File is Open in Another Program, How to Find out?

We may all have come to this: want to delete or rename a file but get rejected because the file is open in another program. But it's not always easy to figure out which program on earth opens this file. Today, we're going to introduce you two tools - one is Windows built-in Resource Monitor, the other one is third-party software - to find out the annoying process.

Find Out with Windows built-in Resource Monitor

To open Source Monitor, you can try two ways below:
Press Win + R, input resmon.exe, press Enter;
Open Task Manager, select Performance and click Open Resource Monitor in the bottom. 

Go to CPU tab, input the process you want to close in the Search Handles box in Associated Handles module. After searching, right-click the process running itself, and End Process.

For instance, I want to delete some pictures in my computer but get a sign saying that the folder is open in another program.

Step 1: Open Resource Monitor and go to CPU tab.

Step 2: Search for the program who opens the file (in which your file is open).

Input the file's name in the Search Handles in Associated Handles module.

Sometimes, you may see "explorer.exe" in the Search Results. Don't kill it. That's a user shell, which we see as the familiar taskbar, desktop, and other user interface features. Actually, it won't lock your file so it has nothing to do with your file-being-open problem.

Step 3: Unlock the file

Right-click the process and press End Process.

Find Out with Third-party software

There are professional third-party software to help you out. In this part, we'll take LockHunter as example.

Using LockHunter, we can get access to figure out which process is locking the file or folder you are about to unlock.

LockHunter allows you to end the process and even delete the file. Plus, it also offers users with access to rename and copy this file.

Step 1: Open LockHunter to find the process out.

Open LockHunter and enter file name into the search box.

Step 2: Click Unlock it or Delete it or Other….

It depends on what you want to do to the file.

By clicking Other…, you can also choose unlock & rename or unlock & copy the file directly.

Shortly speaking, if the file we want to delete or rename is open for another process, we just need to find out the process and end it so that we can make changes to our file with two types of tool:

1. Windows built-in Task Manager.

2. Third-party Software.

Take advantages of these tools to end the process and altering action will be enabled.