Find which process has locked a file preventing it from being renamed or deleted

Some times when we try to Rename or Delete a file an error can pop up and say that the file is in use by another program and you need to close it and try again. Although this may makes sense, sometimes we won’t simply be able to find which program has opened the file. In such cases the “Who Lock Me!” tool from Dr-Hoiby. He has got some other useful tools too.

Who Lock Me comes in a light zip file of only 22Kb. Just unzip it and run the install.bat file. The necessary dll is added to regsrv32. A new Context menu item will be added. When you click on this the Process which has opened the file will be shown. The details included are Image Name, Process ID, Handle ID, Opened File name, Domain on from which the file is opened, the User Name and Locker Full path. There is an option provided to Kill the process that is responsible for opening a file. But be care ful here. If you are not sure about what the process does don’t try to kill it.

    If you want to delete or Rename the file just kill the process that is locking the file and the try again. Be carefull with killing processes though. If you don’t know what the process is then better not kill it

Some related articles you may like :

1. Why are permanently deleted file recoverable form a memory device?
2. Free deleted file recovery software from PCI
3. How to find out all open ports, connections and originating IP addresses
4. Process Explorer NT – the real task manager
5. Add a context menu option to list all files in a folder and save it as text file
6. Universal file manager and viewer – one program for all your file types
7. Why did my computer become sluggish all of a sudden
8. Free file recovery software from softperfect