the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program

Question

the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program

standuhuajun 41

This problem occurred on windows server 2016. We want to know how to delete this folder and what programs let us not delete this folder?

Dale Kudusi 3,171 Reputation points

2020-12-30T09:37:45.26+00:00

Hi, @standuhuajun
Was the issue resolved?
If any reply is useful for you, please accept it as answer.
If you have any issue or concern, please reply to us directly.
Best Regards.
Julie Mossberg-Kinsley 11 Reputation points

2022-02-24T14:54:45.897+00:00

I got the same error for a file I did a Save As into a different folder, but I just figured it out. After researching what the OneDrive status icons mean (the file in question had a blue-outlined cloud, which means it's available on-line only), I right-clicked the folder the file is in and selected "Always keep on this device". This setting caused the status icon for all the files in the folder to become a green circle with a white checkmark. When I attempted to open the file again with this new status, I got a message indicating the file path/name is too long. Once I shortened the name of the file, I was able to open the file without a problem. I then right-clicked the folder the file is in again and selected "Free up space", which caused the status icon to change back to the blue-outlined cloud for each file. I again was able to open the file successfully.

Since the Folder In Use message is so vague and doesn't let you know what's really going on, I don't know if the same steps above will work for you, but it's worth a try.
QUADRI ASHIMOLOWO 0 Reputation points

2023-01-19T16:29:33.55+00:00
I followed Julie Mossberg's steps and it worked.
The issue was with the Folder name. The folder name included a character that is not supported by OneDrive and SharePoint. So, all files in the folder are not opening and comes with same error. The link below lists the unsupported characters.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restrictions-and-limitations-in-onedrive-and-sharepoint-64883a5d-228e-48f5-b3d2-eb39e07630fa

I renamed the file by removing the unsupported characters and the file got synced to OneDrive and we are able to open files in the folder.

Dale Kudusi 3,171 Reputation points

2020-12-30T09:37:45.26+00:00

Hi, @standuhuajun
Was the issue resolved?
If any reply is useful for you, please accept it as answer.
If you have any issue or concern, please reply to us directly.
Best Regards.
Julie Mossberg-Kinsley 11 Reputation points

2022-02-24T14:54:45.897+00:00

I got the same error for a file I did a Save As into a different folder, but I just figured it out. After researching what the OneDrive status icons mean (the file in question had a blue-outlined cloud, which means it's available on-line only), I right-clicked the folder the file is in and selected "Always keep on this device". This setting caused the status icon for all the files in the folder to become a green circle with a white checkmark. When I attempted to open the file again with this new status, I got a message indicating the file path/name is too long. Once I shortened the name of the file, I was able to open the file without a problem. I then right-clicked the folder the file is in again and selected "Free up space", which caused the status icon to change back to the blue-outlined cloud for each file. I again was able to open the file successfully.

Since the Folder In Use message is so vague and doesn't let you know what's really going on, I don't know if the same steps above will work for you, but it's worth a try.
QUADRI ASHIMOLOWO 0 Reputation points

2023-01-19T16:29:33.55+00:00

I followed Julie Mossberg's steps and it worked.
The issue was with the Folder name. The folder name included a character that is not supported by OneDrive and SharePoint. So, all files in the folder are not opening and comes with same error. The link below lists the unsupported characters.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restrictions-and-limitations-in-onedrive-and-sharepoint-64883a5d-228e-48f5-b3d2-eb39e07630fa

I renamed the file by removing the unsupported characters and the file got synced to OneDrive and we are able to open files in the folder.

Answer 1

Dale Kudusi 3,171

Hi,
To find and close the process that has the file open, please follow this steps:

Open resource monitor (Windows +R to open Run then type Resmon.exe)
Open the CPU tab in the monitor
Select all processes (not sure if this is needed, you can probably just search for the handle)
Expand "associated handles"
Search for the file you need
Close the process that has the handle

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sixcorners 6 Reputation points

2021-10-12T05:59:11.567+00:00

You didn't answer the question. No one can answer the question because this error message is bad. Is there anything in the world we can do to convince someone to make that error message better? Why are all of the error messages in all of software permanently unfixably bad? Why couldn't this error message show the programs that have this file open?
Microsoft has convinced themselves that it must, for backwards compatibility sake, not allow people to delete open files. That alone is terrible but not fixing this dialog after all this time is really salt in the wound.
Mr911SealGrey 11 Reputation points

2022-02-09T15:23:47.22+00:00

The above recommendation is a very good first step. In my case, once I expanded "associated handles" I did a search for the for a word in the name of the directory (or file) that was being "used", and a list of just those handles came up. It turns out, in my case, explorer.exe was "using" the handles. I thought that was strange, as no files were "open". But it turns out that even if you have a directory pinned for Quick Access in Explorer, that will prevent you from changing the name of that directory until you unpin it, therefore releasing the handle, and then allowing you to proceed with the process. You can keep refreshing the search term until there are no more items left, and you may have to close File Explorer, redo the term search in Resource Monitor as few times until you are such no open handles are within the path in question.
rudeboy 6 Reputation points

2022-05-29T17:54:24.057+00:00

DaleKudusi-MSFT, that was awful, terrible advice! I followed your instructions to a tee and now my windows explorer is gone and so is my entire desktop and status bar. I basically have a black screen on my desktop with only the browser window which I can minimize and restore. You better pray that when I force restart my laptop that all is well. Please don't tell me you work for Microsoft. Windows is a terrible OS, just atrocious. It is the bane of every PC user's existence and you are no help whatsoever. If anyone followed this person's advice and lost their explorer and taskbar just do this: CLTR+ALT+DELETE to bring up Task Manager>File>Run new task>type 'explorer.exe' and hit ENTER. This should bring back your taskbar.
theRedBrush 6 Reputation points

2022-06-09T07:14:12.45+00:00

Username checks out.
Wolfram Kresse 1 Reputation point

2022-06-29T10:59:46.983+00:00

Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for, it helped to quickly identify the process that caused the problem.

NOTE: Quite often, this offending process is explorer.exe. Killing this process will temporarily break your Desktop! So make sure you MANUALLY restart a new "explorer.exe" afterwards, by opening the Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc, then File=>RunNewTask, and enter "explorer" without quotes.

@Microsoft: Obviously, the offending process should be listed ALONG with the error message, otherwise the error message is 99.8% useless. Or, even better, "explorer.exe" needs to be fixed so that it no longer keeps blocking some folders or files unnecessarily, especially if they aren't actually in use (from the user's POV).
Chad Hooper 1 Reputation point

2022-09-28T17:57:16.157+00:00

That literally made me LOL!!!
Niphadkar, Neha 1 Reputation point

2022-11-10T16:09:37.653+00:00

This helped me resolve the issue.

Answer 2

Dave Patrick 342.4K MVP

You can use Process Explorer to find the responsible process, then kill it.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

--please don't forget to Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

Answer 3

This error message seems to be triggered by any application that has navigated to the folder in question, usually with the File - Open/Save/Save As dialog. Even after that dialog has closed, I think the API should release the handle that is connected to that folder. The API should just save the path in a variable and let go of the handle. I know that the handle is held open so that the next time you open that dialog, the same path will be navigated to, but if that path is no longer valid, just open to that folder's next available parent directory, or even just that drive's root directory. I'll bet hundreds if not thousands of people get this error message every day, and probably just end up either leaving the abandoned file/folder there, or rebooting to solve the problem.

Either fix the API's that are keeping the handle open after the dialog is closed, or fix the error message dialog to show the user which applications are using that folder. BTW, this is not just related to Windows Server 2016. This has been a problem with at least Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10.

Answer 4

I have also noticed that Microsoft Power Query use default OLEDBConnection.MaintainConnection = True. This will also result in this dialog when owner is trying to update or replace the source file. That is because any open workbook with a open connection to the source trigger the file as busy.

Microsoft should have implemented the old 'Read only' as default to all kinds of Power Query Connections to avoid this annoying occupation of files.

A work around in VBA is to turn off OLEDBConnection.MaintainConnection with this code, but that will requires the use of xlsm format in Excel.

Dim conn As Variant
For Each conn In ActiveWorkbook.Connections
conn.OLEDBConnection.MaintainConnection = False
Next conn

the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program

4 answers

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