How to unlock a file from someone else in Team Foundation Server

Question

We have a project that is stored within our TFS server and some files were Checked-Out by me from another computer and another user (both of which are not used anymore). Is there a way to force the unlocking of the file (no changes were made to it so it's safe to do so if I can only do it).

This simply means I changed computer since then and then changed user because I was using a temp user back then... — David Brunelle, Apr 16 '14 at 19:53

score 123 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 25 '13 at 23:12

123

Here's what I do in Visual Studio 2012

(Note: I have the TFS Power Tools installed so if you don't see the described options you may need to install them. http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/b1ef7eb2-e084-4cb8-9bc7-06c3bad9148f )

If you are accessing the Source Control Explorer as a team project administrator (or at least someone with the "Undo other users' changes" access right) you can do the following in Visual Studio 2012 to clear a lock and checkout.

From the Source Control Explorer find the folder containing the locked file(s).
Right-click and select Find then Find by Status...
The "Find in Source Control" window appears
Click the Find button
A "Find in Source Control" tab should appear showing the file(s) that are checked out
Right click the file you want to unlock
Select Undo... from the context menu
A confirmation dialog appears. Click the Yes button.
The file should disappear from the "Find in Source Control" window.

The file is now unlocked.

answered Jul 25 '13 at 23:12

BubbleSort

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Where does one assign or view the "Undo other users' changes" rights? – flipdoubt Nov 14 '14 at 16:19
You can also select all (Ctrl-A) and right click, undo. This will remove all locks. – TheSoftwareJedi Mar 19 '15 at 13:53
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For Visual Studio 2013: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/f017b10c-02b4-4d6d-9845-58a06545627f – juFo May 29 '15 at 08:18
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For VS 2013: Source Control Explorer > navigate to some folder > right-click > Undo Pending Changes > select files for undo > press button for undo changes – Cyrus Jun 25 '15 at 06:35
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This was a great answer that was short, to the point, and saved me lots of time. Thanks! – Tim Aug 12 '15 at 15:01
1 year later, and I still had to use this SO post. :-) – juFo Jun 27 '16 at 13:17

score 43 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 11 '10 at 07:20

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You can use the Status Sidekick of TFS Sidekicks tool and unlock the files which are checked out by other users. To do this you should be a part of Administrator group of that particular Team Project (or) your group should have the permissions to undo and unlock the other user changes which by default Administrator group has.

You can get the tool here: http://www.attrice.info/cm/tfs/

answered Aug 11 '10 at 07:20

Jehan33

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For detailed steps see my answer below: http://stackoverflow.com/a/14565165/224976 – Tim Partridge Jan 28 '13 at 15:20

score 37 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 04 '11 at 23:38

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I was able to undo another user's checkout with the following command:

tf undo {file path} /workspace:{workspace};{username}

You'll need to wrap that semicolon in double-quotes if you're running the command from PowerShell. We're running TFS 2010 (and VS 2010).

Disclaimer: I got this from the FCI-H blog at http://fci-h.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-force-undo-checkout-tfs.html

answered Nov 04 '11 at 23:38

Kent Hu

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I am trying to follow it but some how I could not succeed. I would like to know that should user have right to undo other user locked settings or any tfs user can do that – User1551892 Feb 26 '14 at 10:04
@PeterX In Visual Studio 'Source Control Explorer', right click the file > Advanced > Properties : Go to Status tab. It will show you the workspace there. – Doug Coburn May 04 '15 at 23:10

score 23 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

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Team Foundation Sidekicks has a Status sidekick that allows you to query for checked out work items. Once a work item is selected, click the "Undo lock" buttons on the toolbar.

Rights

Keep in mind that you will need the appropriate rights. The permissions are called "Undo other users' changes" and "Unlock other users' changes". These permissions can be viewed by:

Right-clicking the desired project, folder, or file in Source Control Explorer
Select Properties
Select the Security tab
Select the appropriate user or group in the Users and Groups section at the top
View the "Permissions for [user/group]:" section at the bottom

Screenshot of unlocking a file using Team Foundation Sidekicks

Disclaimer: this answer is an edited repost of Brett Roger's answer to a similar question.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

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answered Jan 28 '13 at 15:20

Tim Partridge

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For whatever reason, this operation doesn't work for me. I'm pointing at TFS2013, am full admin, using Sidekicks 5.0.0.0. As Leandro mentions in an answer below, the only operation that works is "Undo pending change". – EJA Jul 12 '16 at 13:19
A recent situation showed us that Team Foundation Sidekicks doesn't report errors in our specific situation: a binary file was checked out. Since VS/TFVC is not able to merge binary files, it requires a lock. If you try to unlock it using tf vc lock, you get a TF10152: The item must remain locked because its file type prevents multiple check-outs error which we concluded was the problem for TF Sidekicks – bkqc Jan 10 '23 at 20:34

score 14 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 16 '13 at 14:00

I solved this with the TFS powertools (dec 2011 - for VS 2010 TFS 2010)

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/c255a1e4-04ba-4f68-8f4e-cd473d6b971f

Find in Source Control | Status... allows you to find all files checked out to a specific person

right click and UNDO... can remove each checkout.

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '10 at 17:34

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If you login into the source control with the admin account, you will be able to force undo checkout, or check in with any file you provide.

answered Aug 10 '10 at 17:34

kurast

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usually, it is admin, or administrator, without a pass. – kurast Aug 10 '10 at 17:49
Problem is, it usually is, because it is the default one. – kurast Jan 11 '13 at 16:41
I am actually ADDING a new file to a new Bound source control. And it keeps saying its locked by a user. I deleted the users work-space form TFS but it keep on bugging me. Only some files cannto be checked in. Keeps on telling me this – Piotr Kula Feb 04 '15 at 12:56
I have given Project Administrator Access but unlock is still greyed out. I tried with tf.exe in command prompt. i get this error "TF14090: Cannot unlock $/project/myfile.txt. It is not currently locked in your workspace.". Please help! – Mohan Ram Jul 28 '17 at 07:15
"If you login into the source control with the admin account"..... I got 20+ years of experience with .NET, Visual studio and TFS. I have no what you are talking about. Btw. We are ALL admins and we all have UNLOCK in grey. – Christian Mar 09 '20 at 13:42

score 7 · Answer 7 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Based on stackptr answer I've created batch file UnlockOther.bat

@rem from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3451637/how-to-unlock-a-file-from-someone-else-in-team-foundation-server
@rem tf undo {file path} /workspace:{workspace};{username

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86
@echo on
tf undo $/MyTfsProject/path/fileName.ext /workspace:CollegeMachine;CollegueName /login:MyLogin 
@pause

Shadi Fayed · Answer 8 · 2020-09-06T20:50:55.200

You need to be project admin or to have tfs account (user name/password) of the user who had locked the file.

in Visual Studio 2019:

Menu > View > Terminal (ctrl+`)
Wait until developer powershell or command prompt loads to the cursor like this:
Drive:\your solution path>
you must undo changes to unlock the file:
tf vc undo /workspace:"workspacename;worksapceowner" "$/path/[file.extension][*]" [/recursive] [/login:"user name,password"]
example:-
tf vc undo /workspace:"DESKTOP-F6BN2GHTKQ8;Johne123" "$/mywebsite/mywebsite/appsettings.json"

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 07 '13 at 17:39

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Team Foundation Sidekicks worked fine for me.

The file didn't unlock so I did a undo on pending changes and after that I could delete the file.

answered Feb 07 '13 at 17:39

Leandro Brito

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Thank you for this non-obvious tip! I'll add that unlock didn't display any error or message, it simply deselected the file and that's it. The ONLY thing that was necessary was the "undo pending change", this deletes the lock. Delete lock does not. VS2010, sidekick 3.1.1. – FredCooke Mar 30 '14 at 21:49
A recent situation showed us that Team Foundation Sidekicks doesn't report errors in our specific situation: a binary file was checked out. Since VS/TFVC is not able to merge binary files, it requires a lock. If you try to unlock it using `tf vc lock`, you get a `TF10152: The item must remain locked because its file type prevents multiple check-outs` error which we concluded was the problem for TF Sidekicks. – bkqc Jan 10 '23 at 20:31

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 19 '19 at 09:08

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2019 answer, as most of the above is depracated.

tf undo /workspace:"hostname;username" "$/path/*" /s:https://yourhostname/tfs in an elevated command prompt, from a path such as C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE>

answered Sep 19 '19 at 09:08

spikey_richie

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despite having the necessary permissions I could not unlock a folder with the traditional `tf lock` command, but with `tf undo` it worked – Techromancer Nov 02 '20 at 16:18

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Apr 15 '19 at 12:52

Use the unlock command that comes with TFS

Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, click Visual Studio Tools, and then click Visual Studio Command Prompt.
Type the following command and replace the arguments with the appropriate parameter information for your needs: tf lock /lock:none $/MyTeamProject/web.config

tf lock itemspec /lock:(none|checkout|checkin) [/workspace:workspacename] [/recursive] [/login:username,[password]] [/collection:TeamProjectCollectionUrl]

From MSDN.

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Feb 20 '20 at 14:30

In my case, I tried unlocking the file with tf lock but was told I couldn't because the stale workspace on an old computer that no longer existed was a local workspace. I then tried deleting the workspace with tf workspace /delete, but deleting the workspace did not remove the lock (and then I couldn't try to unlock it again because I just got an error saying the workspace no longer existed).

I ended up tf destroying the file and checking it in again, which was pretty silly and had the undesirable effect of removing\ it from previous changesets, but at least got us working again. It wasn't that big a deal in this case since the file had never been changed since being checked in.

How to unlock a file from someone else in Team Foundation Server

12 Answers12

Here's what I do in Visual Studio 2012

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