the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program

Anonymous
2013-03-21T10:22:13+00:00

this is annoying

the files or folders in question are not open in another program, windows is just refusing to let them be moved or deleted due a recent action ie: photographs moved elsewhere etc

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2013-03-21T10:43:05+00:00

This may also be helpful:

Open Windows explorer.

Click ‘Organize -> Folder and search options’ (or ‘View -> Folder options’).

Select the ‘View’-tab.

In the ‘Advanced settings’ window, disable ‘Launch folder windows in a separate process’.

You may need to force restart all explorer instances (via task manager) or reboot your computer if the setting is not applied immediately.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-28T01:54:15+00:00

    In windows 8 in the view toolbar Press the Preview pane to turn preview pane off. 

    This opens a preview of the file which locks it from being deleted.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-30T12:50:12+00:00

    Actually, this is pretty annoying, does happen a lot, and none of the the "solutions" put forward fix the problem or are unacceptable/irrelevant. It is definitely a problem with Explorer thinking the file is still open as restarting the Windows Explorer process in task manager immediately frees up the folder.  Otherwise they stay locked for a couple of minutes till Windows works it out for itself.

    I used to think this was a network problem I had, however I am not running a full gigabit network and it can still happen locally on my i7 machine with SSD.  Fairly poor on what should be a fairly mature and crucial part of the OS.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-10T06:59:07+00:00

    I am baffled why there are so many user recommendations for ways that MIGHT work to fix this annoying problem, yet there are NO PERMANENT SOLUTIONS FROM MICROSOFT. This is Shameful.

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