How do I prevent this System.IO.IOException when copying a file?

Question

When I run the following code to test copying a directory, I get a System.IO.IOException when fileInfo.CopyTo method is being called. The error message is: "The process cannot access the file 'C:\CopyDirectoryTest1\temp.txt' because it is being used by another process."

It seems like there's a lock on file1 ("C:\CopyDirectoryTest1\temp.txt") which is created a few lines above where the error is occurring, but I don't know how to release this if so. Any ideas?

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace TempConsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string folder1 = @"C:\CopyDirectoryTest1";
            string folder2 = @"C:\CopyDirectoryTest2";
            string file1 = Path.Combine(folder1, "temp.txt");

            if (Directory.Exists(folder1))
                Directory.Delete(folder1, true);
            if (Directory.Exists(folder2))
                Directory.Delete(folder2, true);

            Directory.CreateDirectory(folder1);
            Directory.CreateDirectory(folder2);
            File.Create(file1);

            DirectoryInfo folder1Info = new DirectoryInfo(folder1);
            DirectoryInfo folder2Info = new DirectoryInfo(folder2);

            foreach (FileInfo fileInfo in folder1Info.GetFiles())
            {
                string fileName = fileInfo.Name;
                string targetFilePath = Path.Combine(folder2Info.FullName, fileName);
                fileInfo.CopyTo(targetFilePath, true);
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

File.Create returns an open FileStream - you need to close that stream.

Just

using (File.Create(file1)) {}

should do the trick.

Answer 2

I'm having the same problem with this code.

DirectoryInfo BackupFilesSubFolderPATH = null; DirectoryInfo SourceFolder = new DirectoryInfo(Source); FileInfo[] SourceFiles = SourceFolder.GetFiles(); TotFiles = SourceFiles.Length;

            if (FFFromBackup == false && FFFromRestore == true)
                MSGBackuporRestore = "Restoring ";
            else                
                MSGBackuporRestore = "Backing up ";

            if (SourceFolder.Name != IDFF)
            {
                Destination = Destination + "\\" + SourceFolder.Name;
                BackupFilesSubFolderPATH = new DirectoryInfo(Destination);
            }

            if (Directory.Exists(Destination) == false)
                System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(BackupFilesSubFolderPATH.FullName);

            foreach (FileInfo SFile in SourceFiles)
            {
                DirectoryInfo FilePATH = new DirectoryInfo(BackupFilesSubFolderPATH + "\\" + SFile.Name);
                FileCount++;
                PercenComp = Convert.ToInt32((FileCount / TotFiles) * 100);
                lblProgress.Text = MSGBackuporRestore + SourceFolder.Name + " " + PercenComp.ToString() + "% Completed.";
                lblProgress.Refresh();
                pgbProgress.Value = PercenComp;
                if (File.Exists(FilePATH.FullName).Equals(false))
                    SFile.CopyTo(FilePATH.FullName, false);
            }
            DirectoryInfo[] SourceSubFolders = SourceFolder.GetDirectories();
            foreach (DirectoryInfo SubFolder in SourceSubFolders)
                BackupSubFolders(SubFolder.FullName, Destination);

and thats the error message: system.IO.IOException: The directory or file cannot be created. at System.IO._Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode,String maybeFullPath) at System.IO.File.InternalCopy(String sourceFileName, Boolean overwrite) at System.IO.FileInfo.CopyTo(String destFileName, Boolean overwrite)

Any suggestions? Thanx.