Error “Cannot delete file: Access is denied”? Use Unlocker to Delete Anyway!

Apr 12, 2009 by Anees Jafri

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Have you ever tried to delete any of the files on your machine only to see the following error messages or alerts?

Cannot delete file: Access is denied
There has been a sharing violation.
The source or destination file may be in use.
The file is in use by another program or user.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

I have come across these annoying messages myself only to realize that I cannot delete the file or a folder in question unless I restart the machine or end certain tasks from the "Windows Task Manager".

Unlocker is a free utility that helps you get rid of the above mentioned messages when you are trying to delete, move or rename any file or folder.

Let’s see how Unlocker works.

Once the Unlocker is downloaded and installed (click here to download unlocker), every time an error pops up which won’t let you delete/rename/move/copy a file, right-click on the file and click on "Unlocker" from the context menu to unlock the file. See the image below.

This opens the utility window and lets you choose from the options as shown below.

Unlocker Task

Once the desired option is selected, it starts performing the activity and shows the result. If the file or a folder is locked i.e. in use by any other program or process then you will see a similar window as shown below.

Unlock Files

You can either select the option from the drop down or click on Unlock All or the selected file and perform the desired action.

There are several other programs that are available on the internet which have the same functionality and pretty much do the same however we found Unlocker better among all of them.

To download Unlocker click here.