Wh show you how to identify the process that is holding or locking up a file on Windows 11/10 using command-line, ResMon, Process Explorer or freeware.

Glarysoft Security Process Explorer is a free-to-download utility that analyses the processes on your Windows PC and highlight them if they are harmful.

XP's Event Viewer and Vista's Windows Event Logs can help diagnose system woes, but Sysinternals' free Process Explorer gives you the real inside scoop.

Using Process Explorer Download Process Explorer from the Windows Sysinternals website (link in Resources). Alternately, you can run the program directly from the website.

In this guide, we show you two ways to unlock files that have been locked by an application or process, so you can once again modify, move, or delete them from your device on Windows 10.

Fire up process explorer and find the file is in use by, wait for it, Windows explorer. So Windows Explorer can't rename/move my file because it's in use by itself.

Before we can force delete the file in use, though, we have to temporarily kill the File Explorer process. This will cause your Taskbar, wallpaper, and open folders to disappear.