Which Program Has Locked My File?

One of the problems that plagues Windows users is the "locked file" problem. You know, the one that you want to rename or move, but you can't because the file is in use...

If you've opened a document in Word, you can not rename the document on the disk drive until you close the copy in Word. You can save the copy that's in Word, either with the same name or a different one, but that's not always what you wanted to do.

Sometimes, though, Windows gets connfused. It won't let you rename or move a file, but you've already closed the program that was accessing it. There doesn't seem to be any reason that Windows should balk and refuse to make your change.

When that happens, sometimes, the easiest thing to do is to reboot. Then, once you've rebooted and are back into Windows again, you can make the change you wanted to make.

Other times, though, you may be able to solve the problem without rebootingn. That's where a little freeware program I found came in very handy for me.

It's called "Who Lock Me?" When you install it, it installs as an option on the right-click Context Menu that you can use in any Windows dialog box or Window (e.g., File-Open, File-Save-As, Windows Explorer). The right-click popup window looks like this, if the file on which you clicked is locked.

Unfortunately, Who Lock Me? is not very helpful if the file you selected is not locked. It just doesn't give any response. For example, if you have a Word file that is not open in Word, it won't be locked by Word. If it's not locked, Who Lock Me? does not give any message.

Now, let's open the file in Word and see what happens. Who Lock Me?'s program window looks like this:

In other words, if the file is locked, Who Lock Me? will tell you the name of the program locking it and even the drive path to that program. With this information, you may be able to solve the issue.

I had the problem several times with the Microsoft Office program ctfmon.exe. That program is used by Microsoft Office to active Windows' Alternative User Input Text Input Processor and the Microsoft Language Bar. These are used for voice recognition, alternative keyboards, some translation utilities and such.

Office thinks that this program is needed (whether you use it or not) and starts it whenever you start a Microsoft Office program. Unfortunately, Office is not connsiderate enough and leaves it running when you exit the Office program. It also sets ctfmon.exe to start automatically with your computer, if it hasn't been set that way already.

Where can you get Who Lock Me? It's available as a "beta version" and has been since 2002 (apparently) from http://www.dr-hoiby.com/WhoLockMe/. I've used it for a couple years. It works with Windows XP, 2000 and NT. It does not work with Windows 98, Me or Vista.

Copyright © 2008 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.