File in use error message? Try this!

If you try to delete, edit or move a file, you may see a “File in use” message in Windows.

File in use means that the file is currently in use by an application and cannot be edited. It is a safeguard to prevent files from being changed while it is still waiting for other instructions from, for example, an app.

This “file in use” message is often a problem for the user because it is not always possible to determine which app is still using the file. In this guide, I'll show you how to determine which app is using the file using “File LockSmith” from PowerToys. After this you can close this app and use it delete file, edit or move.

File in use error message

To begin download PowerToys to your computer. If you have PowerToys installed, “File LockSmith” will be immediately available.

File Locksmith indicates which processes are using the selected files or folders and allows you to close these processes.

If you have a file or folder that you cannot delete, edit or move due to the “File in use” or “folder in use” error message, right-click on this file or folder.

Then first click on in the menu “show more options” in Windows 11. Then click on “What uses this file?”.

PowerToys will now open. You will immediately see the process that is using the file. You can then close this process by clicking “end task”.

If you would like more information about the process, click on the down arrow to the right of the process.

You will now see the process ID, the user who opened the process and the file in use.

I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!