WINDOWS 10+: CHECKING FOR LOCKS ON FILES/FOLDERS, ETC.

We offer this information with no warranty of any kind, express or implied. It is based on our experience and we think it might help others if we shared what worked for us.  Please use at your own risk and don't do anything here if you have any questions or doubts, we do not offer help with any of this information.

This script checks to see if there are locks on windows. It uses "handles.exe" instead of openfiles because if openfiles is not enabled it might require a reboot after enabling. I worked with ChatGPT for several hours to come up with this solution. We downloaded the HANDLES executable for Windows from HERE, extracted the .EXE files and installed them in C:\WINDOWS\system32\ so that they could be run from anywhere with administrative privileges included.   You can run windows powershell as administrator and copy them into the C:\WINDOWS\system32\ directory, fyi.

Here's the batch script, you just run it with the file or directory that you need to check:

@echo off

:: Display the received argument
echo Received argument: [%~1]

:: Check if the argument is empty
echo Checking if argument is empty: [%~1]
if "%~1"=="" (
    echo Argument is empty.
    echo "Usage: checklock.bat <FileOrFolderPath>"
    pause
    exit /b 1
    )

:: Store the argument in a variable and confirm
set "arg=%~1"
echo Stored argument: [%arg%]

:: Call handle.exe to find locks
echo Checking for locks on: [%arg%]
"handle.exe" -u -nobanner -accepteula "%arg%"

We have included a copy of the archive with this article just in case the handles repository disappears, please check there first.