Delete file when it used in another process

Question

In DocumentViewerControl in WPF I want to delete the file after closing the control in closed event handler. I tried to delete it but VS told me that it is used by another process. How can I delete it?

TextBlock tb = (TextBlock)e.TabItem.Header;
int index = Convert.ToInt32(tb.Text.Split(' ')[1]) - 2;
string path = GlobalStaticVariables.store_item_content[index].Split('-')[1];
Process temp = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
temp.Dispose();
System.IO.File.Delete(path);

Are you certain the viewer control is disposing of its reference to the file? Please post the code from that event handler. — Dan J, Apr 19 '11 at 23:59
I want to delete file while it is accessed by another process only — kartal, Apr 20 '11 at 00:08
Yes, thank you, I understand. However, the additional information I requested will be needed in order to identify the specific reason that you are unable to delete the file. — Dan J, Apr 20 '11 at 00:10
@salamonti the likelihood is the process being referred to is your own, due to a reference being held ( as @djacobson already mentioned) — Mitch Wheat, Apr 20 '11 at 00:11
Duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1040/how-do-i-delete-a-file-which-is-locked-by-another-process-in-c — Alexei Levenkov, Apr 20 '11 at 01:17

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 19 '15 at 17:08

This question is asked many times by now and answer still does not change: deleting files opened by other processes is bad and as result made hard to do. Usually it is better to figure out why file is locked and either fix application behavior to avoid extensive file locking or wait till application releases the file.

To investigate who locks the file you can use Handle or GUI version - Process Explorer by Microsoft/SysInternals.

See related messages to discussions on this topic.

Delete file when it used in another process

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