If you receive File in Use, The action can’t be completed because the file is open in another program even if the file is closed in another program, then this post will help you.
If you open the Task Manager and go to the Performance tab, you can observe the operations and activities the computer is carrying out. Sometimes, Windows has a lot of tasks to complete, and hence, it may not reflect the exact progress of a specific operation. For example, you may keep seeing the following error even if the file opened in some program was closed:
File In Use. The action can’t be completed because the file is open in another program
File in Use, The action can’t be completed because the file is open in another program
You may receive this error in terms of the folder as well. You might find this quite annoying because you have to restart Windows or File Explorer to overcome this warning. And sometimes, even restarting Explorer doesn’t help, and you might have to reboot the machine.
Before you proceed, manually close the other programs that you are not using and see if it helps.
1] Restart Computer
Restart your Windows computer and try to perform the desired operation on the file.
Read: How to tell which Process is locking a File?
2] Perform a Clean Boot
Boot your computer in Clean Boot State and then try to manually troubleshoot the issue. You will have to find the offending process manually. Clean-boot troubleshooting is designed to isolate a performance problem.
Related: Unable to save permission changes, Access is denied
3] Launch folder in a new window
Whenever you face this issue, just press the Windows Key + E combination on the keyboard. This will launch File Explorer, in the ribbon, click View tab. Then click Options > Change folder and search options.
Moving on, in the Folder Options windows so opened, scroll down and found the Launch folder windows in a separate process option under Advanced settings. Since you’re facing this issue, you would find this option enabled, hence disable it.
Click Apply followed by OK. You can now close all the instances of File Explorer via Task Manager or reboot the machine if the setting is not applied immediately.
If the above method doesn’t help you, try removing the Preview Pane and see if that helps. Thanks to our reader BBBBB for this.
That’s it!
How do I delete a file when it says it is open in another program?
To delete a file when it is open in another program, first close the program using the file. If the program is unresponsive, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch Task Manager, find the program, and click “End Task.” Then, try deleting the file again.
How to solve Another program is currently using this file?
To solve the “Another program is currently using this file” issue, perform a clean boot and try to delete the file. If it does not help, you may use a File Deleter software to delete locked files.
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