How to find and release a File Locked by another process in Windows 11
Symptoms
- “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in another program”
- “The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process”
- A folder can’t be renamed, moved or deleted, even though nothing seems to be using it
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- A background process holds a handle on the file (an Office instance, a media player, a backup agent)
- Antivirus or OneDrive is scanning or syncing the file
- A Command Prompt, PowerShell or WSL window has the folder as its current directory
- Explorer’s preview pane or a shell extension (thumbnail, preview handler) is reading the file