I need to find out from .NET which process holds a specific file.
the reason is that I want to delete this file but i can't because it
is being held by another process (with many possinle instances) and I
want to find that process and kill it .
I don't know the name of the process, my only knowledge is the name of the file.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 27 Nov 2005 13:48 PST

sharon...

I can show you a small utility which will insert an option
when you r-click on the file in Windows Explorer, which will
remove the file when you next reboot your system, before it
is engaged by .NET.

Would that suit your needs?

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by sharon_de_salmon-ga on 27 Nov 2005 23:55 PST

this solutions are not suitable for my problem since I need to find the process 
automatically inside a program I wrote in c#.
I can't open or use any other program from this program.
I need a utility that exposes an API.

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Request for Question Clarification by bookface-ga on 22 Dec 2005 18:15 PST

I thought this would be an easy search, and you were just missing the
key term "lock" or "locking" in your own searches.

I knew it was possible once I found this:
http://www.skrubbeltrang.com/Tools.aspx?Tool=FreeFile

But I couldn't find the specific API to do this.
Eventually I found some information that may be enough to get you
where you need to go: the key to monitoring open handles is the ROT,
Running Object Table.

Hope this helps!

- bookface-ga

Search Strategy:
://www.google.com/search?q=.net+finding+lock+file
 http://adminfoo.net/node/102
   http://www.skrubbeltrang.com/Tools.aspx?Tool=FreeFile

http://www.lorriman.com/software/rotviewer/rotviewer.htm

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=process+list+file+handle
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.platformsdk.shell/browse_thread/thread/91b873f5a887a62/52fc297f7a14b61a?lnk=st&q=process+list+file+handle&rnum=4&hl=en#52fc297f7a14b61a

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Clarification of Question by sharon_de_salmon-ga on 24 Dec 2005 22:55 PST

it seems like ROT is the way. i didn't look inside the program that use it.
I still need to dig out the relevant code snippet from the code, but
it looks promising.
10x

Glad I could help, and thanks for choosing Google! Answers.

- bookface-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by sharon_de_salmon-ga on 27 Dec 2005 00:19 PST

if you want to answer the question so I want a code snippet in c# (or vb.net)
that demonstrates how it is done by code.
I didn't find a sutable .net source in those links to get an example from.
please provide this code snippet example(s)

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Clarification of Answer by bookface-ga on 29 Dec 2005 00:17 PST

Just wanted to let you know I'm working on a solution, but I may have
to ask you to repost soon if none of my leads follow through, although
there are quite a few options I'm looking at that may lead to a
complete answer.

It would help if you could tell me the use case for your application,
so I know what behavior is acceptable. For instance, part of the
Microsoft Resource Kit contains OH.exe, which is a command line app
that lists all open handles... but to do so, it needs to set a flag
which requires a reboot to take effect.

Would it be acceptable to take a command line application's output
(not OH.exe, I have a different one in mind) and read it as a LPCSTR
in your application?

Does this need to be fully redistributable, or is it for personal use?

- bookface-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by sharon_de_salmon-ga on 31 Dec 2005 05:11 PST

I am not considering it as an answer yet .
please do not respond to this so the question can be closed without
being considered as answered.
I am re-posting the question so you can have a fair chance to answer it correctly.

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Clarification of Answer by bookface-ga on 02 Jan 2006 15:06 PST

Please use this form to request a repost of your question at no
additional fee (or full refund, less the 50 cent posting fee):

http://answers.google.com/answers/refundrequest

I'm sorry I couldn't help you.

- bookface-ga

I didn't get a suitable answer.
I wanted an answer that include an example in code (c# or vb.net) that
shows how i can find what processes are colding a file in order to
kill them.
instead i got some links which i followed but didn't find it there,
and some reference to programs that do this.
but i didn't want a program , i am looking for a programing framwork.

This utility may enable you to figure out which process has your file open:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html