Forcing file to close

If a file has been abnormally terminated which has left it open, Is it possible to forcefully close it so it can be deleted?

Thanks in advance

What kind of file?

Without going into OS internals - No. The OS has a list of file handles. If a process aborts (like a GPF) it doesn't release the handle. Rebooting is the only solution. Period.

IF you want to see what's going on with files download the free PStools from www.sysinternals.com - there is a FileMon tool (or whatever they call it now). Shows all open files, handles etc.
You can see exactly what I mean with this tool. They may have a another tool which can force file handles off the list - I dunno. The toolset changes constantly.

If you open a bunch of files and then you get an error, in your error handling, just use the command Close. It will close every file you have open. I dont know if thats what you want though.

Its a program running in a DOS window executed by a batch command. It isnt my program that has the handle.

Thanks for your help guys

oh! close it with this code. It works with the file path
of the target program!

VB Code:

Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
Declare Function ProcessFirst Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32First" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function ProcessNext Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32Next" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function CreateToolhelpSnapshot Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateToolhelp32Snapshot" (ByVal lFlags As Long, lProcessID As Long) As Long
Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
 
Type PROCESSENTRY32
    dwSize As Long
    cntUsage As Long
    th32ProcessID As Long
    th32DefaultHeapID As Long
    th32ModuleID As Long
    cntThreads As Long
    th32ParentProcessID As Long
    pcPriClassBase As Long
    dwFlags As Long
    szexeFile As String * 6400
End Type
 
 
Public Function StopApp(myName As String) As Boolean
    Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = 0
    Dim uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32
    Dim rProcessFound As Long
    Dim hSnapshot As Long
    Dim szExename As String
    Dim exitCode As Long
    Dim myProcess As Long
    Dim AppKill As Boolean
    Dim appCount As Integer
    Dim i As Integer
    On Local Error GoTo Finish
    appCount = 0
    
    Const TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS As Long = 2&
    
    uProcess.dwSize = Len(uProcess)
    hSnapshot = CreateToolhelpSnapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0&)
    rProcessFound = ProcessFirst(hSnapshot, uProcess)
    
    Do While rProcessFound
        i = InStr(1, uProcess.szexeFile, Chr(0))
        szExename = LCase$(Left$(uProcess.szexeFile, i - 1))
        If Right$(szExename, Len(myName)) = LCase$(myName) Then
            StopApp = True
            appCount = appCount + 1
            myProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, uProcess.th32ProcessID)
            AppKill = TerminateProcess(myProcess, exitCode)
            Call CloseHandle(myProcess)
        End If
        rProcessFound = ProcessNext(hSnapshot, uProcess)
    Loop
 
    Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
Finish:
End Function

VB Code:

[b]Usage:[/b]
KillAppByPath "C:\Windows\Calc.exe"

Thanks Evan. How does that work if you have multiple instances of a program then? ....just out of curiosity.....

Evan: What is KillAppByPath in the usage section of your post?
Is there a missing sub or function, or did you mean StopApp?

(I like the code a lot!)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Blobby
Thanks Evan. How does that work if you have multiple instances of a program then? ....just out of curiosity.....

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Terminites all of them

Quote:

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Originally posted by Hack
Evan: What is KillAppByPath in the usage section of your post?
Is there a missing sub or function, or did you mean StopApp?

(I like the code a lot!)

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Oops! But ty =)

Actually, I like KillAppByName a lot better than StopApp, so when I dumped it into my code library (properly documented with respect to posted by and when posted of course), I changed the name of the sub.

Up to this one, the only code I had to kill a running application required that you know the window caption. I like this one better.