What does Windows error code 16 (ERROR_CURRENT_DIRECTORY) mean?

 
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ERROR_INVALID_DRIVE ERROR_NOT_SAME_DEVICE

ERROR_CURRENT_DIRECTORY

The target directory is currently in use as a working directory

ERROR_CURRENT_DIRECTORY is returned when an operation conflicts with the active current directory. A process cannot remove or invalidate a directory while it still depends on that location as its working directory.

Resolution steps

  • Change the current directory to a stable existing location before removal.
  • Check child processes launched with the target as their working directory.
  • Avoid global current-directory changes in multithreaded applications.
  • Use absolute paths so cleanup does not depend on process-wide state.

Handling

Move away from the directory, release users of it, and retry once. Continuous retry without changing state is ineffective.

References


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