Unlocking a File or Folder

The main goal of UnLock IT is to provide you with an easy-to-use tool for unlocking files and folders that are in use by the processes you are not aware of and for unlocking files and folders that you have lost access to due to incorrect permissions configuration. In this chapter we will show the possible ways of unlocking file system resources.

To unlock a file, you should either choose the Unlock File item from the Unlock button drop-down or simply press the Unlock button. The Unlock button is located in the Unlocker Ribbon group on the Home page. The dialog will appear to let you choose the file to unlock. The same approach can be used for unlocking a folder – just choose the Unlock Folder item from the drop-down. In any case, you will reach the Unlock dialog to provide a set of resources to unlock and confirm the operation.

For the resource to be successfully unlocked, all the system resources that are locking it should be closed and the sufficiency of your access to the resource should be assured. Sometimes it is also required to close the processes that hold these resources thus locking the file system item. If not only the system resources should be closed but also a locking process itself should be terminated the confirmation message will appear on the screen, asking if you would like UnLock IT to terminate the locking process. Press Yes to let UnLock IT terminate it or No to close the process manually. See the Advanced Unlock Options section of this document for the detailed information on manual processing of the locked resource.

The results of the unlock operation as soon as it completes become available in the Log view.