How to copy a locked file

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i created a simple script in VB.NET which copies a file to a certain destination. But unfortunately my backup fails whenever the file is currently open by other user.

their OS is Windows XP
and i created my application using Visual Studio 2008.

Please please help...
thanks

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Posted 20-Sep-16 21:34pm

ProgrammingEnthusiast

Updated 20-Sep-16 21:48pm

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2016-09-20T21:48:00

If a file is locked, you can't access it under normal conditions.
It's possible that you can: Jim Scott's Coding Blog | How do I open a file that is in use in C#?[^] but I suspect it's going to depend on what mode the original file was opened for - if it's exclusive locked for writing then it may fail.
The alternative is heavy duty: Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)
This may help: GitHub - alphaleonis/AlphaVSS: AlphaVSS is a .NET class library released under the MIT license providing a managed API for the Volume Shadow Copy Service also known as VSS.[^] but don't expect it to be simple.