{"id":17952,"date":"2021-12-17T16:25:50","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T15:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/?p=17952"},"modified":"2021-12-17T17:00:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:00:57","slug":"folder-in-use-can-not-delete-folder-in-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/17952\/folder-in-use-can-not-delete-folder-in-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Folder in Use &#8211; Can not delete folder in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What process is preventing a file or folder from deletion?<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>If you can not delete a file or a folder, a process in the background is accessing or using it. In that case, you can not delete the file or folder, until the process is terminated. In most cases closing programs will help, but sometimes some background process might be using the file. In this blog post I will show you, how you can find out, which process or program is using the file.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThe action can&#8217;t be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"662\" height=\"294\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_1.jpg 662w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_1-300x133.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of content<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/17952\/folder-in-use-can-not-delete-folder-in-windows\/#Video_tutorial\" >Video tutorial<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/17952\/folder-in-use-can-not-delete-folder-in-windows\/#Tutorial\" >Tutorial<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Video_tutorial\"><\/span>Video tutorial<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5JhCxiYgPbo\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tutorial\"><\/span>Tutorial<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In the first step, we have to download the tool &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/sysinternals\/downloads\/process-explorer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Process Explorer<\/a>&#8221; from Microsoft. It is a small portable download, just unzip the file. There are three executable files, the first is for 32-bit Windows, the second for 64-bit systems and the last one for ARM based Windows systems.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"119\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17955\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now we need the path of the folder which can&#8217;t be deleted, or the file is in. Copy the path from the Explorer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"618\" height=\"330\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17957\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_3.jpg 618w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_3-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In Process Explorer, click on &#8220;Find&#8221; and &#8220;Find Handle or DLL&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"518\" height=\"134\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_4.png 518w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_4-300x78.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now paste the path in the search box and start the search. After some short time, all processes currently accessing the file\/folder should be shown. We now have the process ID and the name of the process.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"303\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_5.png 585w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_5-300x155.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you have the program open in the task bar, just close the program. If the program is not visible we can use the &#8220;Process Explorer&#8221; to terminate the process.<\/p>\n<p>Close the search and look for the process name or process id in the main window. Right click on the process and select &#8220;Kill Procress&#8221;. The process will be terminated and now you should be able to delete the folder. If not, check for other processes which might also be accessing the folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"767\" height=\"239\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17963\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_6.png 767w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/process_en_6-300x93.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What process is preventing a file or folder from deletion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1555],"tags":[1559,1558],"class_list":["post-17952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software-en","tag-tutorial-en","tag-windows-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}