System.IO.IOException: file used by another process

Question

I\'ve been working on this small piece of code that seems trivial but still, i cannot really see where is the problem. My functions do a pretty simple thing. Opens a file, c

Answer 1

I realize that I is kinda late, but still better late than never. I was having similar problem recently. I used XMLWriter to subsequently update XML file and was receiving the same errors. I found the clean solution for this:

The XMLWriter uses underlying FileStream to access the modified file. Problem is that when you call XMLWriter.Close() method, the underlying stream doesn't get closed and is locking the file. What you need to do is to instantiate your XMLWriter with settings and specify that you need that underlying stream closed.

Example:

XMLWriterSettings settings = new Settings();
settings.CloseOutput = true;
XMLWriter writer = new XMLWriter(filepath, settings);

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

It worked for me.

Here is my test code. Test run follows:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            FileInfo f = new FileInfo(args[0]);
            bool result = modifyFile(f, args[1],args[2]);
        }
        private static bool modifyFile(FileInfo file, string extractedMethod, string modifiedMethod) 
        { 
            Boolean result = false; 
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(file.FullName + ".tmp", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            StreamReader streamreader = file.OpenText(); 
            String originalPath = file.FullName; 
            string input = streamreader.ReadToEnd(); 
            Console.WriteLine("input : {0}", input); 
            String tempString = input.Replace(extractedMethod, modifiedMethod); 
            Console.WriteLine("replaced String {0}", tempString); 
            try 
            { 
                sw.Write(tempString); 
                sw.Flush(); 
                sw.Close(); 
                sw.Dispose(); 
                fs.Close(); 
                fs.Dispose(); 
                streamreader.Close(); 
                streamreader.Dispose(); 
                File.Copy(originalPath, originalPath + ".old", true); 
                FileInfo newFile = new FileInfo(originalPath + ".tmp"); 
                File.Delete(originalPath); 
                File.Copy(originalPath + ".tmp", originalPath, true); 
                result = true; 
            } 
            catch (Exception ex) 
            { 
                Console.WriteLine(ex); 
            } 
            return result; 
        }
    }
}


C:\testarea>ConsoleApplication1.exe file.txt padding testing
input :         <style type="text/css">
        <!--
         #mytable {
          border-collapse: collapse;
          width: 300px;
         }
         #mytable th,
         #mytable td
         {
          border: 1px solid #000;
          padding: 3px;
         }
         #mytable tr.highlight {
          background-color: #eee;
         }
        //-->
        </style>
replaced String         <style type="text/css">
        <!--
         #mytable {
          border-collapse: collapse;
          width: 300px;
         }
         #mytable th,
         #mytable td
         {
          border: 1px solid #000;
          testing: 3px;
         }
         #mytable tr.highlight {
          background-color: #eee;
         }
        //-->
        </style>

Answer 3

After coming across this error and not finding anything on the web that set me right, I thought I'd add another reason for getting this Exception - namely that the source and destination paths in the File Copy command are the same. It took me a while to figure it out, but it may help to add code somewhere to throw an exception if source and destination paths are pointing to the same file.

Good luck!

Answer 4

The code works as best I can tell. I would fire up Sysinternals process explorer and find out what is holding the file open. It might very well be Visual Studio.

Answer 5

Are you running a real-time antivirus scanner by any chance ? If so, you could try (temporarily) disabling it to see if that is what is accessing the file you are trying to delete. (Chris' suggestion to use Sysinternals process explorer is a good one).

Answer 6

 System.Drawing.Image FileUploadPhoto = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile(location1);
                                 FileUploadPhoto.Save(location2);
                                 FileUploadPhoto.Dispose();