Locked File Retry Time Parameter

SA-FileUp is frequently used to upload content to a virtual directory of a web site. Once the content has been requested via HTTP, IIS or some other process may lock the file containing the content. For example, a user uploads a GIF file, and then immediately views the uploaded GIF in her browser. The user then tries to immediately upload a replacement GIF file. With versions 4 and later of IIS, this upload will fail. These versions lock static content files (e.g., GIF, HTML) for as long as 30 seconds after they are requested by HTTP. Additionally, versions 4 and later of IIS will continue locking the content file for as long as there are outstanding requests to that file. A heavily requested file may stay locked for minutes or hours at a time.

Other processes on a web server, such as content indexing, backup utilities, or virus scanners, may also lock the files. SA-FileUp will retry overwriting the locked file once per second for up to 45 seconds.

Via the Registry, it is possible to set the default number of seconds that SA-FileUp will re-attempt overwriting the locked file.

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Software Artisans\SA-FileUp\Parameters, LockedFileRetryTime sets the maximum of number of seconds to retry overwriting a locked file before failing.

References: Microsoft Knowledge Base articles Q191742 and Q182626.