Other reasons you can’t perform an action on your file include File Explorer being buggy, your antivirus restricting your access to the file, an installed app interfering with your task, and more.
Close the App That’s Using Your File
Often, you get the above file error when you try to modify a file that’s being used by an app. The app has restricted any modifications to the file, making you unable to make changes to the file. An easy way to get around this is to close the app using your file. You’ll then be able to make whatever changes you want to your file. Closing an app on Windows is as easy as selecting X in the app window’s top-right corner. If your app doesn’t quit for some reason, use Task Manager to force quit the app as follows.
Restart Windows File Explorer
A minor glitch in File Explorer can prevent you from making changes to your files. In this case, you can restart File Explorer, fixing any items causing you trouble. You can restart explorer.exe using Task Manager as follows.
Reboot Your Windows 10/11 PC
If restarting File Explorer didn’t resolve your issue, reboot your entire Windows system. Doing so clears your temporary storage (RAM) and relaunches all your apps and services, fixing many minor problems with the system. Make sure to save your unsaved work before you reboot your PC, or you risk losing it.
Clear the Windows File Thumbnail Cache
Windows creates and saves your files’ thumbnails, allowing you to take a quick peek at what’s inside your files. Sometimes, this thumbnail cache goes corrupt, causing various problems on your system. It’s a good idea to clear this cache and see if that resolves your file error. Windows will re-create this cache and show thumbnails anyway, so you aren’t losing anything.
Open Folder Windows in a Separate Process
By default, File Explorer launches your folder windows in a single process. It’s a good idea to isolate your folder windows’ processes so that one entity’s issues don’t affect others.
Turn Off Controlled Folder Access
Your PC’s Windows Security app offers a feature that prevents unfriendly apps from making changes to your files. While your rename, move, and delete actions in File Explorer aren’t unfriendly, it’s worth toggling off this feature to see if that fixes your issue.
Unlock Your File With Unlocker
One reason you get the “The action cannot be completed because the file is open” error is that an app has locked your file. In this case, you can use a free app called Unlocker to remove all restrictions on your file. You can then perform your intended actions on your file without any problems.
Clean Boot Your Windows 11/10 Operating System
If your “The action cannot be completed because the file is open” error persists, one or more of your installed apps may be preventing your file actions. If you aren’t sure what app is causing the problem, clean boot your PC, and you should be able to isolate the culprit. In a clean boot environment, your PC only loads the essential system files and drivers. This isolates all your installed apps, letting you check if your apps are the source of the problem. If you can make changes to your file, one or more of your installed apps are the culprit. In this case, uninstall your recently added apps and any other suspicious apps.
Get No Error While Trying to Make Changes to Your Files in File Explorer
Making changes to files is a common thing all computer users do. If you ever run into a problem while doing so, consult the guide above, and your issue should be resolved. You can change a File Explorer option, unlock your file, or clean boot your PC to resolve your issue. Once that’s done, you can rename, move, or delete your file whenever and however you want.
