File Access Issues: Btrieve 46, Basic 57, "file in use," etc.

Associated errors:

• Btrieve 46 Error - Access to the Requested File is Denied

• Basic 57: The process cannot access the file '…' because it is being used by another process.

• File in use

• Access is denied

There are 2 major causes of this error:

1. Permissions/rights/file attributes

2. The file is being held open by another program

Related Documents discuss the permissions/rights/file attributes that can trigger this error.  This KB article examines the second major cause of this issue where a file may be in use by another application.  Commonly seen instances of this type of conflict are as follows:

• Held open by backup software.  This is generally the most common cause of this error.  Check to see if the backup is running while users are attempting to use the application.  We recommend that the backup be run when no users, report streams or other processes would attempt to access the data.

• Held open by anti-virus software.  Ensure that the Apps\AGRIS\Datasets folder is excluded from the real-time virus scanner at the database server.  If possible, configure the client units to not scan network locations.

• Held open by another Pervasive engine.  Verify that all of the machines which access data from the database server have the Pervasive Client engine installed, not the Pervasive Workgroup engine.  The workgroup engine (typically installed on most oneWeigh, Fuel Connect, and RetailWise units) may hold the file open itself and not allow the server engine on the database server to access it.   To check what type of install of Pervasive is present on a computer, click Start > (Settings) > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and look for an entry that starts with the word Pervasive and see if it indicates Server, Client, or Workgroup.  There could be several lines that reference Pervasive, but only one will reference Server, Client, or Workgroup.

• Held open by Windows Explorer. AttachToo can encounter problems uploading files due to a preview option available in the browse window. The preview pane can be disabled via registry or group policy as follows:

  • Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    • Value Type: REG_DWORD
      Value Name: NoPreviewPane
      Value: 1

    • Value Type: REG_DWORD
      Value Name: NoReadingPane
      Value: 1

  • Group Policy: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer > Explorer Frame Pane

    • "Turn off Preview Pane" to "Enabled"

    • "Turn on or off details pane" to "Enabled" and "Configure details pane" to "Always hide"

• Held open by some other process that may be running on a server.   One thing to check might be to look at open files from the Computer Management window on the database server.  From the console of the database server, right-click My Computer and then click Management.  In the new window, double-click System Tools > Shared Folders > Open Files.  The file in question may be found here and may help shed light on what the issue actually is. Additionally, the locked file could be closed by right-clicking the file in question and selecting Close Open File.

Comments

• In one of the more difficult to diagnose versions of this issue, the culprit wound up being an online backup process, Carbonite, that was running on a client machine. Carbonite was configured to backup all files on the computer including mapped network drives and we found that AGRIS was included in one of the mapped drives. From the server, when using process explorer, we could only tell that SYSTEM was the process holding the file open, but could not tell why and that is because the operation locking the file was initiated from the client machine.