Force unlock a file in Windows

You can use this tool to force unlock a Windows file: (even if it is locked by a remote process)

This can be quite handy if files are being locked but not written to, and you need to update the file.

An example is where an ISO file is mounted by some remote machine, which locks the file even though the file is not being written to.

This means you cannot write to the ISO file to update it.

The following steps allow you to forcibly close ALL the file handles to the file (even file handles from remote machines).

WARNING: if one or more processes are WRITING to the file, then forcibly unlocking the file could result in  corrupting the file.

Process Explorer

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653

To force unlock the file:

On the server that hosts the file:

Run Process Explorer

Press CTRL + L to view the lower pane

Press CTRL + H to view the handles

Select the System process

You should be able to see the remotely locked file in the list of handles

Right-click on the file, and select Close Handle