How do I delete a folder that's in use?

Question

Sometimes when I'm working in Windows I'll get this prompt when I try to delete a directory:

Folder In Use
The action can't be completed because the folder is open in another program
Close the folder and try again.

However, the folder isn't "in use" at all, and I don't have it open. So how can I delete it short of rebooting?

Answer 1

Process Explorer from Sysinternals will let you search through the handles and DLLs. Search for the directory and find out which process is "using" the folder.

From there, you have the ability to either shut down that process, or just close that particular file handle. Be sure about what you're doing when working with the file handle directly, and make sure it's not being used by some important process.

Answer 2

Try this nice tool: http://www.emptyloop.com/unlocker/.

Answer 3

When using tools that forces file handles closed (like the previously-mentioned Unlocker), keep in mind that doing so might cause serious problems. (See this article by Raymond Chen.) Make sure you know which applications are using the file and that none of them are doing anything important.

It's safer to try shutting down the applications first instead of just forcing the handle closed.

Answer 4

I've had that happen to. Sometimes I can resolve the issue by deleting the contents first, then the folder(empty).

Answer 5

Unlocker and WhoLockMe don't work on 64-bit Windows. I use LockHunter.

Answer 6

This REG script will give you a "View Handles" right click context menu item which will invoke the Sysinternals handle utility to see all open handles to the file or folder that you right clicked on.

Put handle.exe from Sysinternals into a location that is accessible from your path.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Handle]
@="View &Handles"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\Handle\command]
@="cmd.exe /k handle -a -u \"%1\""

Answer 7

When I was on XP I used WhoLockMe to find out what programs had files open and locked. The most recent version I could find doesn't mention Vista, but it'd be worth a shot.

Sometimes, you can delete it from the inside out manually. Just navigate all the way down in the hierarchy, delete all files, move up a directory, and repeat. Not sure why Windows can't do this itself, but it sometimes works for me.

Answer 8

The quickest and simplest approach is to use Handle, as mentioned by slolife, rather than using Process Explorer. They're both from Mark Russinovich @ Microsoft.

Don't be surprised to find that explorer.exe is the culprit, as I did today. Apparently there is an official way to restart explorer.exe, but I seem to be getting away with killing it and starting it back up again it in Task Manager.

Answer 9

I use Handle from SysInternals (now Microsoft). You can type in part of the folder name to see which process has a handle on that folder and then kill the handle.

Like others have mentioned, killing the handle can cause serious problems.

Answer 10

If by “not in use”, you mean there are no open handles to it, then make sure that the Application Experience service is not disabled. If so, set it to manual:

Run dialog (or command prompt):

  sc config AeLookupSvc start= demand

Answer 11

Try Ctrl + Shift + Esc > "programs", then right click the one you want to deactivate and choose deactivate. Then delete it again!

(My OS is in Swedish so the translations might not be exactly the same! but you get it!)