netsh error: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process

Question

It is a server running Windows Server 2016 Essentials. Intuit, in all their infinite wisdom, wanted me to run this command on our file server:

netsh int ipv4 add excludedportrange protocol=udp startport=55368 numberofports=5

The error message I get back is:

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

So does anyone know what file are we talking about and what process might have it opened?

Answer 1

That error happens if you have already excluded those ports. Confusing error message I know.

Check what you have already using netsh int ipv4 show excludedportrange protocol=udp

Answer 2

in addition to what Dan has already said, you should also make sure that no app is using that port or else you will get this error.

Answer 3

I was having the same trouble (with the goal of clearing a conflict between DNS and QuickBooks). In the end what seems to have worked was, instead of setting an exclusion range, to set the range to a completely different range.

I used the following commands and, at least so far, it seems to be working.

netsh int ipv4 set dynamicport tcp start=10000 num=1000
netsh int ipv4 set dynamicport udp start=10000 num=1000

Answer 4

That command appears to be trying to add exclusions to the dynamic port range for Windows and apps.

Did you try running it as Administrator? (You can type CMD into the Windows search on the Task Bar, and then right-click on the CMD icon and hit "Run as Administrator.")

I would recommend simply disabling the Windows Firewall and testing it to see if that solves the issue --- then build back up your security and port exclusions from there.