Cannot open output file, permission denied

Question

So I keep getting this error when trying to compile C++ code using CodeBlocks.

cannot open output file [filename.exe] permission denied

It only started today, and it's sporadic and inconsistent. It usually goes away if I shut CodeBlocks down and restart the project, but not always. Sometimes it even goes away when I just press F9 (build & run) several times. I always check Task Manager, but there are never any .EXEs running with my file's name, or anything related to it.

I've also noticed that if this problem occurs and I then try to delete the .EXE manually or otherwise interact with it, Windows tells me I need administrator permission to do so (this is a private PC, and as far as I know I am an administrator on it).

The first time it occurred, the only thing I had added to the code beyond what was in the previous version was a debugging report sent to cout - hardly anything arcane. It sometimes occurs even when no code was changed from a previous version.

What could this be? It's not game-breaking, yet, but it's irritating and I'd rather it didn't get worse.

EDIT: This is old by now, but just in case anyone else is having similar problems, the workaround I currently use is just to consistently delete [filename.exe] before trying to run the code again. This avoids the problem, though it is annoying.

Answer 1

check that "filename.exe" is not running, I guess you are using Microsoft Windows, in that case you can use either Task Manager or Process Explorer : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653 to kill "filename.exe" before trying to generate it.