Unlock Files: 'Unlock' File in Windows

Suppose you want to edit a file, you may want to name it, move it to another location or delete it completely. However, you have a problem when editing, Windows will notify you that another use process has "locked" your file. Therefore, you are not allowed to save that edit. As an example,, if you are opening a Word file, Windows will not allow you to delete the document when it is open because when Microsoft Word is using the file, other editing outside of Word may cause an error. So what to do?

• 4 ways to Reset Windows to its original state

If you know the process of locking the file, close the application that is opening the file.

As an example,, the image above shows the document open in WPS Writer so you will not be able to edit the file outside of WPS. The simple solution is to navigate to the WPS Writer window and close the open file. Now you can save the file edit already.

If the application closure is not resolved, this process may not be completed completely. First, make sure the process is not related to the Windows system, then open Task Manager by pressing Shift + Ctrl + ESC . Click the Details tab and find the process of locking your file.

Once found, click the End task button at the bottom right. Alternatively, you can right-click on the process and select End task.

If you don't know which application has "locked" your file

Sometimes, Windows will not tell which application is using your file. So what to do?

Restart the PC

The simplest solution is to restart the PC, which means restarting any process on the computer. This is an easy solution but will take a bit of time.

Use LockHunter

Download LockHunter

In addition to restarting the computer, you can use third-party tools. The solution here is to use LockHunter to determine which application is "locking" your file to unlock and edit.

Once you have downloaded and installed Lock Hunter, just click on the file you want to edit and select ' What is locking this file? '

After that, LockHunter will display a pop-up informing you about the process of locking the file. LockHunter also supports file unlocking, deleting, renaming files quickly.

If you have trouble editing a file because an application is using it, you can apply the above methods! Good luck!