--- title: PowerToys can tell you which app is locking a file, and... description: File Locksmith, a built-in PowerToys utility, identifies which process is locking a file so users no longer need to guess via Task Manager or restart their PC... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/powertoys-can-tell-you-which-app-is-locking-a-file-and-it-ended-every-file-in-use-error-i-ve-had-lgijqgooz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: PowerToys can tell you which app is locking a file, and it ended every "file in use" error I've had | daily.dev og:description: File Locksmith, a built-in PowerToys utility, identifies which process is locking a file so users no longer need to guess via Task Manager or restart their PC... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/powertoys-can-tell-you-which-app-is-locking-a-file-and-it-ended-every-file-in-use-error-i-ve-had-lgijqgooz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lGiJqGooz.png og:image:alt: PowerToys can tell you which app is locking a file, and it ended every "file in use" error I've had og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # PowerToys can tell you which app is locking a file, and it ended every "file in use" error I've had **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 3 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary File Locksmith, a built-in PowerToys utility, identifies which process is locking a file so users no longer need to guess via Task Manager or restart their PC to resolve "file in use" errors. Accessible from the right-click context menu, it scans and lists processes holding a file open and lets users end the task directly. By default it only sees processes under the current user, but restarting it as administrator (via a shield icon) expands the scan to all users for better detection. While Windows sometimes already names the offending program, it's inconsistent, making File Locksmith a useful fallback tool. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I find out which program is locking a file on Windows so I can delete it? Right-click the file or folder and select File Locksmith, a free PowerToys utility that scans and lists every process currently using it, then lets you click End task to release it immediately. By default it only scans processes running under your own user account, so if it returns empty, restart it as administrator via the shield icon to scan processes from all users. _daily.dev surfaces practical Windows tooling fixes like this for developers stuck on file lock errors._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [4 useful PowerToys features that belong in Windows 11 out of the box](https://daily.dev/posts/4-useful-powertoys-features-that-belong-in-windows-11-out-of-the-box-zrfztuuat) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [PowerToys is now stable enough to replace my entire third-party tool collection](https://daily.dev/posts/powertoys-is-now-stable-enough-to-replace-my-entire-third-party-tool-collection-xtge4n72d) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [New GhostLock tool abuses Windows API to block file access](https://daily.dev/posts/new-ghostlock-tool-abuses-windows-api-to-block-file-access-grqqhjpvb) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I uninstalled 6 apps after PowerToys finally did their jobs better](https://daily.dev/posts/i-uninstalled-6-apps-after-powertoys-finally-did-their-jobs-better-tpxho5nq9) · XDA Developers · 37 upvotes · 6 comments --- Tags: [#devtools](https://daily.dev/tags/devtools), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/powertoys-can-tell-you-which-app-is-locking-a-file-and-it-ended-every-file-in-use-error-i-ve-had-lgijqgooz) ```json 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