The action cannot be completed because the file is open in w3wp.exe

Are you unable to delete the files because w3wp.exe prevents you from deleting the files from the Windows server?

The solution is “Restart your application pool from the IIS Server.”

Steps:

1. Go to IIS.
2. Select your site and find the application pool name.
3. Go to the application pool.
4. Select your site’s application pool and restart.

It will release the locks on our site files and allow us to delete the files now.