Error message:: The file is already in use (Windows 11)

[daSilva65]

I get this error message when trying to open a database.
Closing and reopening the program don't solve the issue.
I can't change the name of the database in the operative system (OS) because it is already in use.
Can't see a process in the OS to kill it.
Rebooting the system keeps the problem.
There is not a log file to report
Only last resource is to reinstall scidCommunity. I will try it later.

Later:
Deleted and installed. Still the same error message
Deleted temporary items in the system: same
Went to registry and found there nothing I could safely relate with scidCommunity.

Now:
Restored the "same" file from yesterday's night daily backup
scidCommunity opened it with no trouble, even having the same name.
Closed and opened it again.

Apparently the other file got corrupted and will be trashed.

[whelanh]

Did you notice whether there was a file that ended in ".lock" in the directory where your database was? There is a new mechanism that when scidCommunity opens a database it creates a ".lock" file in the same directory. No other process (like the headless scidCommunity API) can open the database if there is a ".lock" file present. This is to prevent corruption of a database (say for example you had it open in Scid and then tried to open it in scidCommunity and both wanted to make changes to the same database).

It can happen that if scidCommunity get's closed abruptly (say power failure or reboot while it's open), the ".lock" file does not get destroyed. Then the next time you use scidCommunity and try to open your database, you will get that message about the database being already in use.

The fix is simple: simply delete the file that ends in "*.lock" and the lock is lifted and you can open it. Your database was not corrupted, just "protected" by the presence of the lock file.

[daSilva65]

You are correct. There was a .lock file in same directory of the database. I sent the .lock to the trash and the database opened again.