How to resolve file being used by another process?

Question

I've been debugging in VS.NET 2010 without issue. But now cannot build. I get the error:

Unable to copy file [filename] to bin\Debug\[filename].  The process cannot access the file bin\Debug\[filename] because it is being used by another process.

I get this error for six different files. I've restart VS.NET 2010 but still get the error. Without restarting the machine, does anyone know how to resolve this?

Is possible your code base is in DropBox or constantly-backup file system? — Tae-Sung Shin, Oct 02 '13 at 16:04

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

5

There are a bunch of questions on SO related to this, all with suggestions and recommendations for solving the issue. For me, none worked until I found this one.

In short, if it's the System Process locking the file, and you have the Application Experience service stopped, restart it. Seriously.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered Oct 02 '13 at 15:58

Eight-Bit Guru

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Thanks. From that post, I tried compmgmt.msc -> System Tools -> Shared Folders -> Open Files but nothing there. This is a Windows Service project and the service had already been stopped. But I did see the EXE was still running. I killed it and all is well. – 4thSpace Oct 02 '13 at 16:10

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '13 at 16:02

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the exe's you are compiling and debugging are still running even after you stop debugging. Kill those exe's from task manager and then compile your exe's. After this, compiling would work perfectly.

answered Oct 02 '13 at 16:02

Deepansh Gupta

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Was a little deceiving since I had already stopped the Windows Service. It's EXE continued to run. – 4thSpace Oct 02 '13 at 16:15
Yeah, weird things happen during coding and even wierdier in production environments :) – Deepansh Gupta Oct 02 '13 at 16:16

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 02 '13 at 15:53

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Use unlocker tool to identify which process is locking up the file. THen unlock it using the same unlocker tool.

answered Oct 02 '13 at 15:53

ckv

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Unlocker has never really helped me. – 4thSpace Oct 02 '13 at 16:06
What unlocker tool are you referring to? – Stevoisiak Dec 14 '19 at 00:56

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 02 '13 at 15:59

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Are you running the program you've built? It may be locking files in the Debug dir.

answered Oct 02 '13 at 15:59

cja

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 02 '13 at 18:26

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Try to kill it via Task Manager. If it cannot be closed either. Use tool 'Process Explorer' to check which file is holding this process, and kill the holder process first.

answered Oct 02 '13 at 18:26

Elliot Chen

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mcfred · Answer 6 · 2018-03-15T08:25:37.423

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For windows 10 users,follow the steps to locate the "Application Experience Server" and click on run button. That's it.

Go to the search in start menu and type task scheduler and select it from the list of results.
In there, please select the Task scheduler library in the left pane.
There select Microsoft.
In Microsoft, please select Windows.
In the Windows, please select the Application Experience.

edited Mar 15 '18 at 08:25

answered Jan 12 '18 at 18:53

mcfred

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How to resolve file being used by another process?

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