container doesn't dismount without prompt
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Running with version 1.25.7 and have noticed of late that the file container won't dismount without a prompt of "Volume contains files or folders being used by applications or system".
In the past, I know that if you have a file from the container open, this prompt would be shown but there is nothing open from the container nor any folder showing the contents of the container. Lately, it has always been giving this prompt before closing. If you say "Yes", it closes fine.
Am I missing something simple or should I file a ticket over this?
There seems to be some process still accessing the volume. Try to close any file explorer windows before dismounting. Lately, Windows' file explorer seems to hold file handles to mounted volumes even though the user is not actively navigating the volume's contents.
Greets
Last edit: RealTehreal 2022-01-21
I had the same message.
I closed all folders and files, but still I couldn't unmount the volume! I had to force the unmounting.
Thus I have some questions:
1) Forcing the unmounting. Is it safe? Can it destroy or damage or delete files or folders on the volume?
2) What kind of process is windows doing on the volume? Is it possible, that the file on the volume was copied and stored on the computer in some kind of temporary folder? How can I check the process that windows is doing on the volume?
3) Why does this message "Volume contains files or folders being used by applications or system" appear? What can I do to prevent it from happening again?
Sorry for my bad english, but I think you understend what my questions are :)
I typically have no qualms in forcing a dismount when I know that all legitimate locking processes have been terminated, but I certainly understand your concern over the unknown. This thread reminded me to track down an old program I used years ago in similar circumstances, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it has been updated as recently as this year. The program is called LockHunter, and it puts an entry on the context menu of Explorer (What's locking this file/folder?), and invoking it gives not only locking information but action items as well. And it's available at the low, low price of FREE, so give it a try and see if it helps...
https://lockhunter.com/
I've experienced this issue many times in Windows XP, 7, 10, and 11. Most of the time, the processes using the files can be traced to one of the following culprit processes:
1. Windows indexing service
2. Anti-virus software
3. Windows explorer
To deal with these three processes, you can try:
1. Turn off Windows indexing on any mounted volume, and try to mount the volume to the same drive letter each time.
2. Temporarily turn off real-time anti-virus scanning, or exclude the container drive letter altogether.
3. This one is annoying, and hard to track down. Sometimes Windows Explorer holds on to files even after you've closed all instances of File Explorer that appear on your taskbar or in the Apps list of your Processes in Task Manager. In such cases, you can try restarting the last remaining Windows Explorer that shows up only as a Background Process in Task Manager. This Windows Explorer is required for Windows to run and it is the one that displays your desktop and taskbar. You want to explicitly restart it, rather than just stopping it (though it will usually restart on its own if you just stop it). Restarting it sometimes clears out whatever stray locks on VeraCrypt container files it may have left behind for whatever reason. Your desktop will flash and then reload when you restart this background process Windows Explorer.
I used to force dismount regularly, and I think this can be harmless in many cases. But it is certainly possible that forcing dismount may lead to gradual disk corruption depending on which processes are actually using the files when you force dismount. And I've had a few disks become corrupted. So now I use the methods above. And if those don't work, then I shut down the computer entirely and restart and then remount the drives from a fresh reboot.