Fixed error: The Action Cannot Be Completed Because The File Is Open in Another Program

About error: The action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program

On any PC, computer faults will arise sooner or later. While some are quite easy to fix, others, such as your PC encountering a problem and having to restart, can prohibit you from executing certain operations. The error “The action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program”, is one problem that prevents users from accessing files on their PC.

When attempting to remove, rename, or transfer particular files and folders, this error message appears in the "File in Use" window. The most possible reason is that the altered file or folder is now being utilized by another program or background process, and the error displays.

In most circumstances, merely finding and terminating the process that utilizes the file, or simply restarting your computer, would be enough. However, there are times when none of the aforementioned solutions will suffice. Even after resetting the machine, the problem may reoccur. Unfortunately, the highlighted message provides no genuine answer to this situation.

Users should halt the associated process and then try to remove or relocate their files. Sometimes there are no visible associated processes, preventing users from shaving them.

How to fix the error: This action cannot be completed because the file is open

Although this issue may let some users feel annoyed, there are various solutions to this problem and regaining complete control of the file. In this part, we’ll how solve the error “this action can’t be completed because the file is open”.

Way 1. Restart Windows File Explorer

File Explorer is a built-in background activity that searches, inspects, and changes files on your computer. We assume there is an issue with how it functions, resulting in the inability to conduct file operations. As a result, let's try restarting it using Task Manager. The processes are brief and do not take much time to complete.

Step 1. Right-click on Start button and choose Task Manager.

Step 2. In the Processes tab, scroll down the list until you find Windows Explorer.

Step 3. Right-click on it and select Restart.

Then wait a couple of seconds and try to modify the problematic file again.

Way 2. Empty the Recycle Bin

One of the most typical issues encountered by Windows users when attempting to remove a file is the activity can't be performed because the file is an open error. And because the recycle bin error might also block your Fire Explorer, it's a bad idea to empty it to address the problem.

Find the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and right-click. Choose the Empty Recycle Bin option. The program might ask you to confirm the decision.

Way 3. Stop background processes

The error message is a typical error message that can arise for a variety of reasons. The most likely explanation is that other software is using the file you're attempting to access. Therefore, you can force-stop all programs manually and try to open files again.

Step 1. Open Task Manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Step 2. Select the processes and select "End Process".

Way 4. Delete Temp Files

When you install new software or start a new document, temp files are often produced. When you delete these files, you make room on your computer. Furthermore, transient files might get damaged, resulting in errors or crashes. As a result, removing transient files can aid in the resolution of the issue.

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.

Step 2. Type %temp% and hit Enter.

Step 3. Press CTRL + A to select all the files and press Shift + Del to delete these files permanently.

Way 5. Clean up thumbnails

Thumbnails are cached versions of files that Windows stores to give quicker access to files. In other words, because your system has already remembered the icons for photos, movies, and documents, Windows does not have to wait for them to load. According to studies, these thumbnails may cause file system troubles and editing issues. Thumbnails are generated automatically by default, you can clean up these files manually.

Step 1. Open This PC. Right-click on your main disk and choose Properties. Find and click on Disk Cleanup.

Step 2. Among the list of checkboxes, select Thumbnails and click OK to remove them.

Or use CMD commands to clean un thumbnails.

Step 1. Search for Command Prompt in the search box next to the Start Menu button. Right-click on it and choose Run as administrator

Step 2. Make sure you have your main system drive selected. If not, enter its letter (“C:”) manually and push Enter.

Step 3. Then, copy-paste del /ash /s thumbs.db and press Enter again.

After this, you should be able to see the problem resolved.

Way 6. Disable Thumbnails

If eliminating thumbnails helped and you wish to entirely halt their production, there is a way to do so. You should attempt it even if none of the other techniques worked, merely to put all available solutions to the test. We can block Thumbnails via File Explorer, Settings, and Group Policy Editor.

▶ Use File Explorer to disable Thumbnails

Step 1. Select This PC and press View in the upper portion of the program.

Step 2. Tap Options in the pop-down menu.

Step 3. Click View and go to the bottom of the window.

Step 4. Press Always show icons, never thumbnails in the Files and Folders tab. Hit Apply and tap the OK button to record the changes.

▶ Disable Thumbnails in Settings

Step 1. In Settings, select Properties and go to Advanced system settings.

Step 2. Navigate to the Performance section in the Advanced tab and tap Settings. Remove the checkmark from the Show thumbnails instead of the icons option. Press Apply and click OK for the PC to register the changes.

▶ Disable Thumbnails in Group Policy Editor

Step 1. Simultaneously press the Windows and R keys and enter gpedit.msc into the appropriate field.

Step 2. Find User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.

Step 3. After clicking on File Explorer, you will be able to see the list of different entries. Find and double-click on Turn off caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files.

Step 4. Change its setting to Enabled. Click Apply and press OK. The PC will now implement the changes.

Way 7. Disable preview panel

By turning off Preview mode, some users were able to fix the problem. This feature is provided by Windows for seeing the content of specific files before opening them. It is simple to implement and has no negative impact on system performance. But, deactivating this function may assist improve system performance on slow PCs by removing the need for Windows to process and examine the inner information.

Step 1. Open File Explorer by pressing the Windows key + E shortcut.

Step 2. Now, go to the View tab. Make sure that the Preview panel isn’t selected.

Further tips for error: the action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program

If you find that there are some files that can’t be deleted via Windows tools, don’t worry, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can help you. It is a free disk and partition manager for Windows users to conveniently organize PC resources and fix PC problems.

The “PC Cleaner” function can scan all useless files on your PC, and you can optionally clean the selected files. What’s more, it can clean all junk files on your disk and in the Windows OS system. You can quickly get rid of fault files.

Step 1. Click “Free up” on in the top toolbar, and choose “PC Cleaner”.

Step 2. Then, click "Start Scan" in the new pop-up window.

Step 3. After that, you can see temp files under System Junk Files. Tick it and click “Clean All” to delete it.

Step 4. When you see a correct symbol displayed in the interface, you can click "Back" to leave the function.

And if you inadvertently deleted files, don’t worry, you can upgrade to the Professional Edition to use the “Partition Recovery Wizard” to recover the files.

To sum up

The error “the action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program, this action” might come at any time, but you can try these methods to easily fix the problem. AOMEI Partition Assistant is an all-around tool. You can clone/wipe/clean a disk, move installed apps to another location, convert disk to MBR/GPT without data loss, and so on. And if you need, there is the Server Edition for Windows Server users.