为什么文件夹在Windows XP和Windows Server 2003上被锁定？

Question

There is a problem that I can't safely remove a USB disk on XP and 2003 Server, because my application holds it. There is a folder on USB, in which some files are held. I need to copy those files from USB to some destination folder on disk C:. After this is done I'm trying to safely remove disk and cannot do this because my application uses it. Actually it holds the folder on USB where files that has to be copied are situated. This is happening only on XP and 2003 server, but not in Windows 7. What could it be? I use methods from File class such as Copy , Exists , SetAttributes and methods from Path class. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Folders are shared objects, just like files. You cannot remove a folder, or the drive on which it resides, until all handles on the folder are closed.

They tend to be hard to identify. Most pernicious are the lock created when an app makes the folder its default working directory, equivalent of the .NET Environment.CurrentDirectory property. Forgetting OpenFileDialog.RestoreDirectory is a standard trap. And when an app monitors the directory for changes, equivalent of the .NET FileSystemWatcher class. Just plain hard to see them. Windows 7 and up make it a bit easier to deal with by allowing the volume to be ejected anyway. Follow-up at superuser.com, there are no doubt utilities around that make this more visible.