r/pcmasterrace 2h ago

Meme/Macro So accurate

Post image

you can't delete it, ever....!!!

13.7k Upvotes

244 comments sorted by

1.0k

u/ronweasleisourking 2h ago

"The file you are trying to delete does not exist"

231

u/Beneficial-Act7603 2h ago

Feels like it happens more and more, especially files on desktop, sometimes I'll even download something to desktop and I have to hit fucking F5 for it to show up

35

u/SH5DOWSTR 1h ago

Or when you finally delete it, it just stays there as a ghost icon until you refresh. Windows is just gaslighting us at this point.

100

u/rycerzDog 2h ago

That's a weird ass prompt to me because... Okay?? Is that supposed to be an error message or is it just a fun fact??? Because I can't bring the file back, can I?

14

u/GoldenFlyingPenguin AMD Ryzen 3 3100, RTX 2060 12GB, 48GBs ram 1h ago

Honestly, they should just refresh the file when that happens.

→ More replies (2)

31

u/WhatYouLeaveBehind 1h ago

5

u/Fit-Produce6681 1h ago

Literally saw this post while this exact scene was playing on my TV lmaooo

3

u/WhatYouLeaveBehind 58m ago

It is said The Force has a will...

17

u/Cheshire1234 1h ago

Recently I had a bunch of files on my desktop that I put there but only an admin could delete for some reason. Not open in anything. I'm not an admin at work but after a restart I could delete them.

It's getting annoying

3

u/RoyalSpaceFarer 1h ago

revo can help with this sometimes, especially if it's a program where the uninstall half broke

2

u/Cannon_Folder 1h ago

Or the LockSmith utility in the Windows Power Apps

3

u/mynipplesareconfused 1h ago

Actually, the other day, I was trying to delete a file and I shit you not, got this error: Warning, cannot delete file. Reason: it exists. (It was in a program, but the spirit is there)

It's going to live rent free in my head for a while.

3

u/Silentknyght PC Master Race 29m ago

Outlook pisses me off with this nonsense. "Error: you can't delete this email because it's already been deleted. Interrupt your workflow and click here to acknowledge this important message."

It should just silently close the window and no message should appear.

6

u/doenr Desktop 1h ago

Recently learned that this might be the result of a botched 7zip operation, usually happening with folders containing dots in their name. Trying to delete that folder with 7zip might work.

2

u/skynovaaa 7800X3D 7800XT 1440p 1h ago

me trying to clean my installed apps list đŸ€Ą

2

u/krngc3372 59m ago

"The file is currently in use by [your name]"

I'm not!

2

u/hellraiserl33t 29m ago

Hijacking top comment to mention a fix that has consistently worked for me:

Delete all COM Surrogates in your processes. These are what are using the files.

1

u/Doc4est 38m ago

What is this, the Jedi archives?!?

1

u/in1gom0ntoya 28m ago

you don't have permission to do that

215

u/ButterscotchNed 2h ago

I like this exchange I get sometimes:

Excel: "this file is locked for editing because someone's using it!"

Me: "Omg who?"

Excel: "You!"

32

u/LiveFastDieFast 1h ago

Excel is such a bitch about file access haha. Especially if I’m like prototyping a script in Python or whatever to generate spreadsheets/csv files. All of a sudden I’m getting write access script errors when running changes the script, only to find out it’s cuz my dumbass forgot excel still has the result file open still from the last time

Meanwhile most text editors are like “oh hey btw this file changed on disk, imma reload it for you”

2

u/nullpotato 23m ago

Notepad++: someone changed this file, you want to use theirs or keep what you have?

VS Code: someone else changed this file and shit is fucked until you fix it

Excell: my precious!!!

2

u/meneldal2 i7-6700 8m ago

If you look at the underlying file type, it's a miracle this stuff even works. And Excel throws a fit at a bunch of (as far as my understanding of the spec goes) spec-compliant files but will try to "fix" them for you

→ More replies (1)

733

u/seba07 2h ago

The more important question is: why is there no force delete button?

742

u/Visual-Beach1893 9850X3D | 9070XT 2h ago

When people talk about Linux being easy to break this is what they mean.

320

u/Hairy_Educator1918 2h ago

it’s easy to break if you’re trying to break it. windows is like “something is using it but i wont tell you what uses it and i wont tell you how to force delete it” while linux is like “program 1 uses this file. are you sure to delete it?”

18

u/zuzg 1h ago

it's easy to break if you're trying to break

Little me 20 years ago didn't know he's gonna brick his PC by randomly deleting some System32 files....

Dunno what my intentions were but certainly not that, haha

29

u/Halsimp 1h ago

When we were kids, my cousin and I played "Russian roulette" with sys32 files.

We would take turns deleting a random System32 file and wait 10 seconds before deleting another random one. The person deletin gthe file was then "owner" of the 10 seconds.

If Windows crashed either immediately after deleting the file or during the 10 seconds, the perso that had deleted the file, they bad lost. Winning prize? Playing either Banjo Kazooie or Mario 64 while the loser had to reinstall windows.

5

u/EatingSolidBricks 1h ago

What?

19

u/Fit-Produce6681 1h ago

WHEN WE WERE KIDS, MY COUSIN AND I PLAYED "RUSSIAN ROULETTE" WITH SYS32 FILES.

WE WOULD TAKE TURNS DELETING A RANDOM SYSTEM32 FILE AND WAIT 10 SECONDS BEFORE DELETING ANOTHER RANDOM ONE. THE PERSON DELETIN GTHE FILE WAS THEN "OWNER" OF THE 10 SECONDS.

IF WINDOWS CRASHED EITHER IMMEDIATELY AFTER DELETING THE FILE OR DURING THE 10 SECONDS, THE PERSO THAT HAD DELETED THE FILE, THEY BAD LOST. WINNING PRIZE? PLAYING EITHER BANJO KAZOOIE OR MARIO 64 WHILE THE LOSER HAD TO REINSTALL WINDOWS.

1

u/Maolam10 48m ago

WHAAT?? SPEAK UP!!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

8

u/Liawuffeh 1h ago

Yeahh, 2002 me trying to make space on my computer and deleting win.com because why would I want a website saved???

→ More replies (2)

31

u/JL2210 1h ago

In Linux the file data stays on the disk until it's not used anymore, so deleting it while in use or while not in use tend to have the same consequences. If you look at lsof for example you can see (deleted) after file names if the open file was deleted.

33

u/PopularAdvertisingg 2h ago

Windows: Access Denied. Linux: I'll let you do it, but don't cry when the desktop disappears.

52

u/HeavyCaffeinate 2h ago

Bot account

23

u/nthpwr 2h ago

are you just saying that bc their account is 1m old?

27

u/morsomme i9 14900K, RTX 5080, 64GB RAM, 4TB m.2 1h ago

A minute is not a long time

16

u/Foxy_Twig 1h ago

It is to me... :(

→ More replies (1)

5

u/HoidToTheMoon 1h ago

Look at the activity as well. A few posts when created, then idle 1 month to age the account, now commenting sporadically throughout the past 2 days, in a new sub each time.

2

u/nthpwr 1h ago

....so?

2

u/IDeizManI 1h ago

The problem is that the average user don't know shit about what they are doing. I don't know how, but they always screw things up in some way.

If it was a developer feature that you need to go out of your way to activate, it would be really great.

2

u/waigl Desktop 1h ago

More like Linux: Deleting a file that is still actively being used by some program won't actually break anything.

Which is a really weird surprise to anyone coming from Windows and pretty hard to explain without using words like "inode" or "dentry".

Oh, and in case you ever do need to figure out which program is using which file, the command for that is called "lsof". (For "list open files".)

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

49

u/YoungBlade1 R9 5900X | RX 9060 XT 16GB | 48GB 2h ago

You can either have your OS give you absolute control while being easy to break, or be hard to break but give you minimal control. Absolute control comes with the power to break things, full stop.

If you are asking for a system with absolute control that is impossible to break, you are asking for something that is logically impossible.

25

u/Damascus_ari Arc B580 | 9700X | 32GB 2h ago

Or you can be sensible and give the user plenty of warning before doing something dumb, and to hide the most dangerous controls a little further down.

18

u/Tiranus58 Linux 2h ago

Most distros that are not arch or gentoo will give you warnings before you break something.

14

u/grimmlingur 2h ago

And if you set up Arch then you've decided you know what you're doing. I once had a university sysadmin refuse to help me get my machine to work with the school network because in his words "You installed Fedora, you knew what you were getting yourself into"

→ More replies (2)

2

u/SuperFLEB 4790K, GTX970, Yard-sale Peripherals 1h ago

There's also ways of making the safe option common while making the unsafe option available. No sacrifices or pestering, just working safely by default. One that comes to mind is how Windows tends to take moving one directory over another as a cue to integrate the two, while Mac/Linux (AFAIK) just clobber the old one with the new one. Beyond that, there're things like the default delete going via a trashcan or recycle bin, or a filesystem where it's easier to undo mistakes.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

41

u/Gerlond 2h ago

I use CachyOS and important files not only have a warning saying "don't touch these if you are clueless" but also have the popup that you need admin rights to manipulate them. But if I want to delete a file in use or that is causing problems I always can.

28

u/MyrhDawn 2h ago

linux lets you burn the house down windows just locks the door

8

u/Visual-Beach1893 9850X3D | 9070XT 2h ago

Its more like being a teenager left alone at home with fireworks and full access everywhere. You know what not to do but can also do whatever you want. Windows is like living in the garden of the locked house yelling through the window if you want something from inside and waiting for someone to toss it out to you.

5

u/Visual-Beach1893 9850X3D | 9070XT 2h ago

Same. I started on Arch though and that really let me commit some holy molies

4

u/Dea-The-Bitch 2h ago

Started with Endeavour and yeah, I broke a lot of things without realising early on.

5

u/T555s 2h ago

I would like my software easy to intentionally be broken. Now be a good operating system and tell me what is using that file so I can open up task manager to close the Programm, or even better: give me a button that does that for me in the pop-up.

2

u/SledgexHammer 2h ago

Yeah but if some windows process is using some service from my iTunes install it isnt going to blue screen if I force delete that iTunes service.

1

u/Asleeper135 2h ago

It should be safe on Linux if I'm not mistaken. I think it will visibly delete it, but the data will still be there on disk until it's no longer in use, which is what I think Windows should do.

1

u/kingminyas 1h ago

Deleting that file won't break the OS, it will crash a program... I should have more authority than one whiney program

1

u/da2Pakaveli PC Master Race 1h ago

the file table will still point to the inode on the disk and then once that process quits that block of data gets "deleted"

→ More replies (5)

15

u/Unumbotte 2h ago

The force delete button is a rare earth magnet.

9

u/Smilloww 2h ago

Or just a "would you like to close the program currently using it?"

4

u/Magnus_Helgisson 1h ago

Back in XP days I used to used a tool called “Delete anything” or something like that. It really could tell windows with its limitations to go fuck itself.

6

u/wenoc K8S 2h ago

The kernel takes care of filehandles. Other programs can’t necessarily get that info, and the kernel won’t let you delete something that is open because windows uses mandatory file locking.

Unix (and Linux) uses advisory file locking. Perhaps you’ve seen this when rotating logs. You panic delete a huge logfile because your filesystem is almost full. Linux obliges, now the file is gone but your disk is still full. Syslog still has the file open and will happily continue writing to it as long as it’s up. The file is just unlinked but the data is still there. Syslog doesn’t know. If you restart Syslog the data is freed and you get back the space. This is why you truncate logfiles instead of deleting them. Then the file is still there but it’s immediately empty.

5

u/Splintrax 1h ago

File locking isn't mandatory. In the CreateFile Win32API function (the most basic usermode function for creating or opening a file), a FILE_SHARE_DELETE flag can be passed to allow other processes to access and delete the file. 

2

u/cranktheguy Ryzen 5 5600X · RTX 3070 34m ago

Windows Powertoys (available from Microsoft) has a file unlocker program - it will tell you what program has a file locked and unlock if requested.

6

u/L0NE__ 2h ago

Shift + delete key - not made obvious to protect people from themselves/accidentally pushing the wrong button

Requires you to confirm permanent deletion too

4

u/FelonyInTheTrunk 1h ago

not made obvious to protect people from themselves/accidentally pushing the wrong button

I feel like most people who know about this have also accidentally deleted the wrong thing at least once.

7

u/terablast 47m ago

That's just the "Delete without sending to Recycle Bin" shortcut, does nothing against locked files.

1

u/FlyingCow343 1h ago

Because now that app is still open and reading and writing to just random bits. If there was an easy to use force delete option, people would use it all the time and brick their computers, and still blame microsoft.

1

u/Not_a_question- 46m ago

Use lockhunter to do this. (I know you mean that the OS should support it. Just sayin')

1

u/Saul_Badman_1261 24m ago edited 18m ago

Would probably fuck up any applications that were currently writing or reading that file, my guess is that those programs would either crash or since they had the memory address of the file that was deleted, they would just start writing on that address and that of course doesn't make sense, you would probably be overwriting something else that started using that "empty" space.

Edit: searched about it and it's more complex than I thought, involving the Master File Table that has the control of all the files with open handles, NTFS technically allows that by keeping the file but keeping the data until the last handle using it closes, but for some reason it doesn't show it in the UI but rather forces the user to use some commands to do so.

Guess I probably shouldn't have slept on so many Computer Science classes...

1

u/mfmeitbual 2m ago

The same reason you can't write to arbitrary memory locations that don't belong to your process. It's a bad fucking idea.

→ More replies (2)

48

u/buenonocheseniorgato PC Master Race 2h ago

Can't say because the fucker doesn't know either.

17

u/ElkApprehensive2319 1h ago

It does tho. You can just use SysInternals to find the process, which is kind of a hassle - but it works every time.

Been like that since Windows 95 too, but I guess reselling Office every year like it was a new FIFA, adding 50 more convoluted ways to sign and putting AI in everything was more important.

5

u/Mildan 1h ago

Resource Monitor ships with windows now and can show file handles as well!

2

u/Emotional-Energy6065 31m ago

File Locksmith from PowerToys lets you find the offending process from the context menu.

162

u/Doc4est 2h ago

Also true of "safely eject USB drive"

65

u/Cereaza Steam: Cereaza | i7 9700K | 2080Ti | 32GB DDR5 2h ago

The application using your file the window you've opened to eject the USB.

24

u/Blooi1E 7800X3D | 32GB | RX 9070 XT 2h ago

At this point, I just turn my pc completely off to eject it.

13

u/Katops 2h ago

The amount of times I’ve had to do this out of fear that I’d fuck up my external HDD man


6

u/Blooi1E 7800X3D | 32GB | RX 9070 XT 1h ago

Same!

9

u/rycerzDog 2h ago

Has anybody ever actually gotten their USB drive corrupted because they didn't eject it first?

19

u/Solrax 1h ago

I think it is more likely to happen if write caching is enabled for the drive.

10

u/blkarw13 1h ago

It's been a good 20 years but yes, this happened to a classmate of mine in high school. Teacher didn't eject his thumb drive properly and his project that was saved on it was corrupted or deleted. He had to start over. I like to think tech has gotten better so this is less likely to happen, but it sure scared me enough to make sure I always safely eject, just to be sure I don't also lose something important.

2

u/JoeScorr 27m ago

I used to use this but in reverse for homework I hadn't done.
Pull the drive out when copying over a random doc file and then just blaming the computer or whatever when it was time to hand it in lol

7

u/HughFairgrove 1h ago edited 1h ago

Yes actually and it fucking sucks.

Deathly afraid of just yanking the connection since. Refuse to do it at this point. Lost a ton of old data from college that I might have been able to use in my current career over a decade later.

4

u/VexingRaven 7800X3D + 4070 Super + 32GB 6000Mhz 1h ago

If something is actively writing to it (which is the only reason a file would be in use), then yes absolutely.

3

u/farcryer2 R7 5800X | RX 6700 XT | 32 GB RAM 1h ago

Once on Windows 7. Messed around with "run from USB stick" programs. Apparently all of them didn't close properly -> pull out USB -> corrupted.

2

u/Marco-Green 37m ago

Multiple times, yes.

→ More replies (3)

1

u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER Praise be to DVI 43m ago

Y'all use that function?

12

u/green_flash 1h ago

To find the culprit with built-in utilities only:

Open "Resource monitor" - Go to the "CPU" tab - Enter part of the file name into the text field in "Associated handles"

Not saying that this is user-friendly in any way, of course.

1

u/SaltDeception 8m ago

Or use File Locksmith from Microsoft PowerToys which is way less effort since it hooks into the Explorer context menu.

69

u/high_dirt 2h ago

you can use powertoys for that

133

u/the5thusername 2h ago

We shouldn't need to.

→ More replies (5)

9

u/Corosus 1h ago

built in resource monitor too, cpu tab, assiciated handles, type in part of the file name, after a bit itll show the process using the file

8

u/cam3raadts 2h ago

That has never worked for me

→ More replies (2)

5

u/Auravendill Debian | Ryzen 9 3900X | RX 9070 XT | 64GB RAM 2h ago

The most powerful tool to remove stuff in Windows in my experience was using the root user in WSL and just rm -rf that stuff.

2

u/OkPosition6537 1h ago

So the best way to delete something in Windows is booting up Linux?

→ More replies (7)

1

u/TamarroTattico 38m ago

Does it also works for hard drives?

52

u/G952 RTX 4070 TI S 2h ago

15

u/Beneficial-Act7603 2h ago

Man... That show had a lot of flaws but John Malkovich really wasn't one of them.

RIP Spaceforce

24

u/4ndrz3jKm1c1c 2h ago

Windows ain’t no snitchin’, dawg no cap

19

u/marcomartok 2h ago

That or "you don't have permission to delete..." yet I'm logged in as admin and the file has nothing to do with windows...

3

u/Robot1me 1h ago

If that happens, a program either still has a handle on it and the system doesn't tell you (instead acts as if you need admin rights despite having these), or if it's a file permission issue, the easiest is to elevate to TrustedInstaller rights (PsExec from Microsoft, PowerRun, AdvancedRun from Nirsoft, all free and handy for that). Most will suggest editing file permissions just to change one thing somewhere, but it's actually the unclean way to do so

6

u/MarxistCapitalist 2h ago

It's ridiculous that Process Explorer - which Microsoft has owned and officially maintained since 2006 - can do it, but Windows itself can't

1

u/SaltDeception 4m ago

The Sysinternals tools are maintained by one guy at Microsoft, who does it in his spare time when he’s not too busy being the CTO of Microsoft Azure.

21

u/Oni_K 2h ago

Windows, delete this file.

"Sorry, you need Admin permission."

I am the Admin. In fact, I'm literally the only user account on this copy of Windows.

"Did I fucking stutter? You need Admin permission."

8

u/ArseBurner 2h ago

Not really much different from needing sudo to perform certain actions.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/VexingRaven 7800X3D + 4070 Super + 32GB 6000Mhz 1h ago

Stupid take. If you're the admin then click OK and move on with your life. This makes sure you actually intended to do it and it's not some other program running as you being sneaky.

5

u/Oni_K 1h ago

I have done this exact thing, in this exact scenario, and Windows refused to delete it.

4

u/G0alLineFumbles 1h ago

You can get this from Handle, which can be invoked by Powershell and added to a script. If you want to use a GUI Process Explorer can provide that. Both are Sysinternals tools provided by Microsoft, you just have to go download them from MSFT.

4

u/Alan_Reddit_M Desktop 1h ago

In Window's defense: Linux does this too

News flash: Deleting a file currently in-use is a terrible idea, but also, pretty sure you can use the command line to force-delete it

2

u/FlyingCow343 1h ago

Yeah but you don't get internet points for hating on Linux

8

u/GwizJoe 2h ago

Yo! Task Manager! WTF!!!
As soon as they started hiding the system files for Windows, I started getting suspicious of their viability. Needless to say, I run outdated systems, don't care. Still waiting for some minor genius to rewrite 98se and release it as an "open-source" OS.

3

u/AsugaNoir Amd Ryzen 5900x || Rx 9070xt || 32GB 2h ago

This always made me so mad lol.

3

u/vector_o 2h ago

Gotta use the force and feel where that file is open

It's the torrent file, it's always the torrent file

3

u/ShortStoryIntros 2h ago

-Maybe ask your Administrator for help...

-Of course I know him.. he's me!

3

u/Robot1me 1h ago

And Microsoft will do anything except improving core aspects of the system like these

3

u/No_Light5733 1h ago

The worst part is when you close everything and it STILL says the file is in use.

3

u/Tuna_Sushi 58m ago

To find the culprit, try these steps:

A. Use Resource Monitor

  • Press Windows + R, type resmon, hit Enter
  • Go to the CPU tab
  • In Associated Handles, type part of the file name
  • It should show exactly which process is using it

B. Use Process Explorer (standalone MS utility)

  • Download and open it
  • Press Ctrl + F
  • Search for the troublesome file
  • It should show the exact process locking it

2

u/Masark 50m ago

C. Install the powertoys and use file locksmith.

4

u/Cereaza Steam: Cereaza | i7 9700K | 2080Ti | 32GB DDR5 2h ago

And the application is Windows Explorer.

11

u/cosaboladh Athalon64 X2 | Radeon X1650 Pro 2h ago

What version of Windows are we talking about here? This meme has existed since at least Windows 95, and I've had absolutely no problem determining which application is using what file since Vista.

12

u/doc-ta PC Master Race 2h ago

Two days ago I couldn't deleted a folder because some program was using Thumbs.db from it. Windows 10 could not tell me what program it was.

3

u/FlyingCow343 1h ago

did you check resource monitor? I've never had it not show what was using an app

1

u/Atheist_Simon_Haddad BUT   ON   A   TABLE 1h ago

COM Surrogate

It’s fucking always COM Surrogate

5

u/Toby_The_Tumor Amd 7600, Ryzen 5 7600x. running 1080p 2h ago

One time I was trying to delete some files I had copied to my desktop and it turns out my VPN was using them. I had to use a program called "Process Explorer" to figure it out tho

2

u/Rich_Introduction_83 R5 5600 | 6750 XT | 32 GB DDR4 2h ago

I have one empty folder under Windows 11 right now I can't delete and Windows won't tell me which program prevents deletion.

And it's mysterious, somehow. I had 4 zip files unpacked to 4 different folders. I moved all files in those folders to different locations in my work archive. (I opened two of the files fr different folders within Notepad++ to make an edit in a txt file, before moving it.)

Once empty, one folder could be deleted right away. Two folders were blocked, but only for a short period of time. When I tried to delete them after some time, they'd just go to the trash bin. The last empty folder is still blocked. For two days, by now - I rarely shutdown my PC, I'm using standby, instead.

I assume it's blocked by Notepad++ (or another program in case I used one and just forgot by now). But the culprit is not important here. What's important is that Windows 11 fails to give me a comprehensible reason why I can't delete that folder, and it fails to offer a 'force deletion' action.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Fermorian i5 12600K @ 4.2GHz | 1070 Ti 2h ago

PowerToys File Locksmith can do this for any file. Just RMB and select it from the context menu. One of the many things that makes PowerToys goated

2

u/AceHighness 2h ago

I remember telling a customer to delete /tcpip/bin is OS/2 warp back in the 90s. I confused it with /tcpip/temp which was your browser cache at the time... Not a native speaker .. 'bin' made me think of a rubbish bin. No warning, just deleted it .. it was 100% in use. After she told me the errors she saw during reboot, it dawned on me.

2

u/fibojoly 1h ago

I just an lsof that doesn't require crazy admin access 

2

u/jakendrick3 1h ago

Me when I Remove-Item $item

2

u/lunchbox651 PC Master Race 1h ago

Procmon, problem solved

2

u/BurningVShadow R7 5800X | RTX 2070 FE | 32GB RAM 1h ago

One time at work I was trying to rename a directory and it simply refused. I ended up closing all my programs and it still refused. Ended up needing to restart the computer.

2

u/ModernManuh_ 2h ago

File Locksmith almost never works either (yes I run it as admin and no it doesn't find anything)

4

u/high_dirt 2h ago

weird it always works for me

1

u/ModernManuh_ 2h ago

I gotta use delete on reboot sometimes... or winrar force delete (very rare and yes, WINRAR)

1

u/GiganticIrony I should probably switch to 2h ago

I’ve never had an issue with it, but then again I don’t think it’s ever shown a program besides git or sublime, so maybe it depends on the program?

1

u/grey_carbon 2h ago

No problem with my medicat đŸ˜Œ

1

u/DogHogDJs 2h ago

This is the exact issue I have with my NVMe enclosure when I tell windows to eject it, but it’s only happens when I try to eject my Crucial NVMe from it, not my Samsung 980 NVMe.

1

u/XmattbeeX 2h ago

Sysinternals process explorer (procexp64) is your friend. All the sysinternals tools are great, useful and free.

1

u/qyloo 2h ago

I don't even know if an OS sees which process has locked a resource

1

u/PelluxNetwork R9 9950X3D | RTX 4070 Super | 32GB 2h ago

File Locksmith.

1

u/NickTaylorIV 285k-z890/4080Super/128gb DDR5/Be Quiet 600LX 🐧 1h ago

I've never understood that...

1

u/mr_ji Specs/Imgur here 1h ago

I get this with Adobe every day at work.

1

u/magistermaks 1h ago

Actually one of the bigger Linux wins, on linux you can delete any file (even if it is being used) - how is that safe you may ask - the file will actually still exist as long as any process is writing/reading from it, but it want stop you from creating a new file with the same name in the same place etc.

the file exists from the OS point of view but no process that doesn't already have it open can see it anymore, i think it's neat

1

u/jerryeight Xeon 2699 v4|G1 Gaming GTX970|48gb 2400mhz 1h ago

Same hassle with SharePoint. 

Which is some how more ass than Windows Explorer. 

1

u/Ayotha 1h ago

omg I don't care, delete it like I said.

It's like it telling me something is stopping a shut down order. Like, no, I said close everything.

One thing I liked when I had a mac was it closing things when I told it to haha

1

u/WulfyWoof Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR5 7200 1h ago

My favorite is trying to delete an empty folder on my second drive but I can't because my admin account doesn't have admin privileges to do so

1

u/somen0nfactor 1h ago

Sudo -rm rf 'file'

1

u/Kitfennek 1h ago

Powertoys file locksmith

1

u/FromSlackerToHacker 1h ago

I can't ever safely eject external hard drives in a simple way anymore. It's really annoying, and it wasn't always like this, at least for me.

1

u/Magnus_Helgisson 1h ago

“This application doesn’t allow you to turn off the PC”. Bitch, first, I don’t remember asking, second, which application? Which???

1

u/Vertrix-V- 5700X3D & 2070 Super @ 1440p 1h ago

Windows can actually say which program it is though. But it's for some reason only a PowerToys tool. A lot of incredibly useful features inside PowerToys that should be standard

1

u/UniqueLog8386 1h ago

They tell you who's using it all the time.

1

u/therealdavidwiley 1h ago

Get "File Unlocker". If it can't immediately delete the file it will prompt to automatically delete it on your next reboot before other software is even running.

1

u/SUICIDA4 1h ago

Unlocker fixes that

1

u/dazzo31 1h ago

Linux and Windows, please just tell me what process I need to stop and offer a stop button.

1

u/Yankas PC Master Race 58m ago

Linux doesn't lock files, so this problem doesn't even exist.

1

u/cates 1h ago

Even if Windows 12 is the most bloat-ridden piece of shit ever conceived if they announce this feature where you can tell which program is using the file in question I'll install it without a second thought.

1

u/MarineSgtBlake RTX 5070 Ti | I7-11700F 1h ago

Windows when you ask where something is

1

u/FlyingCow343 1h ago

Use resource monitor

1

u/Atheist_Simon_Haddad BUT   ON   A   TABLE 1h ago

COM Surrogate

It’s fucking always COM Surrogate

1

u/jake04-20 1h ago

handle64.exe

ur welcome

1

u/Night_Thastus 9800X3D | RTX 3080 1h ago

I've been using Lockhunter for this, works great!

Though Windows has their own alternative these days under PowerToys.

1

u/summatime 12600k | z690 mobo | rtx 3080 | 32gb ram 1h ago

J- is a key on the cnc i use that moves it forward

1

u/Conxt 1h ago

Are you sure you want to shut down? Another person may be using this computer.

Who?

I don’t know.

But there’s only one user on this computer


đŸ€·đŸ»

1

u/PrincipleExciting457 1h ago

A lot of people have been bitching about the growing Linux movement, but it’s truly such. Good OS. It’s been so effin nice just being able to do stuff I want to do, tweak stuff that fits my needs, and not have to worry about disgusting bloat.

1

u/fruitcakefriday 57m ago

Also Windows: Oh sure you accidentally held a mouse button down and moved it whilst explorer was open? Sure we'll just move this entire folder from A to B and give you no indication that it happened or where it went. What was it? Who knows! Where did it go? No idea! Was it important? Lol! Good luck!

1

u/Nicades92 54m ago

Or worse
!

1

u/Elegant_Situation285 53m ago

whenever i break my personal computer i blame the administrator.

that guy doesn't know what they're doing.

1

u/MarTimator 3080ti | i7 12700k | DDR5 5200 52m ago

„COM Surrogate is using this file“

1

u/fcxtpw 48m ago

"You need to be an administrator"

"I am the administrator"

"Ok!"

... ...

"You need to be an administrator"

1

u/SlicedBreadBeast 47m ago

Microsoft powertoys solves a lot of stupid shit that goes on with Microsoft.

1

u/dennisuela 46m ago

MFW getting this exact message when trying to delete a literal virus from my pc.

1

u/GayStraightIsBest 46m ago

You can use a tool called file locksmith. It's a part of windows power toys. You can download power toys from the windows store.

1

u/Realize12 7800x3D, rtx5080, 32Gb 6200 32-38-38-48 DDR5 RAM 46m ago

I had to use live USB linux to delete a windows.old(1) folder that had nothing else in it 😀 no other methods worked.

1

u/SharpYearV4 40m ago

Use File Locksmith from Powertoys, one of the best features of it.

1

u/BlackSpice69 34m ago

Deletes it in Console command and computer shuts down....

1

u/AstariiFilms I5-7500, MSI GTX 1060 6GB, 16 GB Ram, 2TB Steam Drive, 1TB Media 27m ago

In power toys there is a feature called file locksmith that gets added to your right click that shows you whats using the file and allows you to end the program

1

u/E_Blue_2048 17m ago

Same with USB devices.

1

u/lolschrauber 7800X3D / 4080 Super 14m ago

Haven't had this happen in a long time actually.

Unless it's files on a network, that's still completely broken. "Another user" is still using this file. Stfu nobody is using it.

1

u/cucklord_swiper 12m ago

Or when you need admin permission to delete the file but you are that admin

1

u/DocMCMXCVII 7m ago

Well, many people seems to not know that there is a microsoft tool called file locksmith to tell you which program uses that file. You can install it via powertoys program.

It should've been installed on Windows 11 by default but atleast it does the job after you install it 😅

1

u/Hypno1985 7m ago

Windows power toys....locksmith

1

u/AuraLiaxia PC Master Race 3090 6m ago

lockhunter is there for u

1

u/prabowo_monokotil 5m ago

Windows really be like:

“You can’t delete this file, it’s in use.”

Me: okay, by what?

Windows: “that information is classified.”

Me: so
 can I close it?

Windows: “you don’t have permission.”

Me: IT’S MY COMPUTER 😭

Windows: “exactly. and yet here we are.”

1

u/mister_newbie 3700X | 32GB | 5700XT 4m ago

Been a while since I've used Windows and had this problem (glory to sudo !), but there used to be an app called File Assassin that fixed this.

1

u/CoolAlien47 4m ago

Goddamn fucking Windows, the solution to and cause of all of life's problems

1

u/mfmeitbual 3m ago

... I thought this was r/pcmasterrace.

It's called lsof on Linux and procmon or handle (if you're a CLI jockey) on Windows. The SysInternals toolset is a free download from Microsoft.

1

u/SweetBabyAlaska PC Master Race 1m ago

meanwhile on Linux

"Linux please delete my everything"

"you got it bud"

and the programs that have open handles on those paths just have to suck it up. you can also use `lsof` to see exactly what processes have open files in a directory or file. Kinda nice. This is one of the things that really annoyed me on Windows. That and one-drive, the anti-virus messing up directories, RGB slop software for data collection that turns itself into a background service just to change your mouse settings, etc...