OPENFILES.exe – Windows CMD Command

Query or display open files, disconnect files opened by network users.

Syntax
      Openfiles.exe /query [/s Computer [/u Domain\User [/p Password]]]
        [/fo {TABLE|LIST|CSV}] [/nh] [/v]

      Openfiles.exe /disconnect [/s Computer  [/u Domain\User [/p Password]]]
         {[/id OpenFileID]|[/a UserName]|[/o OpenMode]} [/se SessionName] [/op OpenFileName]

Key
   /s     The name or IP address of a remote computer. (Do not use backslashes.) default=local computer.

   /u     Run the command with the account permissions of user. Default=current logged on user.

   /p     The password of the user account specified with /u.

   /fo    The format to use for the query output. Valid values are TABLE, LIST, and CSV. Default=TABLE.

   /nh    No column headers in the output. Valid only when /fo = TABLE or CSV.

   /id    Disconnect the file opened with the specified numeric OpenFileID on computer
          Use openfiles.exe /query to learn the file ID.
          The wildcard (*) can be used to disconnect all open files on computer.

   /a     Disconnect all open files that were accessed by user on computer.
          The wildcard (*) can be used to disconnect all open files on computer.

   /o     Disconnect all open files with the specified OpenMode on the computer specified by the /s parameter.
          The OpenMode parameter includes the Read/Write and Read modes.
          The wildcard (*) can be used to disconnect all open files on computer.

   /se    Disconnect all open files that were created by the specified session on computer.
          Wildcards (*) can be used. (the /se option is not available under Windows 7)

   /op    Disconnect the open file that was created with the specified OpenFileName on computer 
          The wildcard (*) can be used to disconnect all open files on computer.

   /v     Display verbose information in the output.

   /?     Help.

Administrator privileges are required to run the OPENFILES command. We can use this fact to detect if the current user is an Admin ( OPEN FILES >nul 2>nul will set %ERRORLEVEL% = 1 if the user is not an administrator.) However this will fail when running under WOWf4t e.g. running a 32-bit installer on a 64-bit system, so an alternative is to use NET SESSION.

Running openfiles.exe from within powershell allows the output to be easily assigned to a variable.

Examples

From the CMD shell:

C:\> openfiles /query /fo list /v
C:\> openfiles /query /s Serverf4t /u F4TDom\FileAdmin /p password1

C:\> openfiles /disconnect /o read/write
C:\> openfiles /disconnect /op "c:\work\finance.xls"
C:\> openfiles /disconnect /s Serverf4t /u F4TDom\FileAdmin /id 5
C:\> openfiles /disconnect /s Serverf4t /u F4TDom\FileAdmin /p password1 /id *

From PowerShell:

PS C:\> openfiles /query
PS C:\> openfiles /query /fo table /nh
PS C:\> $file_list = openfiles /query /s Serverf4t /fo CSV /v /nh
PS C:\> openfiles /query /s Serverf4t /fo CSV /v | ConvertFrom-Csv | Out-GridView

PS C:\> openfiles /disconnect /id 1
PS C:\> openfiles /disconnect /a mike