Cant Access File because it is being used by another process

Question

I have an ASP.NET program where i am downloading a file from web using DownloadFile method of webClient Class and the do some modifications on it. then i am Saving it to another folder with a unique name.When I am getting this error

The process cannot access the file 'D:\RD\dotnet\abc\abcimageupload\images\TempStorage\tempImage.jpg' because it is being used by another process

Can anyone tell me how to solve this.

Please post some code - it's hard to say where the problem is otherwise. — Jon Skeet, Nov 26 '08 at 15:28

Joel Meador · Accepted Answer · 2008-11-26T15:55:42.930

6

Generally, I think your code should looking something like this.

WebClient wc = new WebClient();
wc.DownloadFile("http://stackoverflow.com/Content/Img/stackoverflow-logo-250.png", "Foo.png");
FileStream fooStream;
using (fooStream = new FileStream("foo.png", FileMode.Open))
{
    // do stuff
}
File.Move("foo.png", "foo2.png");

edited Nov 26 '08 at 15:55

answered Nov 26 '08 at 15:44

Joel Meador

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The try/finally/fooStream.Close(); is unneccessary - the using will do just that. – configurator Nov 26 '08 at 15:49

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 27 '08 at 05:57

4

I've had very good success using the tools from SysInternals to track which applications are accessing files and causing this kind of issue.

Process Monitor is the tool you want - set it up to filter the output to just files in the folder you're interested in, and you'll be able to see every access to the file.

Saves having to guess what the problem is.

answered Nov 27 '08 at 05:57

Bevan

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Another useful tool for debugging file locking issues is Unlocker, though it only works with x32 systems. The application is available at http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/. – Mun Jan 17 '09 at 20:10

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 29 '11 at 15:58

try the following, set your filestream to Asynchronus mode (3rd parameter)

FileStream myStream = File.Create(fileName, results.Length,FileOptions.Asynchronous);
//make sure you close the file
myStream.Write(results, 0, results.Length);
myStream.Flush();
myStream.Close();
myStream.Dispose();

if this fails reset the attributed of the file b4 you access it

File.SetAttributes(Server.MapPath(sendFilepath), FileAttributes.Normal);

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 26 '08 at 15:23

0

Are you explicitly closing the file stream after you make your changes?

answered Nov 26 '08 at 15:23

EBGreen

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Yes I am using file.Dispose() method – Shyju Nov 26 '08 at 15:25
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If you're *manually* calling Dispose(), are you doing so within a finally block? It's usually better to use a "using" statement. – Jon Skeet Nov 26 '08 at 15:29

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 17 '09 at 20:00

0

I dont know if this will solve your problem..

I got the exact same error when writing to a text file and then trying to open it afterwards.

It was solved by flushing the writer and then closing it after writing to the file..

answered Jan 17 '09 at 20:00

Moulde

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 08 '09 at 15:25

this may help....sorry its VB not C but hey...

This works

    Dim fs As FileStream = Nothing
    fs = File.Create("H:\test.txt")
    fs.Close()
    File.Delete("H:\test.txt")

This doesn't, give "file being used by another process" error

    File.Create("H:\test.txt")
    File.Delete("H:\test.txt")

Cant Access File because it is being used by another process

6 Answers6

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