To rectify this, uncheck the ‘Read-only’ option and click OK. If there’s a check placed next to Read-only, it’s possible that this is what could be causing problems. Under the ‘General’ tab, find ‘Attributes’ at the bottom. To check this, right-click on the file and select Properties. That means other than opening it in an application, you can’t do much. It’s possible that the file that you’re trying to make changes to is a ‘read-only’ file. Sometimes, the problem lies with the file itself. Check File Properties (uncheck Read-only)
In most cases, this should do the trick and free your file/folder. Try making changes to the file/folder now. Look for the program that’s keeping your file hostage, right-click it and select End task.ĭoing so will end all instances of the program. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously, and make sure you’re on the ‘Processes’ tab. Of course, you need to know which application is using the file in the first place (see Methods #1 and #2 above for the same). The first (and perhaps the simplest) thing that you can do is to close the application that has locked the file. Here are a few potential fixes that you can try to solve this issue. If the aforementioned methods don’t work for you and you are still not able to make the changes or delete the file/folders, then the problem may lie elsewhere.
Related: How to Check Battery Health Windows 11 How to Fix “File in Use” error Your file is now unlocked and you can make the changes to it as you wish. If you want to end this process right here, right-click on it and select End Process.Ĭlick on End Process when asked to confirm. As soon as you type the file/folder name (even a partial name would suffice), you should see the application that is locking the file from being deleted. Search for the file or folder that is being restricted. Then click on the ‘Search Handles’ field next to Associated Handles. In Resource Monitor, click on the CPU tab to switch to it. Press Start, type ‘Resource Monitor’, then select the first option. Windows has an in-built tool called Resource Monitor that lets you find the application locking files and folders. Related: How to Use Focus Assist on Windows 11 Method #02: Using Resource Monitor Now you can delete, rename, or otherwise edit the file as you please. To do this, click on the program to select it. To unlock it, you will have to kill the process highlighted in purple. Once the process is highlighted (in blue), you will see exactly which application is locking it from being changed or deleted (in purple). This will highlight the Process Explorer in the processes display list. Once Process explorer opens up, you should see a ‘crosshairs’ icon in the toolbar at the top.ĭrag this icon and drop it on the “File/Folder In Use” error message. Then run the executable file for Process Explorer.ġ.1 How to find which program is using the file/folder Select the location for the extraction, then click on Extract.
Once downloaded, right-click on the zip file and click Extract all.
Go to the above link and click on Download Process Explorer. Microsoft has a ‘Process Explorer’ app that is much more powerful than Task Manager at identifying the application that’s locking the file or folder and keeping you from making changes to it. Related: A final guide to Windows 11 Shortcuts Method #01: Using Microsoft Process Explorer Here are the two top ways to find which file or folder is being used by an app or service on Windows 11. Boot into Safe Mode and delete the fileĢ ways to find which file or folder is currently in use Force delete the file from the Command Prompt