Develop Reference

C# generate Self Signed Cert with Subject Alternative Name?

We have an app that generates a Self Signed Cert but now with Chrome 58 we need to add the Subject Alternative Name. The Cert is generated using C# but invoking the CertCreateSelfSignCertificate function in win32. So far all the examples I am finding are not passing the extensions param and I'm finding it hard to create an extension to pass to generate the SAN.
Note I will be cleaning this up once I get it working
This is what I am using to create an Entry and then the Extension:
CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY entry = new CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY {
dwAltNameChoice = AlternativeNameType.Dns, // 3
Name = Marshal.StringToHGlobalUni("127.0.0.1")
};
IntPtr entryBlob Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY)));
var pvStructInfo = new CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO { cAltEntry = 1, rgAltEntry = entryBlob };
IntPtr pvEncoded = IntPtr.Zero;
int pcbEncoded = 0;
var status = InvokeMethods.CryptEncodeObjectEx(
CertEncodingType.X509_ASN_ENCODING | CertEncodingType.PKCS_7_ASN_ENCODING, // 1 | 0x10000
new IntPtr(12),
ref pvStructInfo,
EncodeObjectFlags.CRYPT_ENCODE_ALLOC_FLAG, // 0x8000
IntPtr.Zero,
ref pvEncoded,
ref pcbEncoded);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(entryBlob);
if (!status)
{
throw new Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
}
var extension = new CERT_EXTENSION
{
ExtensionOid = OidSubjectAltName, //2.5.29.17
IsCritical = false,
Value = new CRYPTOAPI_BLOB
{
Length = (uint)pcbEncoded,
Data = pvEncoded
}
};
var result = new CertExtensions
{
cExtension = 1,
rgExtension = extension
};
Structs Used
internal struct CertExtensions
{
public uint cExtension;
public CERT_EXTENSION rgExtension;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
internal struct CRYPTOAPI_BLOB
{
public uint Length;
public IntPtr Data;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
internal class CERT_EXTENSION
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string ExtensionOid;
public bool IsCritical;
public CRYPTOAPI_BLOB Value;
}
[StructLayoutAttribute(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO
{
/// DWORD->unsigned int
public uint cAltEntry;
public IntPtr rgAltEntry;
}
[StructLayoutAttribute(System.Runtime.InteropServices.LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY
{
public AlternativeNameType dwAltNameChoice;
public IntPtr Name;
}
Full Code - Pieced together from a few examples I found
private static CertExtensions CreateExtensions(IList<CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY> items)
{
IntPtr itemBlob = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(items.Count * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY)));
for (int i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
{
var offset = (IntPtr)((long)itemBlob + i * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY)));
Marshal.StructureToPtr(items[i], offset, false);
}
var pvStructInfo = new CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO { cAltEntry = (uint)items.Count, rgAltEntry = itemBlob };
IntPtr pvEncoded = IntPtr.Zero;
int pcbEncoded = 0;
var status = InvokeMethods.CryptEncodeObjectEx(
CertEncodingType.X509_ASN_ENCODING | CertEncodingType.PKCS_7_ASN_ENCODING,
new IntPtr(12),
ref pvStructInfo,
EncodeObjectFlags.CRYPT_ENCODE_ALLOC_FLAG,
IntPtr.Zero,
ref pvEncoded,
ref pcbEncoded);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(itemBlob);
if (!status)
{
throw new Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
}
var extension = new CERT_EXTENSION
{
ExtensionOid = OidSubjectAltName,
IsCritical = false,
Value = new CRYPTOAPI_BLOB
{
Length = (uint)pcbEncoded,
Data = pvEncoded
}
};
var result = new CertExtensions
{
cExtension = 1,
rgExtension = extension
};
return result;
}

Well, this going to be a hell of C#/C++ interop and is hard to understand without knowing how pointers, structs and C-like arrays work in C++ and how marshalong works in interop.
You have incorrectly defined CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY structure. It used union in C++ definition. When translating unions to C# they must be aligned to the largest struct size in union (which is CRYPTOAPI_BLOB and which is 8 bytes) and plus other field size: 8 + 4 = 12 bytes. Your struct signature is only 8 bytes.
rgExtension member in CERT_EXTENSIONS structure doesn't accept single CERT_EXTENSION struct, actually it is a pointer to an array of CERT_EXTENSION structs. This means that rgExtension member must be defined as IntPtr.
Solution:
Drop your entire code and use examples below.
Correct struct signature definitions:
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace TestApp {
static class Wincrypt {
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CRYPTOAPI_BLOB {
public UInt32 cbData;
public IntPtr pbData;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_EXTENSION {
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public String pszObjId;
public Boolean fCritical;
public CRYPTOAPI_BLOB Value;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_EXTENSIONS {
public UInt32 cExtension;
public IntPtr rgExtension;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO {
public UInt32 cAltEntry;
public IntPtr rgAltEntry;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY {
public UInt32 dwAltNameChoice;
// since there is no direct translation from C-like unions in C#
// make additional struct to represent union options.
public CERT_ALT_NAME_UNION Value;
}
// create mapping to dwAltNameChoice
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_OTHER_NAME = 1;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_RFC822_NAME = 2;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_DNS_NAME = 3;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_X400_ADDRESS = 4;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_DIRECTORY_NAME = 5;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_EDI_PARTY_NAME = 6;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_URL = 7;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_IP_ADDRESS = 8;
public const UInt32 CERT_ALT_NAME_REGISTERED_ID = 9;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_ALT_NAME_UNION {
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr pOtherName;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr pwszRfc822Name;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr pwszDNSName;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public CRYPTOAPI_BLOB DirectoryName;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr pwszURL;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr IPAddress;
[FieldOffset(0)]
public IntPtr pszRegisteredID;
}
// not really used in this scenario, but is necessary when want to add
// UPN alt name, for example.
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public struct CERT_OTHER_NAME {
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public String pszObjId;
public CRYPTOAPI_BLOB Value;
}
}
}
CryptEncodeObject signature (haven't tried Ex version):
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace TestApp {
static class Crypt32 {
[DllImport("Crypt32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
public static extern Boolean CryptEncodeObject(
[In] UInt32 CertEncodingType,
[In] UInt32 lpszStructType,
[In, Out]ref Wincrypt.CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO pvStructInfo,
[Out] Byte[] pbEncoded,
[In, Out] ref UInt32 cbEncoded);
}
}
and the whole story with comments:
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace TestApp {
class Program {
static void Main(String[] args) {
//return;
// suppose we want to add three alternative DNS names to SAN extension
String[] dnsNames = { "contoso.com", "www.contoso.com", "mail.contoso.com" };
// calculate size of CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY structure. Since it is C-like
// struct, use Marshal.SizeOf(), not C# sizeof().
var altEntrySize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Wincrypt.CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY));
// create CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO structure and set initial data:
// cAltEntry -- number of alt names in the extension
// rgAltEntry -- starting pointer in unmanaged memory to an array of alt names
// the size is calculated as: CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY size * alt name count
var altInfo = new Wincrypt.CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO {
cAltEntry = (UInt32)dnsNames.Length,
rgAltEntry = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(altEntrySize * dnsNames.Length)
};
// now create CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY for each alt name and copy structure to
// a pointer allocated in altInfo structure with a shift.
// Create a loop to save some coding
for (Int32 i = 0; i < dnsNames.Length; i++) {
var altEntry = new Wincrypt.CERT_ALT_NAME_ENTRY {
dwAltNameChoice = Wincrypt.CERT_ALT_NAME_DNS_NAME,
// use Uni, because the pwszDNSName is defined as LPWStr (unicode)
Value = { pwszDNSName = Marshal.StringToHGlobalUni(dnsNames[i]) },
};
// copy alt name entry to altInfo.rgAltEntry at the specified index.
// In unmanaged memory you have to calculate shift based on managed
// index and structure size
Marshal.StructureToPtr(altEntry, altInfo.rgAltEntry + i * altEntrySize, false);
}
// encode CERT_ALT_NAME_INFO to ASN.1 DER byte array
UInt32 pcbEncoded = 0;
if (Crypt32.CryptEncodeObject(1, 12, ref altInfo, null, ref pcbEncoded)) {
Byte[] encodedSANvalue = new Byte[pcbEncoded];
Crypt32.CryptEncodeObject(1, 12, ref altInfo, encodedSANvalue, ref pcbEncoded);
// create certificate extension array:
var extensions = new Wincrypt.CERT_EXTENSIONS {
cExtension = 1,
rgExtension = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Wincrypt.CERT_EXTENSION)))
};
// create SAN extension:
var san = new Wincrypt.CERT_EXTENSION {
fCritical = false,
pszObjId = "2.5.29.17",
Value = { cbData = (UInt32)encodedSANvalue.Length, pbData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(encodedSANvalue.Length) }
};
// copy SAN bytes to SAN extension:
Marshal.Copy(encodedSANvalue,0,san.Value.pbData, encodedSANvalue.Length);
// copy CERT_EXTENSION structure to extensions:
Marshal.StructureToPtr(san, extensions.rgExtension, false);
// use 'extensions' variable in CertCreateSelfSignCertificate call.
} else {
throw new Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
}
}
}
}
One note: the provided code do not release unmanaged resources. You have to release them after calling CertCreateSelfSignCertificate function.

Possible to tell whether a DNS query is being answered by the HOSTS file?

Currently using the Dns.GetHostEntry method in our WinForms application, I discovered that some guys trying to bypass our "copy protection" by redirecting lookups to our servers to localhost by changing the IP address in the HOSTS file (i.e. they enter "example.org 127.0.0.1" to redirect our example.org domain).
Now I asked myself whether I somehow might be able to detect whether a looked up IP address comes from the HOSTS file or from a "real" DNS server.
Of course I might be reading and parsing the HOSTS file by myself but maybe there is a better way?

The Dns Query Options you can pass to DnsQuery with p/invoke allow a DNS_QUERY_NO_HOSTS_FILE parameter.
Here's an example, partial credit goes to the pinvoke.net resource on DnsQuery. Note that this only handles the A record type, you'd need to define the other possible DnsData structures to handle other response types.
public static class DnsFuncs
{
[DllImport("dnsapi", EntryPoint = "DnsQuery_W", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true)]
private static extern int DnsQuery(
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.VBByRefStr)]ref string pszName,
QueryTypes wType,
QueryOptions options,
int aipServers,
ref IntPtr ppQueryResults,
int pReserved);
[DllImport("dnsapi", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern void DnsRecordListFree(
IntPtr pRecordList,
int FreeType);
private enum QueryOptions
{
DNS_QUERY_ACCEPT_TRUNCATED_RESPONSE = 1,
DNS_QUERY_BYPASS_CACHE = 8,
DNS_QUERY_DONT_RESET_TTL_VALUES = 0x100000,
DNS_QUERY_NO_HOSTS_FILE = 0x40,
DNS_QUERY_NO_LOCAL_NAME = 0x20,
DNS_QUERY_NO_NETBT = 0x80,
DNS_QUERY_NO_RECURSION = 4,
DNS_QUERY_NO_WIRE_QUERY = 0x10,
DNS_QUERY_RESERVED = -16777216,
DNS_QUERY_RETURN_MESSAGE = 0x200,
DNS_QUERY_STANDARD = 0,
DNS_QUERY_TREAT_AS_FQDN = 0x1000,
DNS_QUERY_USE_TCP_ONLY = 2,
DNS_QUERY_WIRE_ONLY = 0x100
}
private enum QueryTypes
{
DNS_TYPE_A = 1,
DNS_TYPE_NS = 2,
DNS_TYPE_CNAME = 5,
DNS_TYPE_SOA = 6,
DNS_TYPE_PTR = 12,
DNS_TYPE_HINFO = 13,
DNS_TYPE_MX = 15,
DNS_TYPE_TXT = 16,
DNS_TYPE_AAAA = 28
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct DNS_RECORD
{
public IntPtr pNext;
public string pName;
public short wType;
public short wDataLength;
public int flags;
public int dwTtl;
public int dwReserved;
public DnsData DATA;
public short wPreference;
public short Pad;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct DnsData
{
public DNS_A_DATA A;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct DNS_A_DATA
{
public IP4_ADDRESS IpAddress;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct IP4_ADDRESS
{
public UInt32 Ip4Addr;
}
public static List<string> GetDnsRecords(string domain)
{
IntPtr ptr1 = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr ptr2 = IntPtr.Zero;
DNS_RECORD recDns;
DNS_A_DATA recA;
List<string> Results = new List<string>();
int RtnVal = DnsQuery(
ref domain,
QueryTypes.DNS_TYPE_A,
QueryOptions.DNS_QUERY_NO_HOSTS_FILE,
0,
ref ptr1,
0);
if (RtnVal != 0)
{
throw new Win32Exception(RtnVal);
}
for (ptr2 = ptr1; !ptr2.Equals(IntPtr.Zero); ptr2 = recDns.pNext)
{
recDns = (DNS_RECORD)Marshal.PtrToStructure(ptr2, typeof(DNS_RECORD));
if (recDns.wType == 1)
{
recA = (DNS_A_DATA)recDns.DATA.A;
string ip = ReverseIPAddr(recA.IpAddress.Ip4Addr);
Results.Add(ip);
}
}
DnsRecordListFree(ptr2, 0);
return Results;
}
private static string ReverseIPAddr(UInt32 longIP)
{
IPAddress ip = IPAddress.Parse(longIP.ToString());
byte[] ipBytes = ip.GetAddressBytes();
Array.Reverse(ipBytes);
string ipAddress = new IPAddress(ipBytes).ToString();
return ipAddress;
}
}

How can I get an active UNC Path in DFS programatically

Given a DFS path how would I know what is the active path it is currently on programatically.
For exmaple I have 2 Servers shares as "\\Server1\Folder\" and "\\Server2\Folder\" and it has DFS turned on so it can be accessed on "\\DFS_Server\Folder\", how would I know what is the active path currently "\\DFS_Server\Folder\" is on, whether it is "\\Server1\Folder\" or "\\Server2\Folder\".

If I understand your requirement correctly, there's also an API that seems to do what you need:
// mscorlib (no additional assemblies needed)
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public static class Dfs
{
private enum NetDfsInfoLevel
{
DfsInfo1 = 1,
DfsInfo2 = 2,
DfsInfo3 = 3,
DfsInfo4 = 4,
DfsInfo5 = 5,
DfsInfo6 = 6,
DfsInfo7 = 7,
DfsInfo8 = 8,
DfsInfo9 = 9,
DfsInfo50 = 50,
DfsInfo100 = 100,
DfsInfo150 = 150,
}
[DllImport("netapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern int NetApiBufferFree(IntPtr buffer);
[DllImport("Netapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern int NetDfsGetInfo(
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string DfsEntryPath, // DFS entry path for the volume
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ServerName, // This parameter is currently ignored and should be NULL
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ShareName, // This parameter is currently ignored and should be NULL.
NetDfsInfoLevel Level, // Level of information requested
out IntPtr Buffer // API allocates and returns buffer with requested info
);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private struct DFS_INFO_3
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string EntryPath;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string Comment;
public int State;
public int NumberOfStorages;
public IntPtr Storage;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
private struct DFS_STORAGE_INFO
{
public int State;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string ServerName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string ShareName;
}
private static T GetStruct<T>(IntPtr buffer, int offset=0)where T:struct
{
T r = new T();
r = (T) Marshal.PtrToStructure(buffer + offset * Marshal.SizeOf(r), typeof(T));
return r;
}
public static string GetDfsInfo(string server)
{
string rval = null;
IntPtr b;
int r = NetDfsGetInfo(server, null, null, NetDfsInfoLevel.DfsInfo3, out b);
if(r != 0)
{
NetApiBufferFree(b);
// return passed string if not DFS
return rval;
}
DFS_INFO_3 sRes = GetStruct<DFS_INFO_3>(b);
if(sRes.NumberOfStorages > 0)
{
DFS_STORAGE_INFO sResInfo = GetStruct<DFS_STORAGE_INFO>(sRes.Storage);
rval = string.Concat(#"\\", sResInfo.ServerName, #"\", sResInfo.ShareName, #"\");
}
NetApiBufferFree(b);
return rval;
}
}
Use it like this:
string dfsPath = #"\\DFS_Server\Folder\";
string share = Dfs.GetDfsInfo(dfsPath)
For an API reference, check msdn on NetDfsGetInfo, DFS_INFO_3, DFS_STORAGE_INFO and NetApiBufferFree.

try this where sDFSPath is the path you want to query and sHostServer is the Server you want to query your WMI, this can be any of the two servers you mentioned above. You can even make a more elegant code when it fails on first server then query WMI on the next servers
public static ArrayList GetActiveServers(string sDFSPath, string sHostServer)
{
ArrayList sHostNames = new ArrayList();
ManagementPath oManagementPath = new ManagementPath();
oManagementPath.Server = sHostServer;
oManagementPath.NamespacePath = #"root\cimv2";
oManagementScope = new ManagementScope(oManagementPath);
oManagementScope.Connect();
SelectQuery oSelectQuery = new SelectQuery();
oSelectQuery.QueryString = #"SELECT * FROM Win32_DfsTarget WHERE LinkName LIKE '%" + sDFSPath.Replace("\\", "\\\\") + "%' and State = 1";
ManagementObjectSearcher oObjectSearcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(oManagementScope, oSelectQuery);
ManagementObjectCollection oObjectCollection = oObjectSearcher.Get();
if (oObjectCollection.Count != 0)
{
foreach (ManagementObject oItem in oObjectCollection)
{
sHostNames.Add(oItem.Properties["ServerName"].Value.ToString());
}
}
return sHostNames;
}
Hope it makes sense

Thank you, your hints were useful. However I was more successfull with NetDfsGetClientInfo. Also realized that resolving process may be recursive. I ended up with at least 2 recursive calls to get the actual physical UNC share and here is my example.
I don't know, how
public static class DFS
{
#region Import
[DllImport("Netapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "NetApiBufferFree")]
public static extern uint NetApiBufferFree(IntPtr Buffer);
[DllImport("Netapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
public static extern int NetDfsGetInfo(
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string EntryPath,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ServerName,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ShareName,
int Level,
out IntPtr Buffer);
[DllImport("Netapi32.dll")]
public static extern int NetDfsGetClientInfo(
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string EntryPath,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ServerName,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string ShareName,
int Level,
out IntPtr Buffer);
#endregion
#region Structures
public struct DFS_INFO_3
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string EntryPath;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string Comment;
public UInt32 State;
public UInt32 NumberOfStorages;
public IntPtr Storages;
}
public struct DFS_STORAGE_INFO
{
public Int32 State;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string ServerName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public string ShareName;
}
#endregion
const int DFS_VOLUME_STATE_OK = 0x00000001;
const int DFS_VOLUME_STATE_ONLINE = 0x00000004;
const int DFS_STORAGE_STATE_ONLINE = 0x00000002;
const int DFS_STORAGE_STATE_ACTIVE = 0x00000004;
public static String GetSharePath(String DFSPath)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(DFSPath))
{
IntPtr Buffer = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
int Error = NetDfsGetClientInfo(DFSPath, null, null, 3, out Buffer);
if (Error == 0)
{
DFS_INFO_3 DFSInfo = (DFS_INFO_3)Marshal.PtrToStructure(Buffer, typeof(DFS_INFO_3));
if ((DFSInfo.State & DFS_VOLUME_STATE_OK) > 0)
{
String SubPath = DFSPath.Remove(0, 1 + DFSInfo.EntryPath.Length).TrimStart(new Char[] { '\\' });
for (int i = 0; i < DFSInfo.NumberOfStorages; i++)
{
IntPtr Storage = new IntPtr(DFSInfo.Storages.ToInt64() + i * Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(DFS_STORAGE_INFO)));
DFS_STORAGE_INFO StorageInfo = (DFS_STORAGE_INFO)Marshal.PtrToStructure(Storage, typeof(DFS_STORAGE_INFO));
if ((StorageInfo.State & DFS_STORAGE_STATE_ACTIVE) > 0)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(SubPath))
{
return String.Format(#"\\{0}\{1}", StorageInfo.ServerName, StorageInfo.ShareName);
}
else
{
return GetSharePath(String.Format(#"\\{0}\{1}\{2}", StorageInfo.ServerName, StorageInfo.ShareName, SubPath));
}
}
}
}
}
else if (Error == 2662)
return DFSPath;
}
finally
{
NetApiBufferFree(Buffer);
}
}
return null;
}
public static String GetShareName(String SharePath)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(SharePath))
{
String[] Tokens = SharePath.Trim(new Char[] { '\\' }).Split(new Char[] { '\\' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (2 <= Tokens.Length)
return Tokens[1];
}
return null;
}
}

Forcing closed an open file by C# [duplicate]

I've seen several of answers about using Handle or Process Monitor, but I would like to be able to find out in my own code (C#)
which process is locking a file.
I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to have to spelunk around in the win32 API, but if anyone has already done this and can put me on the right track, I'd really appreciate the help.
Update
Links to similar questions
How does one figure out what process locked a file using c#?
Command line tool
Across a Network
Locking a USB device
Unit test fails with locked file
deleting locked file

Long ago it was impossible to reliably get the list of processes locking a file because Windows simply did not track that information. To support the Restart Manager API, that information is now tracked.
I put together code that takes the path of a file and returns a List<Process> of all processes that are locking that file.
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
static public class FileUtil
{
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)]
public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)]
public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle,
UInt32 nFiles,
string[] rgsFilenames,
UInt32 nApplications,
[In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications,
UInt32 nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle,
out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo,
[In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
///
/// </remarks>
static public List<Process> WhoIsLocking(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
List<Process> processes = new List<Process>();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded = 0,
pnProcInfo = 0,
lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = new string[] { path }; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint)resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Create an array to store the process results
RM_PROCESS_INFO[] processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == 0)
{
processes = new List<Process>((int)pnProcInfo);
// Enumerate all of the results and add them to the
// list to be returned
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
// catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
catch (ArgumentException) { }
}
}
else throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
}
else if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return processes;
}
}
Using from Limited Permission (e.g. IIS)
This call accesses the registry. If the process does not have permission to do so, you will get ERROR_WRITE_FAULT, meaning An operation was unable to read or write to the registry. You could selectively grant permission to your restricted account to the necessary part of the registry. It is more secure though to have your limited access process set a flag (e.g. in the database or the file system, or by using an interprocess communication mechanism such as queue or named pipe) and have a second process call the Restart Manager API.
Granting other-than-minimal permissions to the IIS user is a security risk.

This question had an original answer that is now over 7 years old. That code is preserved at https://gist.github.com/i-e-b/2290426
This old version might work for you if you need to use Windows XP for some reason.
A much better answer is at How to check for file lock?
I've replicated Eric J's answer below (with using statements added, and class & method names to match the old code that was here) Please note that the comments to this answer may be out-of-date.
Research by user 'Walkman' is ongoing to improve the older code, as there are some conditions where the Restart Manager does not list all locks. See Github repo: https://github.com/Walkman100/FileLocks
Use like:
List<Process> locks = Win32Processes.GetProcessesLockingFile(#"C:\Hello.docx");
Code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace FileLockInfo
{
public static class Win32Processes
{
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
/// </remarks>
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded, pnProcInfo = 0, lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = {path}; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint) resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == MORE_DATA)
{
return EnumerateProcesses(pnProcInfoNeeded, handle, lpdwRebootReasons);
}
else if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return new List<Process>();
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
public enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
public struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)] public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)] public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle, uint nFiles, string[] rgsFilenames,
uint nApplications, [In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications, uint nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle, out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo, [In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
private static List<Process> EnumerateProcesses(uint pnProcInfoNeeded, uint handle, uint lpdwRebootReasons)
{
var processes = new List<Process>(10);
// Create an array to store the process results
var processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
var pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
var res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
catch (ArgumentException) { } // catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
}
return processes;
}
}
}

It is very complex to invoke Win32 from C#.
You should use the tool Handle.exe.
After that your C# code have to be the following:
string fileName = #"c:\aaa.doc";//Path to locked file
Process tool = new Process();
tool.StartInfo.FileName = "handle.exe";
tool.StartInfo.Arguments = fileName+" /accepteula";
tool.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
tool.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
tool.Start();
tool.WaitForExit();
string outputTool = tool.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string matchPattern = #"(?<=\s+pid:\s+)\b(\d+)\b(?=\s+)";
foreach(Match match in Regex.Matches(outputTool, matchPattern))
{
Process.GetProcessById(int.Parse(match.Value)).Kill();
}

One of the good things about handle.exe is that you can run it as a subprocess and parse the output.
We do this in our deployment script - works like a charm.

The code I found here,
https://vmccontroller.svn.codeplex.com/svn/VmcController/VmcServices/DetectOpenFiles.cs
Works for me much better than the code provided by Iain. Iain's code seemed to be acquiring a lock of its own. Here is my slightly modified version of the code above modified to return the string path of the files locked instead of the FileSystemInfo object,
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
//using System.EnterpriseServices;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;
namespace Crmc.Core.BuildTasks
{
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
#region ENUMs
internal enum NT_STATUS
{
STATUS_SUCCESS = 0x00000000,
STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW = unchecked((int)0x80000005L),
STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH = unchecked((int)0xC0000004L)
}
internal enum SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
SystemBasicInformation = 0,
SystemPerformanceInformation = 2,
SystemTimeOfDayInformation = 3,
SystemProcessInformation = 5,
SystemProcessorPerformanceInformation = 8,
SystemHandleInformation = 16,
SystemInterruptInformation = 23,
SystemExceptionInformation = 33,
SystemRegistryQuotaInformation = 37,
SystemLookasideInformation = 45
}
internal enum OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
ObjectBasicInformation = 0,
ObjectNameInformation = 1,
ObjectTypeInformation = 2,
ObjectAllTypesInformation = 3,
ObjectHandleInformation = 4
}
[Flags]
internal enum ProcessAccessRights
{
PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE = 0x00000040
}
[Flags]
internal enum DuplicateHandleOptions
{
DUPLICATE_CLOSE_SOURCE = 0x1,
DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS = 0x2
}
#endregion
[SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, UnmanagedCode = true)]
internal sealed class SafeObjectHandle : SafeHandleZeroOrMinusOneIsInvalid
{
private SafeObjectHandle()
: base(true)
{ }
internal SafeObjectHandle(IntPtr preexistingHandle, bool ownsHandle)
: base(ownsHandle)
{
base.SetHandle(preexistingHandle);
}
protected override bool ReleaseHandle()
{
return NativeMethods.CloseHandle(base.handle);
}
}
[SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, UnmanagedCode = true)]
internal sealed class SafeProcessHandle : SafeHandleZeroOrMinusOneIsInvalid
{
private SafeProcessHandle()
: base(true)
{ }
internal SafeProcessHandle(IntPtr preexistingHandle, bool ownsHandle)
: base(ownsHandle)
{
base.SetHandle(preexistingHandle);
}
protected override bool ReleaseHandle()
{
return NativeMethods.CloseHandle(base.handle);
}
}
#region Native Methods
internal static class NativeMethods
{
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQuerySystemInformation(
[In] SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS SystemInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr SystemInformation,
[In] int SystemInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQueryObject(
[In] IntPtr Handle,
[In] OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS ObjectInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr ObjectInformation,
[In] int ObjectInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern SafeProcessHandle OpenProcess(
[In] ProcessAccessRights dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwProcessId);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool DuplicateHandle(
[In] IntPtr hSourceProcessHandle,
[In] IntPtr hSourceHandle,
[In] IntPtr hTargetProcessHandle,
[Out] out SafeObjectHandle lpTargetHandle,
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] DuplicateHandleOptions dwOptions);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
internal static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern int GetProcessId(
[In] IntPtr Process);
[ReliabilityContract(Consistency.WillNotCorruptState, Cer.Success)]
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool CloseHandle(
[In] IntPtr hObject);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern int QueryDosDevice(
[In] string lpDeviceName,
[Out] StringBuilder lpTargetPath,
[In] int ucchMax);
}
#endregion
//[ComVisible(true), EventTrackingEnabled(true)]
public class DetectOpenFiles// : ServicedComponent
{
private static Dictionary<string, string> deviceMap;
private const string networkDevicePrefix = "\\Device\\LanmanRedirector\\";
private const int MAX_PATH = 260;
private enum SystemHandleType
{
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0,
OB_TYPE_TYPE = 1,
OB_TYPE_DIRECTORY,
OB_TYPE_SYMBOLIC_LINK,
OB_TYPE_TOKEN,
OB_TYPE_PROCESS,
OB_TYPE_THREAD,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_7,
OB_TYPE_EVENT,
OB_TYPE_EVENT_PAIR,
OB_TYPE_MUTANT,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_11,
OB_TYPE_SEMAPHORE,
OB_TYPE_TIMER,
OB_TYPE_PROFILE,
OB_TYPE_WINDOW_STATION,
OB_TYPE_DESKTOP,
OB_TYPE_SECTION,
OB_TYPE_KEY,
OB_TYPE_PORT,
OB_TYPE_WAITABLE_PORT,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_21,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_22,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_23,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_24,
//OB_TYPE_CONTROLLER,
//OB_TYPE_DEVICE,
//OB_TYPE_DRIVER,
OB_TYPE_IO_COMPLETION,
OB_TYPE_FILE
};
private const int handleTypeTokenCount = 27;
private static readonly string[] handleTypeTokens = new string[] {
"", "", "Directory", "SymbolicLink", "Token",
"Process", "Thread", "Unknown7", "Event", "EventPair", "Mutant",
"Unknown11", "Semaphore", "Timer", "Profile", "WindowStation",
"Desktop", "Section", "Key", "Port", "WaitablePort",
"Unknown21", "Unknown22", "Unknown23", "Unknown24",
"IoCompletion", "File"
};
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY
{
public int OwnerPid;
public byte ObjectType;
public byte HandleFlags;
public short HandleValue;
public int ObjectPointer;
public int AccessMask;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the open files enumerator.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="processId">The process id.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<String> GetOpenFilesEnumerator(int processId)
{
return new OpenFiles(processId);
}
public static List<Process> GetProcessesUsingFile(string fName)
{
List<Process> result = new List<Process>();
foreach (var p in Process.GetProcesses())
{
try
{
if (DetectOpenFiles.GetOpenFilesEnumerator(p.Id).Contains(fName))
{
result.Add(p);
}
}
catch { }//some processes will fail
}
return result;
}
private sealed class OpenFiles : IEnumerable<String>
{
private readonly int processId;
internal OpenFiles(int processId)
{
this.processId = processId;
}
#region IEnumerable<FileSystemInfo> Members
public IEnumerator<String> GetEnumerator()
{
NT_STATUS ret;
int length = 0x10000;
// Loop, probing for required memory.
do
{
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the address of the allocated
// memory is actually assigned to ptr if an
// asynchronous exception occurs.
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
int returnLength;
ret = NativeMethods.NtQuerySystemInformation(SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS.SystemHandleInformation, ptr, length, out returnLength);
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH)
{
// Round required memory up to the nearest 64KB boundary.
length = ((returnLength + 0xffff) & ~0xffff);
}
else if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
int handleCount = Marshal.ReadInt32(ptr);
int offset = sizeof(int);
int size = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY));
for (int i = 0; i < handleCount; i++)
{
SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY handleEntry = (SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY)Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr)((int)ptr + offset), typeof(SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY));
if (handleEntry.OwnerPid == processId)
{
IntPtr handle = (IntPtr)handleEntry.HandleValue;
SystemHandleType handleType;
if (GetHandleType(handle, handleEntry.OwnerPid, out handleType) && handleType == SystemHandleType.OB_TYPE_FILE)
{
string devicePath;
if (GetFileNameFromHandle(handle, handleEntry.OwnerPid, out devicePath))
{
string dosPath;
if (ConvertDevicePathToDosPath(devicePath, out dosPath))
{
if (File.Exists(dosPath))
{
yield return dosPath; // return new FileInfo(dosPath);
}
else if (Directory.Exists(dosPath))
{
yield return dosPath; // new DirectoryInfo(dosPath);
}
}
}
}
}
offset += size;
}
}
}
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the allocated memory is freed,
// if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
//sw.Flush();
//sw.Close();
}
}
while (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH);
}
#endregion
#region IEnumerable Members
System.Collections.IEnumerator System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
#endregion
}
#region Private Members
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, int processId, out string fileName)
{
IntPtr currentProcess = NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess();
bool remote = (processId != NativeMethods.GetProcessId(currentProcess));
SafeProcessHandle processHandle = null;
SafeObjectHandle objectHandle = null;
try
{
if (remote)
{
processHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(ProcessAccessRights.PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE, true, processId);
if (NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(processHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), handle, currentProcess, out objectHandle, 0, false, DuplicateHandleOptions.DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS))
{
handle = objectHandle.DangerousGetHandle();
}
}
return GetFileNameFromHandle(handle, out fileName, 200);
}
finally
{
if (remote)
{
if (processHandle != null)
{
processHandle.Close();
}
if (objectHandle != null)
{
objectHandle.Close();
}
}
}
}
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, out string fileName, int wait)
{
using (FileNameFromHandleState f = new FileNameFromHandleState(handle))
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(GetFileNameFromHandle), f);
if (f.WaitOne(wait))
{
fileName = f.FileName;
return f.RetValue;
}
else
{
fileName = string.Empty;
return false;
}
}
}
private class FileNameFromHandleState : IDisposable
{
private ManualResetEvent _mr;
private IntPtr _handle;
private string _fileName;
private bool _retValue;
public IntPtr Handle
{
get
{
return _handle;
}
}
public string FileName
{
get
{
return _fileName;
}
set
{
_fileName = value;
}
}
public bool RetValue
{
get
{
return _retValue;
}
set
{
_retValue = value;
}
}
public FileNameFromHandleState(IntPtr handle)
{
_mr = new ManualResetEvent(false);
this._handle = handle;
}
public bool WaitOne(int wait)
{
return _mr.WaitOne(wait, false);
}
public void Set()
{
try
{
_mr.Set();
}
catch{}
}
#region IDisposable Members
public void Dispose()
{
if (_mr != null)
_mr.Close();
}
#endregion
}
private static void GetFileNameFromHandle(object state)
{
FileNameFromHandleState s = (FileNameFromHandleState)state;
string fileName;
s.RetValue = GetFileNameFromHandle(s.Handle, out fileName);
s.FileName = fileName;
s.Set();
}
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, out string fileName)
{
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
int length = 0x200; // 512 bytes
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees the assignment of the allocated
// memory address to ptr, if an ansynchronous exception
// occurs.
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
NT_STATUS ret = NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length);
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW)
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the previous allocation is freed,
// and that the newly allocated memory address is
// assigned to ptr if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
ret = NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length);
}
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
fileName = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr)((int)ptr + 8), (length - 9) / 2);
return fileName.Length != 0;
}
}
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the allocated memory is freed,
// if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
fileName = string.Empty;
return false;
}
private static bool GetHandleType(IntPtr handle, int processId, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
string token = GetHandleTypeToken(handle, processId);
return GetHandleTypeFromToken(token, out handleType);
}
private static bool GetHandleType(IntPtr handle, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
string token = GetHandleTypeToken(handle);
return GetHandleTypeFromToken(token, out handleType);
}
private static bool GetHandleTypeFromToken(string token, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
for (int i = 1; i < handleTypeTokenCount; i++)
{
if (handleTypeTokens[i] == token)
{
handleType = (SystemHandleType)i;
return true;
}
}
handleType = SystemHandleType.OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
return false;
}
private static string GetHandleTypeToken(IntPtr handle, int processId)
{
IntPtr currentProcess = NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess();
bool remote = (processId != NativeMethods.GetProcessId(currentProcess));
SafeProcessHandle processHandle = null;
SafeObjectHandle objectHandle = null;
try
{
if (remote)
{
processHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(ProcessAccessRights.PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE, true, processId);
if (NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(processHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), handle, currentProcess, out objectHandle, 0, false, DuplicateHandleOptions.DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS))
{
handle = objectHandle.DangerousGetHandle();
}
}
return GetHandleTypeToken(handle);
}
finally
{
if (remote)
{
if (processHandle != null)
{
processHandle.Close();
}
if (objectHandle != null)
{
objectHandle.Close();
}
}
}
}
private static string GetHandleTypeToken(IntPtr handle)
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, ptr, length, out length) == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
return Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr)((int)ptr + 0x60));
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
return string.Empty;
}
private static bool ConvertDevicePathToDosPath(string devicePath, out string dosPath)
{
EnsureDeviceMap();
int i = devicePath.Length;
while (i > 0 && (i = devicePath.LastIndexOf('\\', i - 1)) != -1)
{
string drive;
if (deviceMap.TryGetValue(devicePath.Substring(0, i), out drive))
{
dosPath = string.Concat(drive, devicePath.Substring(i));
return dosPath.Length != 0;
}
}
dosPath = string.Empty;
return false;
}
private static void EnsureDeviceMap()
{
if (deviceMap == null)
{
Dictionary<string, string> localDeviceMap = BuildDeviceMap();
Interlocked.CompareExchange<Dictionary<string, string>>(ref deviceMap, localDeviceMap, null);
}
}
private static Dictionary<string, string> BuildDeviceMap()
{
string[] logicalDrives = Environment.GetLogicalDrives();
Dictionary<string, string> localDeviceMap = new Dictionary<string, string>(logicalDrives.Length);
StringBuilder lpTargetPath = new StringBuilder(MAX_PATH);
foreach (string drive in logicalDrives)
{
string lpDeviceName = drive.Substring(0, 2);
NativeMethods.QueryDosDevice(lpDeviceName, lpTargetPath, MAX_PATH);
localDeviceMap.Add(NormalizeDeviceName(lpTargetPath.ToString()), lpDeviceName);
}
localDeviceMap.Add(networkDevicePrefix.Substring(0, networkDevicePrefix.Length - 1), "\\");
return localDeviceMap;
}
private static string NormalizeDeviceName(string deviceName)
{
if (string.Compare(deviceName, 0, networkDevicePrefix, 0, networkDevicePrefix.Length, StringComparison.InvariantCulture) == 0)
{
string shareName = deviceName.Substring(deviceName.IndexOf('\\', networkDevicePrefix.Length) + 1);
return string.Concat(networkDevicePrefix, shareName);
}
return deviceName;
}
#endregion
}
}

Not very straightforward, but on Windows Vista and above you can use the Restart Manager APIs to see who is using a file. Internet Explorer caches settings includes details on using this to detect which process has iexplore.exe open.
Omitting a lot of detail:
// Start an RM session
RmStartSession(&sessionHandle, 0, sessionKey);
// Register the file you are checking
RmRegisterResources(sessionHandle, 1, filePathArray, 0, NULL, 0, NULL);
// Get all processes that have that file open.
RmGetList(sessionHAndle, &nProcInfoNeeded, &nProcInfo, processes, &rebootReason);
RmEndSession(sessionHandle);

Handle, from Windows Sysinternals. This is a free command-line utility provided by Microsoft.
You could run it, and parse the result.

I had issues with stefan's solution. Below is a modified version which seems to work well.
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Management;
using System.IO;
static class Module1
{
static internal ArrayList myProcessArray = new ArrayList();
private static Process myProcess;
public static void Main()
{
string strFile = "c:\\windows\\system32\\msi.dll";
ArrayList a = getFileProcesses(strFile);
foreach (Process p in a)
{
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName);
}
}
private static ArrayList getFileProcesses(string strFile)
{
myProcessArray.Clear();
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcesses();
int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i <= processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1; i++)
{
myProcess = processes[i];
//if (!myProcess.HasExited) //This will cause an "Access is denied" error
if (myProcess.Threads.Count > 0)
{
try
{
ProcessModuleCollection modules = myProcess.Modules;
int j = 0;
for (j = 0; j <= modules.Count - 1; j++)
{
if ((modules[j].FileName.ToLower().CompareTo(strFile.ToLower()) == 0))
{
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess);
break;
// TODO: might not be correct. Was : Exit For
}
}
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
//MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
}
}
}
return myProcessArray;
}
}
UPDATE
If you just want to know which process(es) are locking a particular DLL, you can execute and parse the output of tasklist /m YourDllName.dll. Works on Windows XP and later. See
What does this do? tasklist /m "mscor*"

This works for DLLs locked by other processes. This routine will not find out for example that a text file is locked by a word process.
C#:
using System.Management;
using System.IO;
static class Module1
{
static internal ArrayList myProcessArray = new ArrayList();
private static Process myProcess;
public static void Main()
{
string strFile = "c:\\windows\\system32\\msi.dll";
ArrayList a = getFileProcesses(strFile);
foreach (Process p in a) {
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName);
}
}
private static ArrayList getFileProcesses(string strFile)
{
myProcessArray.Clear();
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcesses;
int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i <= processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1; i++) {
myProcess = processes(i);
if (!myProcess.HasExited) {
try {
ProcessModuleCollection modules = myProcess.Modules;
int j = 0;
for (j = 0; j <= modules.Count - 1; j++) {
if ((modules.Item(j).FileName.ToLower.CompareTo(strFile.ToLower) == 0)) {
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess);
break; // TODO: might not be correct. Was : Exit For
}
}
}
catch (Exception exception) {
}
//MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
}
}
return myProcessArray;
}
}
VB.Net:
Imports System.Management
Imports System.IO
Module Module1
Friend myProcessArray As New ArrayList
Private myProcess As Process
Sub Main()
Dim strFile As String = "c:\windows\system32\msi.dll"
Dim a As ArrayList = getFileProcesses(strFile)
For Each p As Process In a
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName)
Next
End Sub
Private Function getFileProcesses(ByVal strFile As String) As ArrayList
myProcessArray.Clear()
Dim processes As Process() = Process.GetProcesses
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1
myProcess = processes(i)
If Not myProcess.HasExited Then
Try
Dim modules As ProcessModuleCollection = myProcess.Modules
Dim j As Integer
For j = 0 To modules.Count - 1
If (modules.Item(j).FileName.ToLower.CompareTo(strFile.ToLower) = 0) Then
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess)
Exit For
End If
Next j
Catch exception As Exception
'MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
End Try
End If
Next i
Return myProcessArray
End Function
End Module

The following was produced based on Iain Ballard's code dump. It is broken: it will occasionally lock up when you retrieve the handle name. This code doesn't contain any work-arounds for that issue, and .NET leaves few options: Thread.Abort can no longer abort a thread that's currently in a native method.
So, with that disclaimer, here is the code to retrieve handles which has been adapted to work (apart from the occasional lock-up) both in 32 and 64 bit modes:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace BrokenHandleRetrieval
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Enumerates open handles.");
Console.WriteLine("This *will* lock up on calling HandleInfo.Name from time to time. Thread.Abort() won't help.");
foreach (var hi in HandleUtil.GetHandles().Where(hi => hi.Type == HandleType.File))
Console.WriteLine("pid: " + hi.ProcessId + ", name: " + hi.Name);
}
}
public enum HandleType
{
Unknown,
Other,
File, Directory, SymbolicLink, Key,
Process, Thread, Job, Session, WindowStation,
Timer, Desktop, Semaphore, Token,
Mutant, Section, Event, KeyedEvent, IoCompletion, IoCompletionReserve,
TpWorkerFactory, AlpcPort, WmiGuid, UserApcReserve,
}
public class HandleInfo
{
public int ProcessId { get; private set; }
public ushort Handle { get; private set; }
public int GrantedAccess { get; private set; }
public byte RawType { get; private set; }
public HandleInfo(int processId, ushort handle, int grantedAccess, byte rawType)
{
ProcessId = processId;
Handle = handle;
GrantedAccess = grantedAccess;
RawType = rawType;
}
private static Dictionary<byte, string> _rawTypeMap = new Dictionary<byte, string>();
private string _name, _typeStr;
private HandleType _type;
public string Name { get { if (_name == null) initTypeAndName(); return _name; } }
public string TypeString { get { if (_typeStr == null) initType(); return _typeStr; } }
public HandleType Type { get { if (_typeStr == null) initType(); return _type; } }
private void initType()
{
if (_rawTypeMap.ContainsKey(RawType))
{
_typeStr = _rawTypeMap[RawType];
_type = HandleTypeFromString(_typeStr);
}
else
initTypeAndName();
}
bool _typeAndNameAttempted = false;
private void initTypeAndName()
{
if (_typeAndNameAttempted)
return;
_typeAndNameAttempted = true;
IntPtr sourceProcessHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr handleDuplicate = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
sourceProcessHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(0x40 /* dup_handle */, true, ProcessId);
// To read info about a handle owned by another process we must duplicate it into ours
// For simplicity, current process handles will also get duplicated; remember that process handles cannot be compared for equality
if (!NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(sourceProcessHandle, (IntPtr) Handle, NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess(), out handleDuplicate, 0, false, 2 /* same_access */))
return;
// Query the object type
if (_rawTypeMap.ContainsKey(RawType))
_typeStr = _rawTypeMap[RawType];
else
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, ptr, length, out length) != NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
return;
_typeStr = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + 0x58 + 2 * IntPtr.Size));
_rawTypeMap[RawType] = _typeStr;
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
_type = HandleTypeFromString(_typeStr);
// Query the object name
if (_typeStr != null && GrantedAccess != 0x0012019f && GrantedAccess != 0x00120189 && GrantedAccess != 0x120089) // don't query some objects that could get stuck
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length) != NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
return;
_name = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + 2 * IntPtr.Size));
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
}
finally
{
NativeMethods.CloseHandle(sourceProcessHandle);
if (handleDuplicate != IntPtr.Zero)
NativeMethods.CloseHandle(handleDuplicate);
}
}
public static HandleType HandleTypeFromString(string typeStr)
{
switch (typeStr)
{
case null: return HandleType.Unknown;
case "File": return HandleType.File;
case "IoCompletion": return HandleType.IoCompletion;
case "TpWorkerFactory": return HandleType.TpWorkerFactory;
case "ALPC Port": return HandleType.AlpcPort;
case "Event": return HandleType.Event;
case "Section": return HandleType.Section;
case "Directory": return HandleType.Directory;
case "KeyedEvent": return HandleType.KeyedEvent;
case "Process": return HandleType.Process;
case "Key": return HandleType.Key;
case "SymbolicLink": return HandleType.SymbolicLink;
case "Thread": return HandleType.Thread;
case "Mutant": return HandleType.Mutant;
case "WindowStation": return HandleType.WindowStation;
case "Timer": return HandleType.Timer;
case "Semaphore": return HandleType.Semaphore;
case "Desktop": return HandleType.Desktop;
case "Token": return HandleType.Token;
case "Job": return HandleType.Job;
case "Session": return HandleType.Session;
case "IoCompletionReserve": return HandleType.IoCompletionReserve;
case "WmiGuid": return HandleType.WmiGuid;
case "UserApcReserve": return HandleType.UserApcReserve;
default: return HandleType.Other;
}
}
}
public static class HandleUtil
{
public static IEnumerable<HandleInfo> GetHandles()
{
// Attempt to retrieve the handle information
int length = 0x10000;
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
while (true)
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
int wantedLength;
var result = NativeMethods.NtQuerySystemInformation(SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS.SystemHandleInformation, ptr, length, out wantedLength);
if (result == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH)
{
length = Math.Max(length, wantedLength);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
}
else if (result == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
break;
else
throw new Exception("Failed to retrieve system handle information.");
}
int handleCount = IntPtr.Size == 4 ? Marshal.ReadInt32(ptr) : (int) Marshal.ReadInt64(ptr);
int offset = IntPtr.Size;
int size = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SystemHandleEntry));
for (int i = 0; i < handleCount; i++)
{
var struc = (SystemHandleEntry) Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + offset), typeof(SystemHandleEntry));
yield return new HandleInfo(struc.OwnerProcessId, struc.Handle, struc.GrantedAccess, struc.ObjectTypeNumber);
offset += size;
}
}
finally
{
if (ptr != IntPtr.Zero)
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct SystemHandleEntry
{
public int OwnerProcessId;
public byte ObjectTypeNumber;
public byte Flags;
public ushort Handle;
public IntPtr Object;
public int GrantedAccess;
}
}
enum NT_STATUS
{
STATUS_SUCCESS = 0x00000000,
STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW = unchecked((int) 0x80000005L),
STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH = unchecked((int) 0xC0000004L)
}
enum SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
SystemBasicInformation = 0,
SystemPerformanceInformation = 2,
SystemTimeOfDayInformation = 3,
SystemProcessInformation = 5,
SystemProcessorPerformanceInformation = 8,
SystemHandleInformation = 16,
SystemInterruptInformation = 23,
SystemExceptionInformation = 33,
SystemRegistryQuotaInformation = 37,
SystemLookasideInformation = 45
}
enum OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
ObjectBasicInformation = 0,
ObjectNameInformation = 1,
ObjectTypeInformation = 2,
ObjectAllTypesInformation = 3,
ObjectHandleInformation = 4
}
static class NativeMethods
{
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQuerySystemInformation(
[In] SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS SystemInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr SystemInformation,
[In] int SystemInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQueryObject(
[In] IntPtr Handle,
[In] OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS ObjectInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr ObjectInformation,
[In] int ObjectInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
internal static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern IntPtr OpenProcess(
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwProcessId);
[ReliabilityContract(Consistency.WillNotCorruptState, Cer.Success)]
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool CloseHandle(
[In] IntPtr hObject);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool DuplicateHandle(
[In] IntPtr hSourceProcessHandle,
[In] IntPtr hSourceHandle,
[In] IntPtr hTargetProcessHandle,
[Out] out IntPtr lpTargetHandle,
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwOptions);
}
}

This is probably irrelevant and if it is please someone comment but there was a work-around I've used in explorer before to get around file locks.
If a file was locked by a process that had died Windows often wouldn't let you delete it but if you created a new file of the same name somewhere else, moved it to the folder it would succeed. You could then delete the new file and all was well.
To use this for your app you'd have to be able to read the file and hold it in memory before you did this then you write it back out after you'd got rid of the old one.
Maybe it will help, maybe not but it's worth trying.

Try Unlocker. If you try and delete the file that is locked by another process, it will list the process(es) that have the file locked. You can then unlock the file by shutting down those processes.

foreach (var process in Process.GetProcessesByName("excel")) //whatever you need to close
{
if (process.MainWindowTitle.Contains("test.xlsx"))
{
process.Kill();
break;
}
}
or
foreach (var process in Process.GetProcesses())
{
if (process.MainWindowTitle.Contains("test.dat"))
{
process.Kill();
break;
}
}

I believe that you need code running in kernel mode to completely answer the question (but I haven't looked at the restart manager API).
You can enumerate all processes and their modules - so if the file you're looking for is a module (DLL, EXE, OCX...), you're good to go. But if it's a text file for example, you have to look at the kernel handle table which you cannot see from user mode. Handle.exe has a kernel driver in order to do that.

I rewrote the GetProcessesLockingFile() method in the solution. The code was not working.
For example, you have a folder "C:\folder1\folder2" and a process in folder2 (process1). If the process was running, GetProcessesLockingFile() was returning "C:\folder1\folder2". So the condition if (files.Contains(filePath)) => if ("C:\folder1\folder2".contains("C:\folder1\folder2\process1")) was never true.
So this is my solution:
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(FileInfo file)
{
var procs = new List<Process>();
var processListSnapshot = Process.GetProcesses();
foreach (var process in processListSnapshot)
{
if (process.Id <= 4) { continue; } // system processes
List<string> paths = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
foreach (string path in paths)
{
string pathDirectory = path;
if (!pathDirectory.EndsWith(Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH))
{
pathDirectory = pathDirectory + Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH;
}
string lastFolderName = Path.GetFileName(Path.GetDirectoryName(pathDirectory));
if (file.FullName.Contains(lastFolderName))
{
procs.Add(process);
}
}
}
return procs;
}
Or with a string parameter:
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string filePath)
{
var procs = new List<Process>();
var processListSnapshot = Process.GetProcesses();
foreach (var process in processListSnapshot)
{
if (process.Id <= 4) { continue; } // system processes
List<string> paths = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
foreach (string path in paths)
{
string pathDirectory = path;
if (!pathDirectory.EndsWith(Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH))
{
pathDirectory = pathDirectory + Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH;
}
string lastFolderName = Path.GetFileName(Path.GetDirectoryName(pathDirectory));
if (filePath.Contains(lastFolderName))
{
procs.Add(process);
}
}
}
return procs;
}

You absolutely don't need to run in Kernel mode (!!!)
It's a Win32 FAQ since Windows 95 (!) (in C, Google groups, Win32) : read the handle table, from User mode of course, and get the PID from the File handle ...

Using dotnet core (net6) I solved this problem by using the win32 restart manager (as others have also mentioned). However some of the linked articles have elaborate code importing DLLs and calling those.
After finding an app to kill processes that lock a file written by meziantou. I found out that he publishes .Net wrappers for win32 dlls (including the restart manager).
Leveraging his work, I was able to fix this problem with the following code:
using Meziantou.Framework.Win32;
public static IEnumerable<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string filePath)
{
using var session = RestartManager.CreateSession();
session.RegisterFile(filePath);
return session.GetProcessesLockingResources();
}

simpler with linq:
public void KillProcessesAssociatedToFile(string file)
{
GetProcessesAssociatedToFile(file).ForEach(x =>
{
x.Kill();
x.WaitForExit(10000);
});
}
public List<Process> GetProcessesAssociatedToFile(string file)
{
return Process.GetProcesses()
.Where(x => !x.HasExited
&& x.Modules.Cast<ProcessModule>().ToList()
.Exists(y => y.FileName.ToLowerInvariant() == file.ToLowerInvariant())
).ToList();
}

How do I find out which process is locking a file using .NET?

I've seen several of answers about using Handle or Process Monitor, but I would like to be able to find out in my own code (C#)
which process is locking a file.
I have a nasty feeling that I'm going to have to spelunk around in the win32 API, but if anyone has already done this and can put me on the right track, I'd really appreciate the help.
Update
Links to similar questions
How does one figure out what process locked a file using c#?
Command line tool
Across a Network
Locking a USB device
Unit test fails with locked file
deleting locked file

Long ago it was impossible to reliably get the list of processes locking a file because Windows simply did not track that information. To support the Restart Manager API, that information is now tracked.
I put together code that takes the path of a file and returns a List<Process> of all processes that are locking that file.
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
static public class FileUtil
{
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)]
public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)]
public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle,
UInt32 nFiles,
string[] rgsFilenames,
UInt32 nApplications,
[In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications,
UInt32 nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle,
out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo,
[In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
///
/// </remarks>
static public List<Process> WhoIsLocking(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
List<Process> processes = new List<Process>();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded = 0,
pnProcInfo = 0,
lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = new string[] { path }; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint)resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Create an array to store the process results
RM_PROCESS_INFO[] processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == 0)
{
processes = new List<Process>((int)pnProcInfo);
// Enumerate all of the results and add them to the
// list to be returned
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
// catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
catch (ArgumentException) { }
}
}
else throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
}
else if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return processes;
}
}
Using from Limited Permission (e.g. IIS)
This call accesses the registry. If the process does not have permission to do so, you will get ERROR_WRITE_FAULT, meaning An operation was unable to read or write to the registry. You could selectively grant permission to your restricted account to the necessary part of the registry. It is more secure though to have your limited access process set a flag (e.g. in the database or the file system, or by using an interprocess communication mechanism such as queue or named pipe) and have a second process call the Restart Manager API.
Granting other-than-minimal permissions to the IIS user is a security risk.

This question had an original answer that is now over 7 years old. That code is preserved at https://gist.github.com/i-e-b/2290426
This old version might work for you if you need to use Windows XP for some reason.
A much better answer is at How to check for file lock?
I've replicated Eric J's answer below (with using statements added, and class & method names to match the old code that was here) Please note that the comments to this answer may be out-of-date.
Research by user 'Walkman' is ongoing to improve the older code, as there are some conditions where the Restart Manager does not list all locks. See Github repo: https://github.com/Walkman100/FileLocks
Use like:
List<Process> locks = Win32Processes.GetProcessesLockingFile(#"C:\Hello.docx");
Code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace FileLockInfo
{
public static class Win32Processes
{
/// <summary>
/// Find out what process(es) have a lock on the specified file.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">Path of the file.</param>
/// <returns>Processes locking the file</returns>
/// <remarks>See also:
/// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa373661(v=vs.85).aspx
/// http://wyupdate.googlecode.com/svn-history/r401/trunk/frmFilesInUse.cs (no copyright in code at time of viewing)
/// </remarks>
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string path)
{
uint handle;
string key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
int res = RmStartSession(out handle, 0, key);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not begin restart session. Unable to determine file locker.");
try
{
const int MORE_DATA = 234;
uint pnProcInfoNeeded, pnProcInfo = 0, lpdwRebootReasons = RmRebootReasonNone;
string[] resources = {path}; // Just checking on one resource.
res = RmRegisterResources(handle, (uint) resources.Length, resources, 0, null, 0, null);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not register resource.");
//Note: there's a race condition here -- the first call to RmGetList() returns
// the total number of process. However, when we call RmGetList() again to get
// the actual processes this number may have increased.
res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, null, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res == MORE_DATA)
{
return EnumerateProcesses(pnProcInfoNeeded, handle, lpdwRebootReasons);
}
else if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource. Failed to get size of result.");
}
finally
{
RmEndSession(handle);
}
return new List<Process>();
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS
{
public int dwProcessId;
public System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME ProcessStartTime;
}
const int RmRebootReasonNone = 0;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME = 255;
const int CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME = 63;
public enum RM_APP_TYPE
{
RmUnknownApp = 0,
RmMainWindow = 1,
RmOtherWindow = 2,
RmService = 3,
RmExplorer = 4,
RmConsole = 5,
RmCritical = 1000
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
public struct RM_PROCESS_INFO
{
public RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS Process;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_APP_NAME + 1)] public string strAppName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = CCH_RM_MAX_SVC_NAME + 1)] public string strServiceShortName;
public RM_APP_TYPE ApplicationType;
public uint AppStatus;
public uint TSSessionId;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] public bool bRestartable;
}
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
static extern int RmRegisterResources(uint pSessionHandle, uint nFiles, string[] rgsFilenames,
uint nApplications, [In] RM_UNIQUE_PROCESS[] rgApplications, uint nServices,
string[] rgsServiceNames);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int RmStartSession(out uint pSessionHandle, int dwSessionFlags, string strSessionKey);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmEndSession(uint pSessionHandle);
[DllImport("rstrtmgr.dll")]
static extern int RmGetList(uint dwSessionHandle, out uint pnProcInfoNeeded,
ref uint pnProcInfo, [In, Out] RM_PROCESS_INFO[] rgAffectedApps,
ref uint lpdwRebootReasons);
private static List<Process> EnumerateProcesses(uint pnProcInfoNeeded, uint handle, uint lpdwRebootReasons)
{
var processes = new List<Process>(10);
// Create an array to store the process results
var processInfo = new RM_PROCESS_INFO[pnProcInfoNeeded];
var pnProcInfo = pnProcInfoNeeded;
// Get the list
var res = RmGetList(handle, out pnProcInfoNeeded, ref pnProcInfo, processInfo, ref lpdwRebootReasons);
if (res != 0) throw new Exception("Could not list processes locking resource.");
for (int i = 0; i < pnProcInfo; i++)
{
try
{
processes.Add(Process.GetProcessById(processInfo[i].Process.dwProcessId));
}
catch (ArgumentException) { } // catch the error -- in case the process is no longer running
}
return processes;
}
}
}

It is very complex to invoke Win32 from C#.
You should use the tool Handle.exe.
After that your C# code have to be the following:
string fileName = #"c:\aaa.doc";//Path to locked file
Process tool = new Process();
tool.StartInfo.FileName = "handle.exe";
tool.StartInfo.Arguments = fileName+" /accepteula";
tool.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
tool.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
tool.Start();
tool.WaitForExit();
string outputTool = tool.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
string matchPattern = #"(?<=\s+pid:\s+)\b(\d+)\b(?=\s+)";
foreach(Match match in Regex.Matches(outputTool, matchPattern))
{
Process.GetProcessById(int.Parse(match.Value)).Kill();
}

One of the good things about handle.exe is that you can run it as a subprocess and parse the output.
We do this in our deployment script - works like a charm.

The code I found here,
https://vmccontroller.svn.codeplex.com/svn/VmcController/VmcServices/DetectOpenFiles.cs
Works for me much better than the code provided by Iain. Iain's code seemed to be acquiring a lock of its own. Here is my slightly modified version of the code above modified to return the string path of the files locked instead of the FileSystemInfo object,
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
//using System.EnterpriseServices;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;
namespace Crmc.Core.BuildTasks
{
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
#region ENUMs
internal enum NT_STATUS
{
STATUS_SUCCESS = 0x00000000,
STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW = unchecked((int)0x80000005L),
STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH = unchecked((int)0xC0000004L)
}
internal enum SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
SystemBasicInformation = 0,
SystemPerformanceInformation = 2,
SystemTimeOfDayInformation = 3,
SystemProcessInformation = 5,
SystemProcessorPerformanceInformation = 8,
SystemHandleInformation = 16,
SystemInterruptInformation = 23,
SystemExceptionInformation = 33,
SystemRegistryQuotaInformation = 37,
SystemLookasideInformation = 45
}
internal enum OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
ObjectBasicInformation = 0,
ObjectNameInformation = 1,
ObjectTypeInformation = 2,
ObjectAllTypesInformation = 3,
ObjectHandleInformation = 4
}
[Flags]
internal enum ProcessAccessRights
{
PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE = 0x00000040
}
[Flags]
internal enum DuplicateHandleOptions
{
DUPLICATE_CLOSE_SOURCE = 0x1,
DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS = 0x2
}
#endregion
[SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, UnmanagedCode = true)]
internal sealed class SafeObjectHandle : SafeHandleZeroOrMinusOneIsInvalid
{
private SafeObjectHandle()
: base(true)
{ }
internal SafeObjectHandle(IntPtr preexistingHandle, bool ownsHandle)
: base(ownsHandle)
{
base.SetHandle(preexistingHandle);
}
protected override bool ReleaseHandle()
{
return NativeMethods.CloseHandle(base.handle);
}
}
[SecurityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, UnmanagedCode = true)]
internal sealed class SafeProcessHandle : SafeHandleZeroOrMinusOneIsInvalid
{
private SafeProcessHandle()
: base(true)
{ }
internal SafeProcessHandle(IntPtr preexistingHandle, bool ownsHandle)
: base(ownsHandle)
{
base.SetHandle(preexistingHandle);
}
protected override bool ReleaseHandle()
{
return NativeMethods.CloseHandle(base.handle);
}
}
#region Native Methods
internal static class NativeMethods
{
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQuerySystemInformation(
[In] SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS SystemInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr SystemInformation,
[In] int SystemInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQueryObject(
[In] IntPtr Handle,
[In] OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS ObjectInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr ObjectInformation,
[In] int ObjectInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern SafeProcessHandle OpenProcess(
[In] ProcessAccessRights dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwProcessId);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool DuplicateHandle(
[In] IntPtr hSourceProcessHandle,
[In] IntPtr hSourceHandle,
[In] IntPtr hTargetProcessHandle,
[Out] out SafeObjectHandle lpTargetHandle,
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] DuplicateHandleOptions dwOptions);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
internal static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern int GetProcessId(
[In] IntPtr Process);
[ReliabilityContract(Consistency.WillNotCorruptState, Cer.Success)]
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool CloseHandle(
[In] IntPtr hObject);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern int QueryDosDevice(
[In] string lpDeviceName,
[Out] StringBuilder lpTargetPath,
[In] int ucchMax);
}
#endregion
//[ComVisible(true), EventTrackingEnabled(true)]
public class DetectOpenFiles// : ServicedComponent
{
private static Dictionary<string, string> deviceMap;
private const string networkDevicePrefix = "\\Device\\LanmanRedirector\\";
private const int MAX_PATH = 260;
private enum SystemHandleType
{
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0,
OB_TYPE_TYPE = 1,
OB_TYPE_DIRECTORY,
OB_TYPE_SYMBOLIC_LINK,
OB_TYPE_TOKEN,
OB_TYPE_PROCESS,
OB_TYPE_THREAD,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_7,
OB_TYPE_EVENT,
OB_TYPE_EVENT_PAIR,
OB_TYPE_MUTANT,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_11,
OB_TYPE_SEMAPHORE,
OB_TYPE_TIMER,
OB_TYPE_PROFILE,
OB_TYPE_WINDOW_STATION,
OB_TYPE_DESKTOP,
OB_TYPE_SECTION,
OB_TYPE_KEY,
OB_TYPE_PORT,
OB_TYPE_WAITABLE_PORT,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_21,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_22,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_23,
OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN_24,
//OB_TYPE_CONTROLLER,
//OB_TYPE_DEVICE,
//OB_TYPE_DRIVER,
OB_TYPE_IO_COMPLETION,
OB_TYPE_FILE
};
private const int handleTypeTokenCount = 27;
private static readonly string[] handleTypeTokens = new string[] {
"", "", "Directory", "SymbolicLink", "Token",
"Process", "Thread", "Unknown7", "Event", "EventPair", "Mutant",
"Unknown11", "Semaphore", "Timer", "Profile", "WindowStation",
"Desktop", "Section", "Key", "Port", "WaitablePort",
"Unknown21", "Unknown22", "Unknown23", "Unknown24",
"IoCompletion", "File"
};
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY
{
public int OwnerPid;
public byte ObjectType;
public byte HandleFlags;
public short HandleValue;
public int ObjectPointer;
public int AccessMask;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the open files enumerator.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="processId">The process id.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<String> GetOpenFilesEnumerator(int processId)
{
return new OpenFiles(processId);
}
public static List<Process> GetProcessesUsingFile(string fName)
{
List<Process> result = new List<Process>();
foreach (var p in Process.GetProcesses())
{
try
{
if (DetectOpenFiles.GetOpenFilesEnumerator(p.Id).Contains(fName))
{
result.Add(p);
}
}
catch { }//some processes will fail
}
return result;
}
private sealed class OpenFiles : IEnumerable<String>
{
private readonly int processId;
internal OpenFiles(int processId)
{
this.processId = processId;
}
#region IEnumerable<FileSystemInfo> Members
public IEnumerator<String> GetEnumerator()
{
NT_STATUS ret;
int length = 0x10000;
// Loop, probing for required memory.
do
{
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the address of the allocated
// memory is actually assigned to ptr if an
// asynchronous exception occurs.
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
int returnLength;
ret = NativeMethods.NtQuerySystemInformation(SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS.SystemHandleInformation, ptr, length, out returnLength);
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH)
{
// Round required memory up to the nearest 64KB boundary.
length = ((returnLength + 0xffff) & ~0xffff);
}
else if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
int handleCount = Marshal.ReadInt32(ptr);
int offset = sizeof(int);
int size = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY));
for (int i = 0; i < handleCount; i++)
{
SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY handleEntry = (SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY)Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr)((int)ptr + offset), typeof(SYSTEM_HANDLE_ENTRY));
if (handleEntry.OwnerPid == processId)
{
IntPtr handle = (IntPtr)handleEntry.HandleValue;
SystemHandleType handleType;
if (GetHandleType(handle, handleEntry.OwnerPid, out handleType) && handleType == SystemHandleType.OB_TYPE_FILE)
{
string devicePath;
if (GetFileNameFromHandle(handle, handleEntry.OwnerPid, out devicePath))
{
string dosPath;
if (ConvertDevicePathToDosPath(devicePath, out dosPath))
{
if (File.Exists(dosPath))
{
yield return dosPath; // return new FileInfo(dosPath);
}
else if (Directory.Exists(dosPath))
{
yield return dosPath; // new DirectoryInfo(dosPath);
}
}
}
}
}
offset += size;
}
}
}
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the allocated memory is freed,
// if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
//sw.Flush();
//sw.Close();
}
}
while (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH);
}
#endregion
#region IEnumerable Members
System.Collections.IEnumerator System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
#endregion
}
#region Private Members
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, int processId, out string fileName)
{
IntPtr currentProcess = NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess();
bool remote = (processId != NativeMethods.GetProcessId(currentProcess));
SafeProcessHandle processHandle = null;
SafeObjectHandle objectHandle = null;
try
{
if (remote)
{
processHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(ProcessAccessRights.PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE, true, processId);
if (NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(processHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), handle, currentProcess, out objectHandle, 0, false, DuplicateHandleOptions.DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS))
{
handle = objectHandle.DangerousGetHandle();
}
}
return GetFileNameFromHandle(handle, out fileName, 200);
}
finally
{
if (remote)
{
if (processHandle != null)
{
processHandle.Close();
}
if (objectHandle != null)
{
objectHandle.Close();
}
}
}
}
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, out string fileName, int wait)
{
using (FileNameFromHandleState f = new FileNameFromHandleState(handle))
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(GetFileNameFromHandle), f);
if (f.WaitOne(wait))
{
fileName = f.FileName;
return f.RetValue;
}
else
{
fileName = string.Empty;
return false;
}
}
}
private class FileNameFromHandleState : IDisposable
{
private ManualResetEvent _mr;
private IntPtr _handle;
private string _fileName;
private bool _retValue;
public IntPtr Handle
{
get
{
return _handle;
}
}
public string FileName
{
get
{
return _fileName;
}
set
{
_fileName = value;
}
}
public bool RetValue
{
get
{
return _retValue;
}
set
{
_retValue = value;
}
}
public FileNameFromHandleState(IntPtr handle)
{
_mr = new ManualResetEvent(false);
this._handle = handle;
}
public bool WaitOne(int wait)
{
return _mr.WaitOne(wait, false);
}
public void Set()
{
try
{
_mr.Set();
}
catch{}
}
#region IDisposable Members
public void Dispose()
{
if (_mr != null)
_mr.Close();
}
#endregion
}
private static void GetFileNameFromHandle(object state)
{
FileNameFromHandleState s = (FileNameFromHandleState)state;
string fileName;
s.RetValue = GetFileNameFromHandle(s.Handle, out fileName);
s.FileName = fileName;
s.Set();
}
private static bool GetFileNameFromHandle(IntPtr handle, out string fileName)
{
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
int length = 0x200; // 512 bytes
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees the assignment of the allocated
// memory address to ptr, if an ansynchronous exception
// occurs.
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
NT_STATUS ret = NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length);
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW)
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the previous allocation is freed,
// and that the newly allocated memory address is
// assigned to ptr if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
ret = NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length);
}
if (ret == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
fileName = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr)((int)ptr + 8), (length - 9) / 2);
return fileName.Length != 0;
}
}
finally
{
// CER guarantees that the allocated memory is freed,
// if an asynchronous exception occurs.
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
fileName = string.Empty;
return false;
}
private static bool GetHandleType(IntPtr handle, int processId, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
string token = GetHandleTypeToken(handle, processId);
return GetHandleTypeFromToken(token, out handleType);
}
private static bool GetHandleType(IntPtr handle, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
string token = GetHandleTypeToken(handle);
return GetHandleTypeFromToken(token, out handleType);
}
private static bool GetHandleTypeFromToken(string token, out SystemHandleType handleType)
{
for (int i = 1; i < handleTypeTokenCount; i++)
{
if (handleTypeTokens[i] == token)
{
handleType = (SystemHandleType)i;
return true;
}
}
handleType = SystemHandleType.OB_TYPE_UNKNOWN;
return false;
}
private static string GetHandleTypeToken(IntPtr handle, int processId)
{
IntPtr currentProcess = NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess();
bool remote = (processId != NativeMethods.GetProcessId(currentProcess));
SafeProcessHandle processHandle = null;
SafeObjectHandle objectHandle = null;
try
{
if (remote)
{
processHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(ProcessAccessRights.PROCESS_DUP_HANDLE, true, processId);
if (NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(processHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), handle, currentProcess, out objectHandle, 0, false, DuplicateHandleOptions.DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS))
{
handle = objectHandle.DangerousGetHandle();
}
}
return GetHandleTypeToken(handle);
}
finally
{
if (remote)
{
if (processHandle != null)
{
processHandle.Close();
}
if (objectHandle != null)
{
objectHandle.Close();
}
}
}
}
private static string GetHandleTypeToken(IntPtr handle)
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try
{
RuntimeHelpers.PrepareConstrainedRegions();
try { }
finally
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
}
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handle, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, ptr, length, out length) == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
{
return Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr)((int)ptr + 0x60));
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
return string.Empty;
}
private static bool ConvertDevicePathToDosPath(string devicePath, out string dosPath)
{
EnsureDeviceMap();
int i = devicePath.Length;
while (i > 0 && (i = devicePath.LastIndexOf('\\', i - 1)) != -1)
{
string drive;
if (deviceMap.TryGetValue(devicePath.Substring(0, i), out drive))
{
dosPath = string.Concat(drive, devicePath.Substring(i));
return dosPath.Length != 0;
}
}
dosPath = string.Empty;
return false;
}
private static void EnsureDeviceMap()
{
if (deviceMap == null)
{
Dictionary<string, string> localDeviceMap = BuildDeviceMap();
Interlocked.CompareExchange<Dictionary<string, string>>(ref deviceMap, localDeviceMap, null);
}
}
private static Dictionary<string, string> BuildDeviceMap()
{
string[] logicalDrives = Environment.GetLogicalDrives();
Dictionary<string, string> localDeviceMap = new Dictionary<string, string>(logicalDrives.Length);
StringBuilder lpTargetPath = new StringBuilder(MAX_PATH);
foreach (string drive in logicalDrives)
{
string lpDeviceName = drive.Substring(0, 2);
NativeMethods.QueryDosDevice(lpDeviceName, lpTargetPath, MAX_PATH);
localDeviceMap.Add(NormalizeDeviceName(lpTargetPath.ToString()), lpDeviceName);
}
localDeviceMap.Add(networkDevicePrefix.Substring(0, networkDevicePrefix.Length - 1), "\\");
return localDeviceMap;
}
private static string NormalizeDeviceName(string deviceName)
{
if (string.Compare(deviceName, 0, networkDevicePrefix, 0, networkDevicePrefix.Length, StringComparison.InvariantCulture) == 0)
{
string shareName = deviceName.Substring(deviceName.IndexOf('\\', networkDevicePrefix.Length) + 1);
return string.Concat(networkDevicePrefix, shareName);
}
return deviceName;
}
#endregion
}
}

Not very straightforward, but on Windows Vista and above you can use the Restart Manager APIs to see who is using a file. Internet Explorer caches settings includes details on using this to detect which process has iexplore.exe open.
Omitting a lot of detail:
// Start an RM session
RmStartSession(&sessionHandle, 0, sessionKey);
// Register the file you are checking
RmRegisterResources(sessionHandle, 1, filePathArray, 0, NULL, 0, NULL);
// Get all processes that have that file open.
RmGetList(sessionHAndle, &nProcInfoNeeded, &nProcInfo, processes, &rebootReason);
RmEndSession(sessionHandle);

Handle, from Windows Sysinternals. This is a free command-line utility provided by Microsoft.
You could run it, and parse the result.

I had issues with stefan's solution. Below is a modified version which seems to work well.
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Management;
using System.IO;
static class Module1
{
static internal ArrayList myProcessArray = new ArrayList();
private static Process myProcess;
public static void Main()
{
string strFile = "c:\\windows\\system32\\msi.dll";
ArrayList a = getFileProcesses(strFile);
foreach (Process p in a)
{
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName);
}
}
private static ArrayList getFileProcesses(string strFile)
{
myProcessArray.Clear();
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcesses();
int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i <= processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1; i++)
{
myProcess = processes[i];
//if (!myProcess.HasExited) //This will cause an "Access is denied" error
if (myProcess.Threads.Count > 0)
{
try
{
ProcessModuleCollection modules = myProcess.Modules;
int j = 0;
for (j = 0; j <= modules.Count - 1; j++)
{
if ((modules[j].FileName.ToLower().CompareTo(strFile.ToLower()) == 0))
{
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess);
break;
// TODO: might not be correct. Was : Exit For
}
}
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
//MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
}
}
}
return myProcessArray;
}
}
UPDATE
If you just want to know which process(es) are locking a particular DLL, you can execute and parse the output of tasklist /m YourDllName.dll. Works on Windows XP and later. See
What does this do? tasklist /m "mscor*"

This works for DLLs locked by other processes. This routine will not find out for example that a text file is locked by a word process.
C#:
using System.Management;
using System.IO;
static class Module1
{
static internal ArrayList myProcessArray = new ArrayList();
private static Process myProcess;
public static void Main()
{
string strFile = "c:\\windows\\system32\\msi.dll";
ArrayList a = getFileProcesses(strFile);
foreach (Process p in a) {
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName);
}
}
private static ArrayList getFileProcesses(string strFile)
{
myProcessArray.Clear();
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcesses;
int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i <= processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1; i++) {
myProcess = processes(i);
if (!myProcess.HasExited) {
try {
ProcessModuleCollection modules = myProcess.Modules;
int j = 0;
for (j = 0; j <= modules.Count - 1; j++) {
if ((modules.Item(j).FileName.ToLower.CompareTo(strFile.ToLower) == 0)) {
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess);
break; // TODO: might not be correct. Was : Exit For
}
}
}
catch (Exception exception) {
}
//MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
}
}
return myProcessArray;
}
}
VB.Net:
Imports System.Management
Imports System.IO
Module Module1
Friend myProcessArray As New ArrayList
Private myProcess As Process
Sub Main()
Dim strFile As String = "c:\windows\system32\msi.dll"
Dim a As ArrayList = getFileProcesses(strFile)
For Each p As Process In a
Debug.Print(p.ProcessName)
Next
End Sub
Private Function getFileProcesses(ByVal strFile As String) As ArrayList
myProcessArray.Clear()
Dim processes As Process() = Process.GetProcesses
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To processes.GetUpperBound(0) - 1
myProcess = processes(i)
If Not myProcess.HasExited Then
Try
Dim modules As ProcessModuleCollection = myProcess.Modules
Dim j As Integer
For j = 0 To modules.Count - 1
If (modules.Item(j).FileName.ToLower.CompareTo(strFile.ToLower) = 0) Then
myProcessArray.Add(myProcess)
Exit For
End If
Next j
Catch exception As Exception
'MsgBox(("Error : " & exception.Message))
End Try
End If
Next i
Return myProcessArray
End Function
End Module

The following was produced based on Iain Ballard's code dump. It is broken: it will occasionally lock up when you retrieve the handle name. This code doesn't contain any work-arounds for that issue, and .NET leaves few options: Thread.Abort can no longer abort a thread that's currently in a native method.
So, with that disclaimer, here is the code to retrieve handles which has been adapted to work (apart from the occasional lock-up) both in 32 and 64 bit modes:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace BrokenHandleRetrieval
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Enumerates open handles.");
Console.WriteLine("This *will* lock up on calling HandleInfo.Name from time to time. Thread.Abort() won't help.");
foreach (var hi in HandleUtil.GetHandles().Where(hi => hi.Type == HandleType.File))
Console.WriteLine("pid: " + hi.ProcessId + ", name: " + hi.Name);
}
}
public enum HandleType
{
Unknown,
Other,
File, Directory, SymbolicLink, Key,
Process, Thread, Job, Session, WindowStation,
Timer, Desktop, Semaphore, Token,
Mutant, Section, Event, KeyedEvent, IoCompletion, IoCompletionReserve,
TpWorkerFactory, AlpcPort, WmiGuid, UserApcReserve,
}
public class HandleInfo
{
public int ProcessId { get; private set; }
public ushort Handle { get; private set; }
public int GrantedAccess { get; private set; }
public byte RawType { get; private set; }
public HandleInfo(int processId, ushort handle, int grantedAccess, byte rawType)
{
ProcessId = processId;
Handle = handle;
GrantedAccess = grantedAccess;
RawType = rawType;
}
private static Dictionary<byte, string> _rawTypeMap = new Dictionary<byte, string>();
private string _name, _typeStr;
private HandleType _type;
public string Name { get { if (_name == null) initTypeAndName(); return _name; } }
public string TypeString { get { if (_typeStr == null) initType(); return _typeStr; } }
public HandleType Type { get { if (_typeStr == null) initType(); return _type; } }
private void initType()
{
if (_rawTypeMap.ContainsKey(RawType))
{
_typeStr = _rawTypeMap[RawType];
_type = HandleTypeFromString(_typeStr);
}
else
initTypeAndName();
}
bool _typeAndNameAttempted = false;
private void initTypeAndName()
{
if (_typeAndNameAttempted)
return;
_typeAndNameAttempted = true;
IntPtr sourceProcessHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
IntPtr handleDuplicate = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
sourceProcessHandle = NativeMethods.OpenProcess(0x40 /* dup_handle */, true, ProcessId);
// To read info about a handle owned by another process we must duplicate it into ours
// For simplicity, current process handles will also get duplicated; remember that process handles cannot be compared for equality
if (!NativeMethods.DuplicateHandle(sourceProcessHandle, (IntPtr) Handle, NativeMethods.GetCurrentProcess(), out handleDuplicate, 0, false, 2 /* same_access */))
return;
// Query the object type
if (_rawTypeMap.ContainsKey(RawType))
_typeStr = _rawTypeMap[RawType];
else
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectTypeInformation, ptr, length, out length) != NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
return;
_typeStr = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + 0x58 + 2 * IntPtr.Size));
_rawTypeMap[RawType] = _typeStr;
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
_type = HandleTypeFromString(_typeStr);
// Query the object name
if (_typeStr != null && GrantedAccess != 0x0012019f && GrantedAccess != 0x00120189 && GrantedAccess != 0x120089) // don't query some objects that could get stuck
{
int length;
NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out length);
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
if (NativeMethods.NtQueryObject(handleDuplicate, OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS.ObjectNameInformation, ptr, length, out length) != NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
return;
_name = Marshal.PtrToStringUni((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + 2 * IntPtr.Size));
}
finally
{
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
}
finally
{
NativeMethods.CloseHandle(sourceProcessHandle);
if (handleDuplicate != IntPtr.Zero)
NativeMethods.CloseHandle(handleDuplicate);
}
}
public static HandleType HandleTypeFromString(string typeStr)
{
switch (typeStr)
{
case null: return HandleType.Unknown;
case "File": return HandleType.File;
case "IoCompletion": return HandleType.IoCompletion;
case "TpWorkerFactory": return HandleType.TpWorkerFactory;
case "ALPC Port": return HandleType.AlpcPort;
case "Event": return HandleType.Event;
case "Section": return HandleType.Section;
case "Directory": return HandleType.Directory;
case "KeyedEvent": return HandleType.KeyedEvent;
case "Process": return HandleType.Process;
case "Key": return HandleType.Key;
case "SymbolicLink": return HandleType.SymbolicLink;
case "Thread": return HandleType.Thread;
case "Mutant": return HandleType.Mutant;
case "WindowStation": return HandleType.WindowStation;
case "Timer": return HandleType.Timer;
case "Semaphore": return HandleType.Semaphore;
case "Desktop": return HandleType.Desktop;
case "Token": return HandleType.Token;
case "Job": return HandleType.Job;
case "Session": return HandleType.Session;
case "IoCompletionReserve": return HandleType.IoCompletionReserve;
case "WmiGuid": return HandleType.WmiGuid;
case "UserApcReserve": return HandleType.UserApcReserve;
default: return HandleType.Other;
}
}
}
public static class HandleUtil
{
public static IEnumerable<HandleInfo> GetHandles()
{
// Attempt to retrieve the handle information
int length = 0x10000;
IntPtr ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
try
{
while (true)
{
ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(length);
int wantedLength;
var result = NativeMethods.NtQuerySystemInformation(SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS.SystemHandleInformation, ptr, length, out wantedLength);
if (result == NT_STATUS.STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH)
{
length = Math.Max(length, wantedLength);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
ptr = IntPtr.Zero;
}
else if (result == NT_STATUS.STATUS_SUCCESS)
break;
else
throw new Exception("Failed to retrieve system handle information.");
}
int handleCount = IntPtr.Size == 4 ? Marshal.ReadInt32(ptr) : (int) Marshal.ReadInt64(ptr);
int offset = IntPtr.Size;
int size = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SystemHandleEntry));
for (int i = 0; i < handleCount; i++)
{
var struc = (SystemHandleEntry) Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr) ((int) ptr + offset), typeof(SystemHandleEntry));
yield return new HandleInfo(struc.OwnerProcessId, struc.Handle, struc.GrantedAccess, struc.ObjectTypeNumber);
offset += size;
}
}
finally
{
if (ptr != IntPtr.Zero)
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(ptr);
}
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct SystemHandleEntry
{
public int OwnerProcessId;
public byte ObjectTypeNumber;
public byte Flags;
public ushort Handle;
public IntPtr Object;
public int GrantedAccess;
}
}
enum NT_STATUS
{
STATUS_SUCCESS = 0x00000000,
STATUS_BUFFER_OVERFLOW = unchecked((int) 0x80000005L),
STATUS_INFO_LENGTH_MISMATCH = unchecked((int) 0xC0000004L)
}
enum SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
SystemBasicInformation = 0,
SystemPerformanceInformation = 2,
SystemTimeOfDayInformation = 3,
SystemProcessInformation = 5,
SystemProcessorPerformanceInformation = 8,
SystemHandleInformation = 16,
SystemInterruptInformation = 23,
SystemExceptionInformation = 33,
SystemRegistryQuotaInformation = 37,
SystemLookasideInformation = 45
}
enum OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS
{
ObjectBasicInformation = 0,
ObjectNameInformation = 1,
ObjectTypeInformation = 2,
ObjectAllTypesInformation = 3,
ObjectHandleInformation = 4
}
static class NativeMethods
{
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQuerySystemInformation(
[In] SYSTEM_INFORMATION_CLASS SystemInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr SystemInformation,
[In] int SystemInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("ntdll.dll")]
internal static extern NT_STATUS NtQueryObject(
[In] IntPtr Handle,
[In] OBJECT_INFORMATION_CLASS ObjectInformationClass,
[In] IntPtr ObjectInformation,
[In] int ObjectInformationLength,
[Out] out int ReturnLength);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
internal static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern IntPtr OpenProcess(
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwProcessId);
[ReliabilityContract(Consistency.WillNotCorruptState, Cer.Success)]
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
internal static extern bool CloseHandle(
[In] IntPtr hObject);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool DuplicateHandle(
[In] IntPtr hSourceProcessHandle,
[In] IntPtr hSourceHandle,
[In] IntPtr hTargetProcessHandle,
[Out] out IntPtr lpTargetHandle,
[In] int dwDesiredAccess,
[In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool bInheritHandle,
[In] int dwOptions);
}
}

This is probably irrelevant and if it is please someone comment but there was a work-around I've used in explorer before to get around file locks.
If a file was locked by a process that had died Windows often wouldn't let you delete it but if you created a new file of the same name somewhere else, moved it to the folder it would succeed. You could then delete the new file and all was well.
To use this for your app you'd have to be able to read the file and hold it in memory before you did this then you write it back out after you'd got rid of the old one.
Maybe it will help, maybe not but it's worth trying.

Try Unlocker. If you try and delete the file that is locked by another process, it will list the process(es) that have the file locked. You can then unlock the file by shutting down those processes.

foreach (var process in Process.GetProcessesByName("excel")) //whatever you need to close
{
if (process.MainWindowTitle.Contains("test.xlsx"))
{
process.Kill();
break;
}
}
or
foreach (var process in Process.GetProcesses())
{
if (process.MainWindowTitle.Contains("test.dat"))
{
process.Kill();
break;
}
}

I believe that you need code running in kernel mode to completely answer the question (but I haven't looked at the restart manager API).
You can enumerate all processes and their modules - so if the file you're looking for is a module (DLL, EXE, OCX...), you're good to go. But if it's a text file for example, you have to look at the kernel handle table which you cannot see from user mode. Handle.exe has a kernel driver in order to do that.

I rewrote the GetProcessesLockingFile() method in the solution. The code was not working.
For example, you have a folder "C:\folder1\folder2" and a process in folder2 (process1). If the process was running, GetProcessesLockingFile() was returning "C:\folder1\folder2". So the condition if (files.Contains(filePath)) => if ("C:\folder1\folder2".contains("C:\folder1\folder2\process1")) was never true.
So this is my solution:
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(FileInfo file)
{
var procs = new List<Process>();
var processListSnapshot = Process.GetProcesses();
foreach (var process in processListSnapshot)
{
if (process.Id <= 4) { continue; } // system processes
List<string> paths = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
foreach (string path in paths)
{
string pathDirectory = path;
if (!pathDirectory.EndsWith(Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH))
{
pathDirectory = pathDirectory + Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH;
}
string lastFolderName = Path.GetFileName(Path.GetDirectoryName(pathDirectory));
if (file.FullName.Contains(lastFolderName))
{
procs.Add(process);
}
}
}
return procs;
}
Or with a string parameter:
public static List<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string filePath)
{
var procs = new List<Process>();
var processListSnapshot = Process.GetProcesses();
foreach (var process in processListSnapshot)
{
if (process.Id <= 4) { continue; } // system processes
List<string> paths = GetFilesLockedBy(process);
foreach (string path in paths)
{
string pathDirectory = path;
if (!pathDirectory.EndsWith(Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH))
{
pathDirectory = pathDirectory + Constants.DOUBLE_BACKSLASH;
}
string lastFolderName = Path.GetFileName(Path.GetDirectoryName(pathDirectory));
if (filePath.Contains(lastFolderName))
{
procs.Add(process);
}
}
}
return procs;
}

You absolutely don't need to run in Kernel mode (!!!)
It's a Win32 FAQ since Windows 95 (!) (in C, Google groups, Win32) : read the handle table, from User mode of course, and get the PID from the File handle ...

Using dotnet core (net6) I solved this problem by using the win32 restart manager (as others have also mentioned). However some of the linked articles have elaborate code importing DLLs and calling those.
After finding an app to kill processes that lock a file written by meziantou. I found out that he publishes .Net wrappers for win32 dlls (including the restart manager).
Leveraging his work, I was able to fix this problem with the following code:
using Meziantou.Framework.Win32;
public static IEnumerable<Process> GetProcessesLockingFile(string filePath)
{
using var session = RestartManager.CreateSession();
session.RegisterFile(filePath);
return session.GetProcessesLockingResources();
}

simpler with linq:
public void KillProcessesAssociatedToFile(string file)
{
GetProcessesAssociatedToFile(file).ForEach(x =>
{
x.Kill();
x.WaitForExit(10000);
});
}
public List<Process> GetProcessesAssociatedToFile(string file)
{
return Process.GetProcesses()
.Where(x => !x.HasExited
&& x.Modules.Cast<ProcessModule>().ToList()
.Exists(y => y.FileName.ToLowerInvariant() == file.ToLowerInvariant())
).ToList();
}