

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answered Oct 12 '10 at 20:57

Elliott Shafii

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How to close open files in Windows?

5 Answers5