Compress-Archive error: PermissionDenied

Question

I'm trying to compress a folder using Powershell v5.1, but some files are used by another process and PS can't force or ignore them.

Get-ChildItem "C:\folder" | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath "C:\file.zip"

Also tested with -Force and -ErrorAction Ignore,Continue,SilentlyContinue, but every time I get an error like this:

ZipArchiveHelper : The process cannot access the file 'C:\folder\filexyz' be cause it is being used by another process.
At C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive\Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive.psm1:69
6 char:30
+ ... sArchived = ZipArchiveHelper $subDirFiles.ToArray() $destinationPath  ...
+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (C:\folder\filexyz:String) [Write-Error], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CompressArchiveUnauthorizedAccessError,ZipArchiveHelper

New-Object : Exception calling ".ctor" with "1" argument(s): "Stream was not readable."
At C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive\Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive.psm1:80
7 char:38
+ ...     $srcStream = New-Object System.IO.BinaryReader $currentFileStream
+                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-Object], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConstructorInvokedThrowException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand

Answer 1

The exception: Exception calling ".ctor" with "1" argument(s): "Stream was not readable." occurs when using multiple files with Compress-Archive and one or more are open.

You can check if the files are not locked before piping them to Compress-Archive.

$items = Get-ChildItem -Path $path
[System.Collections.ArrayList]$itemsToCompress = @()
[System.Collections.ArrayList]$itemsToNotCompress = @()

foreach ($item in $items){
    Try {
        # Checking File Mode and Access
        $FileStream = [System.IO.File]::Open($item.FullName,'Open','Read')
        if ($null -ne $FileStream){
            $FileStream.Close()
            $FileStream.Dispose()
            $itemsToCompress += $item
        }
    }
    Catch {
        $itemsToNotCompress += $item
    }
}

$itemsToCompress | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath $archivefile -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue