How to determine if a process has a lock on a file

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Received this SAS error:
ERROR: A lock is not available for ******.********.DATA.

Introduction

Sometimes, you try to delete a file and receive access violation or file in use - errors. To successfully delete a file, you will need to identify the process which has locked the file. You need to exit the process first and then delete the particular file. To know which process has locked a file, you may use one of the methods discussed in this article.

Using Process Explorer

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

• Download Process Explorer from Microsoft site and run the program.
• Click the Find menu, and choose Find Handle or DLL...
• Type the file name (name of the file which is locked by some process.)
• After typing the search phrase, click the Search button

You should see the list of applications which are accessing the file. Here is a screenshot:

Note: There is also a command-line tool named Handle from Windows Sysinternalsthat can display open handles for any process in the system.