[windows] How to force delete a file?

This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions here.

How can i force Windows XP to delete file that is currently being used by some application?

This question is related to windows batch-file unlock

The answer is


You have to close that application first. There is no way to delete it, if it's used by some application.

UnLock IT is a neat utility that helps you to take control of any file or folder when it is locked by some application or system. For every locked resource, you get a list of locking processes and can unlock it by terminating those processes. EMCO Unlock IT offers Windows Explorer integration that allows unlocking files and folders by one click in the context menu.

There's also Unlocker (not recommended, see Warning below), which is a free tool which helps locate any file locking handles running, and give you the option to turn it off. Then you can go ahead and do anything you want with those files.

Warning: The installer includes a lot of undesirable stuff. You're almost certainly better off with UnLock IT.


Examples related to windows

"Permission Denied" trying to run Python on Windows 10 A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013 How to install OpenJDK 11 on Windows? I can't install pyaudio on Windows? How to solve "error: Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 is required."? git clone: Authentication failed for <URL> How to avoid the "Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting warning" XCOPY: Overwrite all without prompt in BATCH Laravel 5 show ErrorException file_put_contents failed to open stream: No such file or directory how to open Jupyter notebook in chrome on windows Tensorflow import error: No module named 'tensorflow'

Examples related to batch-file

'ls' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file '' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file XCOPY: Overwrite all without prompt in BATCH CanĀ“t run .bat file under windows 10 Execute a batch file on a remote PC using a batch file on local PC Windows batch - concatenate multiple text files into one How do I create a shortcut via command-line in Windows? Getting Error:JRE_HOME variable is not defined correctly when trying to run startup.bat of Apache-Tomcat Curl not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file Best way to script remote SSH commands in Batch (Windows)

Examples related to unlock

How to force delete a file?