Comments for

Comment from Ahmed Hawsawi on 2009-11-08

2009-11-08T09:28:53Z

Thanks for the tool, but I really need it because when I attempt to download it, I've got a message telling the file already removed.

Can anyone provide me the specific file PLS ??

Thanks for the support..

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Comment from Core on 2009-09-25

2009-09-25T16:03:41Z

@ Matt
Then your doing it wrong, it works fine for me. I just used it to make cfp.exe stop using a folder so I could delete it. (cfp.exe is comodo firewall, btw).

To find out what file is being used by what, you simple go to find -> "Handle or DLL..." (or just hit CTRL+F), and then type in the file or folder you want to see and hit search.

It works fine for me. It really is not that complicated....

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Comment from Matt on 2009-04-14

2009-04-14T13:29:11Z

So far, this is a glorified task manager. This does not locate files, handles, dll or anything. I'm simply tring to find out what file is being used by what mysterious process - and this cannot locate it. I hope Microsoft didn't pay too much for this.

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Comment from Dan Aquinas on 2009-04-09

2009-04-09T17:48:48Z

A simple command line utility, also by the SysInternals.com folks, is Handles. Just type in
Handles {{filename_may_include_path}}
and it shows which process has the file open. Worked great for me on my local hard drive. Have not tried on a file located on a server.

(- Microsoft has bought SysInternals.com, so entering www.sysinternals.com or sister site www.wininternals.com will actually take you to Microsoft's site. -)

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Comment from Sam on 2009-03-26

2009-03-26T17:36:08Z

Thanks for the info. Process xp does help, but doesn't close the handle even if forced. I tried deleting a few files which were showing error but it didn't. Same is the case with unlocker, mentioned by a reader earlier. Nothing happens when i click on unlock all. Plz tell something else.

Don't use process explorer to close the handle. Use it to identify the process that has the handle, and then close that program.

- Leo
27-Mar-2009

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Comment from Tawrrna Wynne on 2008-12-19

2008-12-19T23:45:45Z

My disk defrag from windows xp does not seem to working because I it says my hard drive is full. I dnt download music, movies etc just the internet.

Anyway I have reset the computer but it seems to develop another problem. it gives me some code like walpnil.exe. the computer is slower than ever. I notice this after yahoo messenger. Which i have taken off. However, it states when I try to defrag that I have no space (7%) when I need 15%. can you advise me.

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Comment from Barbara Feldman on 2008-09-14

2008-09-14T16:11:23Z

Thanks for the procexp.exe tip. It helped me track down a pesky WordPerfect problem, when some of my most used files were giving me the "must be read-only or in use" error. When procexp.exe told me it was WordPerfect that had the files open, I realized that I had two WordPerfect processes open (one must have failed days ago...)

Ta da! Problem solved by opening the Windows Task Manager and killing the duplicate WordPerfect process.

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Comment from JM on 2008-07-29

2008-07-29T19:01:12Z

Hi Leo,

I am dealing with an Ad-Ware virus detected by Avast. It appears that the infected files are generated on the fly by.

For instance Avast reports a virus detection for
C:\WINDOWS\system32\xxywVOfC.dll
Even if I delete this file it comes back at a later time. I also have performed a boot time complete virus scan on the disk and the virus remains.

I have run find handle using ProcessExplorer for this file and it reports the following:
winlogon.exe 1688 DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\xxywVOfC.dll
winlogon.exe 1688 handle C:\WINDOWS\system32\xxywVOfC.dll
Explorer.exe 3140 DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\xxywVOfC.dll

Is there a way I can find which process is generating these files?
Could it be that the virus is within either winlogon.exe or Explorer.exe?

Thanks
JM

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Comment from rafaelpdl on 2008-07-17

2008-07-17T17:43:28Z

Hi Leo, I'm trying to rename a file that is on one of the servers, but it gives this damn message, but I'm not authorized to send applications in the servers to do this analysis, so, here is the question. There is some way to discover what program is using the file, or a software that remotely do this job??

Thanks for your attention.

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Comment from Eamann on 2008-05-23

2008-05-23T14:27:47Z

I have a trojan on my computer that various anti virus programs can detect but not delete. it is a windows system32 dll file that can't be deleted manually. Is there anyway to remove it. Also the link for SysInternals just takes me to massive microsoft site

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Comment from Rod Nolan on 2008-03-18

2008-03-19T01:40:22Z

unlocker is the simplest (and therefore the best) utility I've found for deleting files and folders when that annoying "in use" message appears - you don't even have to kill the process to unlock the file. And it's free! http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

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Comment from brsrkr on 2007-09-07

2007-09-07T17:58:27Z

Comment from Andrew on 2007-03-15

2007-03-15T20:14:59Z

Thanks! - Although procexp.exe helped me to find the culprit that had the file open... It strangely did not report that *anything* directly had the file open(!?) -- I basically saw that the Logitech Webcam tray app had a number of other mapi files open, and this was a mapi dll, so I killed the Logitech process and was finally able to delete the file.

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Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2006-12-22

2006-12-22T17:55:40Z

No. Outlook does not allow multiple simultaneous access of PST files.

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Comment from jcoll on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T22:20:25Z

Thanks for the advice. Here we have a similar set up, where we have the users archive their PST files on to our server. I am trying to allow two users to access an old employees archived .pst, but when I try and add the pst to the user's account it says it is in use by the other user. It only allows one user to access the .pst at a time. Is there a way around this?

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Comment from bluefalcon on 2006-11-26

2006-11-26T21:23:00Z

I have used that and discoverd that a certain trojan (deluxe communications) is not actually in use, though it claims to be and prevents me or anything else from changing it even when using MoveOnBoot or DelLater.

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Comment from Caroline on 2006-10-30

2006-10-30T17:01:13Z

Hi, the other day I noticed the my MSN messenger no longer had my conversations from a couple of months ago saved. So I tried to see if I could restore them. When I ran the system restore I noticed that my web cam software I had just installed two days ago was no longer installed. So I tried to install it again but the installation would freeze all the time. My antivirus wouldn't work either. Anyway, I ran the system restore back to the day after I had my web cam installed. The antivirus and cam were working again, but everytime I started my computer a window would pop up saying that there was a run error with one of my web cam's software because it was missing a"-" on the app id. I tried to uninstall the web cam but it wouldn't do it completely. It wouldn't erase the one software with the running error. Anyway, I ran the restore again and had to re-install my anti virus. I also tried to defrag my computer and when it came to 50% it said it couldn't defrag some files. The computer does not accuse having the web cam installed right now, but I don't know that if I try to re-install it I'll run into the same problem again. Also, could it be that the disk defragger is not defragmenting all the way because of all the problems I had above? What do I do?

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Comment from Leo Notenboom on 2006-08-31

2006-08-31T18:26:37Z

I do not recognize it. Not sure at all what it might be.

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Comment from Kathi on 2006-08-31

2006-08-31T17:54:10Z

I FOUND THIS FILE (something I assume I downloaded and saved), but I have no idea what it is for: LEO_ Setup - OUTLOOK.EXE
After going through several internet searches, I arrived at your web site and it seems plausible that I may have found it here. I don't know and I hesitate to open the file, as I don't know what it is. Do you recognize it? Thanks

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Comment from monty on 2006-07-02

2006-07-02T16:59:42Z

I try to edit an MP3 Tag using the advanced properties tab in Windows XP and I keep getting an error that says "Change to summary properties could not be saved. The file is in use by another application." I have tried to use your your suggestions and the program Process Explorer listed in this article with no success. If I don't know the name of the actual file that is in use, how do I do a search using this program. What am I missing. Please help, Thanks. MC

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Comment from Tom on 2006-03-03

2006-03-04T03:03:26Z

Thank you for the clues. Using SysInternals' tool allowed me to find out that it was the infernal MusicMatch program mim.exe that had its mitts on my external disk, not allowing me to "Safely Remove Hardware". I just searched for "e:" and the finger pointed.

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Comment from Richard on 2005-11-07

2005-11-07T16:39:44Z

Easily.. Keyboard shortcuts would still work:
[windows key] + R
cmd

voila, command prompt!

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Comment from omg on 2005-09-25

2005-09-25T08:57:45Z

"The only way I could do it was to first kill explorer.exe process using Task Manager and then rename the movie file using command prompt. After that you can run explorer.exe again."

How the heck do you use the command prompt?? Once you get rid of explorer, everything disappears.

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Comment from fulton74 on 2005-04-27

2005-04-28T00:40:24Z

I can tell you why the system is 'using' the movie file (or other large media files). By default, windows attemts to preview the file in the open window. In the case of a large file, or (in the case of Microsoft codec encoded mpeg/avi files) the file has to be locked for the preview to work. Turn off preview of multimedia files in the explorer options.

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Comment from David Rollinson on 2004-12-13

2004-12-14T06:46:57Z

This is probably a bit late for you, but saw your question about how to determine what files are open on a network server, so that you can shutdown without files still open. I've had this issue too, and just discovered how to solve it... at least in WIN98.

Double click on Network Neighbourhood on your desktop
R-click on the Server name, and choose properties
Click on the Tools tab
Click on Net Watcher

and there you can see a list of all files open

Hope this helps
David

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Comment from Mark on 2004-08-25

2004-08-25T17:12:32Z

I often need to know which users are using a file located on a server. Once I know who thay are, I can phone then to close it, or in their absence, I would like to be able to close it. (winfile had this feature, unfortunetly it doesn't work with win2K)

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Comment from Leo on 2004-07-26

2004-07-27T04:32:19Z

That was covered in the article. But you *do* need access to the server.

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Comment from Bernd Wechner on 2004-07-26

2004-07-27T01:44:45Z

What if I'm using a file on a the network (on a remote share) which is locked? How can I tell who has that locked?

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Comment from Leo on 2004-07-12

2004-07-12T15:54:16Z

Not off hand. The problem is that there are *always* files in use. By the operating system, if nothing else. If you're worried specifically about files being used on that machine from other machines on the network, you could go into a command shell and type "Net File" to see what's been opened remotely.

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Comment from cacona666 on 2004-07-12

2004-07-12T15:12:34Z

Is there any utility to know automatically before shutting down that there are some files in use (as in Windows 98, that the OS shows a warning that there are "connected" users).

Thanks,
Juan Carlos

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Comment from Fugu on 2004-06-30

2004-06-30T10:54:46Z

Abel: I've bumped in to the same problem. The only way I could do it was to first kill explorer.exe process using Task Manager and then rename the movie file using command prompt. After that you can run explorer.exe again.

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Comment from Simcha on 2004-06-06

2004-06-06T18:54:40Z

If you can't move a file even after a reboot because its in use, there is a free utility available from Microsoft that may help. INUSE.exe allows you to schedule a file replace for the next reboot (you could do this yourrself in the registry, but inuse is neater). However, it doesn't seem to provide a way to copy the file before it's renamed. Here's where to find it:

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Comment from Leo on 2004-05-19

2004-05-20T01:01:59Z

Even after a reboot? If so, I'm kind of at a loss. It's not referenced in your startup is it? Can you share the specific location and name of the file on your machine, or where it came from?

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Comment from Abel on 2004-05-19

2004-05-20T00:40:05Z

Somehow or another it says that one of my movie files is being used by explorer.exe and thats why i cant move/rename/delate it. I've a couple times and virus-scanned with no results. Any ideas?

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Comment from Leo on 2004-05-04

2004-05-04T21:49:29Z

Well, a reboot releases ALL file handles, so apparently something is starting on each reboot that is re-accessing the file.

On the server you can, in a command shell, type "NET FILE" to see what's open. Each will have a number, and then you can "NET FILE id /CLOSE" where id is that number, to force the file closed.

Good luck!

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Comment from Camcuru on 2004-05-04

2004-05-04T17:28:28Z

Ok, so now that we know who has the file opened, how can we force them to release it ?
Specially when the file lives on a remote server and the local holder of the handle is a long dead copy of Outlook.
(System crashed because of some worm and Outlook never released the file handle even after several reboots.)
--
Camcuru

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