Locked File

We’ve all had this. You want to delete or rename some file or folder, and you get the very dreaded following window:

You probably already know about the locked files and checked the Server Manager > Roles > File Services > Share and Storage Management > OpenFiles (this is the path for Win 2K8). Your folder is not to be seen, and it gets you mad, I know.

Then you Google some, and you find some miraculous third-party software which-will-solve-all-your-problem-but-please-click-next-next-next-and-don’t-read.

filelock-unlocker
Delta Toolbar? SRSLY?

Then let’s think: it’s Windows, we are in 2015; what about Powershell?

Beam Us Up Scotty proposes a command for this, let’s try it on that example directory:

$lockedFile="D:\atestdir002"
Get-Process | foreach{$processVar = $_;$_.Modules | foreach{if($_.FileName -eq $lockedFile){$processVar.Name + " PID:" + $processVar.id}}}

1 2	$lockedFile="D:\atestdir002" Get-Process \| foreach{$processVar = $_;$_.Modules \| foreach{if($_.FileName -eq $lockedFile){$processVar.Name + " PID:" + $processVar.id}}}

It might be actually good for files, but in the case of a directory, it returns nothing 🙁

Out of the box, I haven’t found a way to get what I want: clearly identify what the hell is locking my file or folder.

There is a Sysinternals executable called Handle.exe (which I would love to decompile some day and inject its commands into some PS!) which looks promising.

Note that you can run this executable from a remote location, but not from a certain location, aimed toward a remote machine where the file is locked.

The Lonely Administrator and Stackoverflow propose solutions using this, let’s try:

Download Handle.exe from the official Sysinternals site. It’s a safe lonely executable, no crappy toolbar, no adware and the like.
Put it on some network share.
Write a nice PS function to use Handle.exe. As we won’t reinvent the wheel; just grab the one from the Lonely Administrator (the second “Click to Expand Code”)… it’s well done and works fine (*).
Put the function in a file (let’s call it Get-LockingProcess.ps1) on a share (e.g. the same as Handle.exe, let’s call it MYSHARE for the example). Be sure to edit the path to the Handle.exe file (variable $Handle in that code) to match your network share.
From anywhere where a file or folder is locked, as long as you have access to the said share, you open a Powershell window, you include the Get-LockingProcess.ps1 (using the dot command for instance) and then you call the function with the locked directory.

Let’s try this with our example dir. I put Handle.exe and the Get-LockingProcess.ps1 files on \\MYSHARE:

PS C:\> . \\MYSHARE\Get-LockingProcess.ps1

PS C:\> Get-LockingProcess D:\atestdir002

FullName : cmd.exe
Name     : cmd
ID       : 4896
Type     : File
Path     : D:\atestdir002

PS C:\> . \\MYSHARE\Get-LockingProcess.ps1

PS C:\> Get-LockingProcess D:\atestdir002

FullName : cmd.exe

Name : cmd

ID : 4896

Type : File

Path : D:\atestdir002

Pretty clear: you have the directory opened in a cmd window!

This is from a system admin’s point of view and wanting to give any power user a quick and easy way to identify locked files/folders.
Of course you can also do this locally, and/or only output Handle.exe to a file and Ctrl+F into that file, but it isn’t as fancy ! 🙂

(*) For future’s sake, here is a copy, with cited source:

# source http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/2014/03/friday-fun-find-file-locking-process-with-powershell/
#  in remote script/PS window type the following line:
#  . \\MYSHARE\Get-LockingProcess.ps1
#   then call it with:
#  Get-LockingProcess BLOCKEDFILE

Function Get-LockingProcess {
 
[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
 [Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$True,
 HelpMessage="What is the path or filename? You can enter a partial name without wildcards")]
 [Alias("name")]
 [ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
 [string]$Path
)
 
#define the path to Handle.exe
$Handle = "\\MYSHARE\handle.exe"
 
[regex]$matchPattern = "(?<Name>\w+\.\w+)\s+pid:\s+(?<PID>\b(\d+)\b)\s+type:\s+(?<Type>\w+)\s+\w+:\s+(?<Path>.*)"
 
$data = &$handle $path 
$MyMatches = $matchPattern.Matches( $data )
 
if ($MyMatches.value) {
      $MyMatches | foreach {
     [pscustomobject]@{ 
      FullName = $_.groups["Name"].value
      Name = $_.groups["Name"].value.split(".")[0]
      ID = $_.groups["PID"].value
      Type = $_.groups["Type"].value
      Path = $_.groups["Path"].value
     } #hashtable
    } #foreach
  } #if data
else {
    Write-Warning "No matching handles found"
  }
} #end function

# source http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/2014/03/friday-fun-find-file-locking-process-with-powershell/

# in remote script/PS window type the following line:

# . \\MYSHARE\Get-LockingProcess.ps1

# then call it with:

# Get-LockingProcess BLOCKEDFILE

Function Get-LockingProcess {

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$True,

HelpMessage="What is the path or filename? You can enter a partial name without wildcards")]

[Alias("name")]

[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]

[string]$Path

)

#define the path to Handle.exe

$Handle = "\\MYSHARE\handle.exe"

[regex]$matchPattern = "(?<Name>\w+\.\w+)\s+pid:\s+(?<PID>\b(\d+)\b)\s+type:\s+(?<Type>\w+)\s+\w+:\s+(?<Path>.*)"

$data = &$handle $path

$MyMatches = $matchPattern.Matches( $data )

if ($MyMatches.value) {

$MyMatches | foreach {

[pscustomobject]@{

FullName = $_.groups["Name"].value

Name = $_.groups["Name"].value.split(".")[0]

ID = $_.groups["PID"].value

Type = $_.groups["Type"].value

Path = $_.groups["Path"].value

} #hashtable

} #foreach

} #if data

else {

Write-Warning "No matching handles found"

}

} #end function

Doesn’t that regex totally PWNS? 🙂

YASAB

Yet Another System Admin Blog

What is locking my file or folder?