How to unlock locked files?

newtheogott · Post by **newtheogott** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:22 am

I've just found an intresting freeware-tool. UNLOCKER.
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

A file is LOCKED.

Locked means, Windows permits you to kill it because it assumes that this file is "in use".

The Tool Unlocker can:
- find out which EXE or DLL has locked the file
- UNLOCK the file WITHOUT killing this exe.

MY simple question is: WHCIH API is used for such contructs.
HOW can I:
- Find out WHO has locked a file?
- Unlock the file (even without killing the locking process/DLL)?

See more on what other Tool can also do this and about unlocker here: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

thefool · Post by **thefool** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:23 am

http://ollydbg.de/

Can list api's too.

PB · Post by PB » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:56 pm

Files are locked for a reason. Unlocking them is not recommended if you
value their contents. You should only unlock a file if you don't need it, but
doing so may cause system instability as a result.

newtheogott · Post by **newtheogott** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:25 pm

Thanks for the information, however I would primarily be intrested, if someone knows HOW TO:
a) find out, Which programm has a "LOCK" on a file
b) HOW you can remove the lock without killing the file.

Does anyone know that?

Now to the point, "what its good for". Let me show you a number of tools that make use of this mechanism, so you see - its a commonly used knowledge -. Doesn't mean I want unlock all files on my Computer for fun. I just want to know how i could unlock files if needed.

Following is from the unlocker-web site:

****************************

Similar programs and why Unlocker is better

Of course I only compare here the unlocking feature. Process Explorer and Take Control are very good programs featuring much more things than just unlocking folders. The main goal of this list is not really to pretend Unlocker is better but also to provide a list of all comparable programs so that if you have a problem with Unlocker you can try alternatives which might fit better your needs. If you have enough time I really recommend testing those products so that to make your own mind.

Process Explorer by Sysinternals is a fabulous freeware tool. However you need to open it and type the name of your file so that so search for lockers. Then you need to right click every handle and close them one after another, since there is no multi-selection. Process explorer can not unload DLLs. Unlocker allows you to right click the file or folder directly in explorer and close all handles all at once. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs.

WhoLockMe by Dr-Hoiby is a very good freeware tool and has inspired Unlocker in many ways. However WhoLockMe only proposes to kill processes and not close the handle which is annoying and what pushed me to create Unlocker. Wholockme can not unload DLLs. Unlocker allows you to close handles and keep processes alive, which is nice especially when Explorer.exe is open and you don't want to lose all your windows. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs.

FreeFile by Skrubbeltrang is another freeware tool. The very bad point is that it requires the .Net Framework to be installed. The second is that it can only kill processes. FreeFile can not unload DLLs. Unlocker is light and do not need MFC or .Net to close handles and keep processes alive. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs.

Take Control by Computers In Motion is a very good shareware tool. First it is not free, secondly you need to enter the file name, and finally as FreeFile and WhoLockMe it can only kill processes, however the nice thing is it restarts Explore.exe automatically after it is closed. Take Control can not unload DLLs. Unlocker is free, features an explorer extension and only close handles and keeps processes alive. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs.

Pocket KillBox by Option^Explicit is a freeware tool. However I consider it the worst of the lot since it only adds file to a list, which will be deleted only the next time you reboot your computer. KillBox can not unload DLLs. Unlocker allows you to delete files and folder instantly without rebooting your computer. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs.

ForceDel by Zoltan Csizmadia is a freeware command line tool. According to the source code it seems to do its job reasonably well, but will miss certain processes and handles than unlocker will find. ForceDel can not delete DLLs loaded by processes. Since 1.5.1 Unlocker can also be used as a command line with the silent mode, and has the clear advantage to be accessible to everyone with the explorer extension and the graphical interface. Unlocker since 1.6 can unload DLLs. Thanks to Bert van Velsen for the tip.

Locked Files Wizard / Copylock by Noel Danjou is a freeware tool both available with an Explorer extension or a command line. However the program is not very efficient without rebooting, since it failed in the most simple cases I tried. Moreover the interface as a wizard is not very direct and quick to use. When it fails it will act as Killbox do and log the files to be deleted during the next reboot. Unlocker can unlock files and folders immediately without rebooting.

Advanced Process Manipulation by DiamondCS is a freeware tool that allows you to unload DLLs loaded by any process in the system. However you need to find which process locks a DLL and since there are several processes and most link many DLLs the search is not very convenient. Unlocker since 1.6 can also unlock DLLs loaded by other processes and the locks can be very simply found by right cliking on the file itself with the Explorer extension. Moreover Unlocker can also unlock files and folders and not only DLLs.

DLL Master by Tony Shaftel is a shareware tool that allows you to unload 16-Bit DLLs loaded by any process in the system. First it needs VB DLLs to be installed to run, secondly it does not support module loading and unloading from 32-bit process address (most DLLs these days are loaded from 32-bit processes), and at last you have to search DLLs in a list which is not very convenient. Unlocker is free, does not need VB DLLs to run, can unload DLLs from any process and has an Explorer extension. Unlocker can also unlock files and folders and not only DLLs.

Armoured · Post by **Armoured** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:12 am

Hi

You can show to me an example of an unlock procedure?

Thanks.

gnozal · Post by **gnozal** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:32 am

newtheogott wrote:Thanks for the information, however I would primarily be intrested, if someone knows HOW TO:
a) find out, Which programm has a "LOCK" on a file

Maybe you are looking for this :
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Handle.html

Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Handle is a utility that displays information about open handles for any process in the system. You can use it to see the programs that have a file open, or to see the object types and names of all the handles of a program.

You can also get a GUI-based version of this program, Process Explorer.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/P ... lorer.html

Armoured · Post by **Armoured** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:02 pm

Hi

Ok but these are programs.
There is any one with a concrete example about how to unlock a file?

Thanks

chris319 · Post by **chris319** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:28 am

This is an interesting topic. I have two commercial applications which I suspect are not properly unlocking files when they shut down, making those files unavailable to PB.

rsts · Post by **rsts** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 1:59 pm

Somewhat interesting, but aside from the reply asking if there might be some way to unlock in PB, shouldn't this be "off topic", possibly added to the tools list if any of them are freeware?

cheers,

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:00 pm

unless we add code, yes

you can lock a file from within a process, but you cannot unlock the file from another process, at least i did not find an easy way to do that

Dr. Dri · Post by **Dr. Dri** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:29 am

blueznl wrote:unless we add code, yes

you can lock a file from within a process, but you cannot unlock the file from another process, at least i did not find an easy way to do that

Can you share your code ? I don't care if it's not a PB code but i would like to know how to do that for my program's process

Dri

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:42 am

do a search for 'lockfile' in the win32.hlp file, it's a winapi call

Dr. Dri · Post by **Dr. Dri** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:50 am

I don't know how to use unlockfile and unlockfileex... It seems that it only unlock files locked with lockfile or lockfileex

Dri

Michael Vogel · Post by **Michael Vogel** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:47 pm

Had anyone success in doing a unlock with PB?

I need it for an aborted filecopy command, how to get the handle from it for the API functions?
Otherwise, when aborting the copying, the actual file can't be deleted, overwritten, etc. until the program quits.

Code: Select all

Procedure CopyList(Nothing.l)
Protected i.l=-1
While i<totalfiles
  i+1
  source=SourceList(i)
  dest=DestList(i)
  if CopyFile(source,destpath)=0
    error=99
    break
  endif
wend
endpocedure

ThreadID=CreateThread(@CopyList(),0)

; if Abort-Button... KillThread(ThreadID)

dell_jockey · Post by **dell_jockey** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:39 pm

in one instance I've had a very persistent locking problem. Even rebooting didn't resolve the issue.

As it transpired, explorer.exe was locking it, independent from the security credentials of the user account. I couldn't delete the file as a normal user, not as an admin, not even when starting another explorer with system credentials.

What solved it was:

- use the Windows task manager to kill the explorer.exe process (all your desktop icons will vanish...)
- then use the Task Manager to start a new task. I started CMD.EXE
- within CMD.EXE, I was able to delete the file I couldn't delete before.
- then I again used Task Manager to start a new task, this time to restart explorer.exe (your desktop will be restored)

Perhaps this description might help someone, some day...

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How to unlock locked files?

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