How to fix Another process is using this file: file.txt in Git

First, determine which application is holding the file lock. Windows provides several ways to find this:

Using Resource Monitor (built-in):
1. Press Win+R, type resmon, press Enter
2. Go to the "CPU" tab
3. In the "Associated Handles" section, type the filename in the search box
4. The search results show which processes have handles to that file

Using Process Explorer (recommended):
1. Download from Microsoft Sysinternals: https://docs.microsoft.com/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer
2. Run Process Explorer as Administrator
3. Press Ctrl+F to open "Find Handle or DLL"
4. Enter the filename from the error message
5. Click "Search" to see which process has it open

Using Handle utility (command-line):

# Download Handle from Sysinternals, then run:
handle.exe filename.txt

# To search for partial matches:
handle.exe | findstr "filename"

Using PowerShell:

# Requires administrator privileges
# Find process by file name (checks loaded modules)
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.Modules.FileName -like "*filename*" }

Note the process name and PID (Process ID) for the next steps.

Once you've identified the locking process, close it to release the file:

For common applications:

IDE/Editor (VS Code, Visual Studio, IntelliJ, etc.):
- Close the specific file tab
- Or close the entire folder/project
- Some editors have "File > Reload from Disk" which releases the handle

Windows Explorer Preview Pane:
- Press Alt+P in Windows Explorer to toggle off the preview pane
- Or navigate to View > Preview pane to disable it
- The preview pane commonly locks images, PDFs, and text files

Build Tools (npm, webpack, tsc, etc.):
- Stop any running watch processes: Ctrl+C in the terminal
- Check Task Manager for orphaned node.exe or similar processes
- Kill them if they're from old build sessions

Antivirus Software:
- Wait for the scan to complete, or
- Temporarily pause real-time protection, or
- Add your repository to the exclusions list

Cloud Sync (OneDrive, Dropbox):
- Pause syncing temporarily
- Or move the repository outside the synced folder

After closing the application, retry your Git command.

If you cannot close the application normally, you can force-release the lock:

Using Handle to close a specific handle:

# First find the handle (run as Administrator)
handle.exe filename.txt

# Output example:
# notepad.exe   pid: 1234  type: File  1A8: C:\repo\filename.txt

# Close the handle (use the hex handle value and PID shown)
handle.exe -c 1A8 -p 1234

Using Process Explorer:
1. Open Process Explorer as Administrator
2. Find the process in the list
3. Click on it, then press Ctrl+H to show handles in the lower pane
4. Find the file handle
5. Right-click and select "Close Handle"

Kill the entire process (if safe):

# Using Task Manager
taskkill /PID 1234 /F

# Or by name
taskkill /IM notepad.exe /F

Warning: Force-closing handles can cause data loss or crashes in the application. Save your work first if possible. Never forcibly close system processes unless you know what you're doing.

Git Bash (which comes with Git for Windows) uses MSYS2 file handling that can sometimes work around Windows locking issues:

# Open Git Bash and navigate to your repository
cd /c/path/to/your/repo

# Retry the failed operation
git checkout main
# or
git pull origin main
# or
git reset --hard HEAD

Why this sometimes helps:
- Git Bash translates paths differently
- MSYS2 has its own file handling layer
- Some Windows-specific locking behavior is bypassed

If Git Bash works, consider using it as your primary terminal for Git operations on Windows.

A reboot will release all file locks. The key is to run Git before anything else grabs the files again:

1. Save all your work and close all applications
2. Reboot your computer:

shutdown /r /t 0

3. After reboot, immediately:
- Open Command Prompt or Git Bash
- Navigate to your repository
- Run the Git command that was failing

4. Only then open your IDE, editor, or other applications

This works because rebooting clears all file handles, and running Git first ensures no other process locks the files before Git can access them.

Prevent future occurrences:
- Check startup programs: Press Win+R, type shell:startup
- Disable auto-opening projects in IDEs
- Configure your IDE to not watch files aggressively

Several Windows settings can help reduce file locking conflicts:

Disable Windows Search indexing for your repository:
1. Right-click the repository folder
2. Select "Properties"
3. Click "Advanced..."
4. Uncheck "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties"
5. Apply to all subfolders when prompted

Add exclusions to Windows Defender:
1. Open Windows Security
2. Go to Virus & threat protection > Manage settings
3. Scroll to Exclusions > Add or remove exclusions
4. Add your repository folder
5. Also add: .git folders, node_modules, build output directories

Disable Windows Defender real-time protection (temporarily):

# Run as Administrator
Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true

# Remember to re-enable afterward:
Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $false

Disable OneDrive Files On-Demand for development folders:
1. Right-click OneDrive in system tray
2. Settings > Advanced Settings
3. Disable "Files On-Demand" or
4. Right-click your dev folder > "Always keep on this device"

Cloud sync software (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive) commonly causes file locking issues with Git:

Problems with cloud sync + Git:
- Sync processes lock files while uploading
- "Files On-Demand" features cause access issues
- Sync conflicts create extra files
- Performance degrades due to constant syncing

Solution - move your repositories:

# Create a dedicated development folder outside cloud sync
mkdir C:\dev

# Move your repository there
# (Don't move - reclone to avoid hidden issues)
cd C:\dev
git clone <repository-url>

Best practices:
- Keep repositories in C:\dev, C:\Projects, or similar
- Avoid: C:\Users\<name>\OneDrive, C:\Users\<name>\Dropbox
- If you must use synced folders, add .git to sync exclusions

OneDrive exclusion (.gitignore won't help):
- OneDrive doesn't respect .gitignore
- You need to exclude at the OneDrive level
- Or mark the folder "Always keep on this device"

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) provides Unix-style file handling that avoids Windows locking issues:

Install WSL:

# Run in elevated PowerShell
wsl --install
# Restart your computer when prompted

Access your Windows repository from WSL:

# In WSL terminal
cd /mnt/c/path/to/your/repo

# Run Git commands
git pull origin main
git checkout feature-branch

For best results, clone directly in WSL:

# Create a projects directory in your WSL home
mkdir -p ~/projects
cd ~/projects

# Clone repositories here
git clone <repository-url>

Benefits of WSL for Git:
- Unix-style file handling (no mandatory locking)
- Better performance with many small files
- Full Linux tool ecosystem
- Avoids most Windows-specific Git issues

Note: When working in WSL, use WSL-native paths (/home/user/project) rather than mounted Windows paths (/mnt/c/...) for best performance.