Unlock file after program executing

Question

When i started my c# program i can not delete executing file.

How can i just unlock my assembly after executing and give to user possibility to delete my file? Maybe copy assembly to other place and then execute it? But i think it's not better way.

Answer 1

I think you'll have to copy your assembly to a temporary location and relaunch it. Something like this (haven't tested it):

public class Program {
    static void Main() {
        if (Array.IndexOf(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs(), "/unlocked") == -1) {
            // We have not been launched by ourself! Copy the assembly to a temp location
            // so the user can delete our original location.
            string temp_location = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), Path.GetFileName(Application.ExecutablePath));
            File.Copy(Application.ExecutablePath, temp_location);

            Process proc = new Process();
            proc.StartInfo.FileName = temp_location;
            proc.StartInfo.Arguments = "/unlocked";
            proc.Start();

            // no more work in main, so application closes...
        } else {
            // else initialize application as normal...

        }
    }
}

Answer 2

You cannot delete your file because the file itself is the backing store for the virtual memory pages that hold (in memory) the program code.

When a page of your code is paged out from memory by the OS, it does not go to the pagefile, but it is simply discarded and (when needed) loaded back from the file.

I suppose you could force the program to be pagefile backed (iirc, programs executed from a removable media like a cdrom are pagefile backed), but probably the best solution is just to copy the assembly to another location, as you suggested.