ArcMap fails to delete a “feature class” in file gdb (Access Denied GDB_System Catalog),

[JamalNUMAN]

ArcMap fails to delete a “feature class” in file gdb (Access Denied GDB_System Catalog),

I couldn’t figure out why the ArcMap fails to delete a “feature class” (Access denied GDB_System Catalog) knowing that this feature class is not published in ArcGIS Server.

[JonathanQuinn]

You can try to take a look at the .gbd contents in Windows Explorer and see if there's a .lock associated with a PID on the machine:

The highlighted value is the process creating the lock, for example ArcMap.

[JamalNUMAN]

Thanks JQuinn.

I can’t find that number in the PID field as shown in the screenshot below. What could be the issue here?

[JonathanQuinn]

Hard to say, looks like that PID is 6620, but your screenshot is sorted descending starting at 34620.  You don't see anything if you scroll down to 6620?

[JamalNUMAN]

Scrolling down doesn’t show that specific number.

[JonathanQuinn]

Is that a shared path?  If so, you can try to open the command prompt as an admin and run openfiles /query to see if anyone is accessing the share.

[ModyBuchbinder]

The first element in the lock is the machine name.

Is HPZBOOKG3 the machine you are working on?

If not you should look for process 6620 on HPZBOOKG3 machine.

[JamalNUMAN]

Correct. hpzbookg3 is my local machine. Nevertheless, the 6620 is not there!

[JoshuaBixby]

It appears to be an orphaned lock.  Orphaned by what process I can't say, but there are a string of postgres.exe and GeoCortex process in that range, so maybe there was another process from one of them that crashed.

Try running Compress—Help | ArcGIS Desktop  Compact—Help | ArcGIS Desktop   to see if it clears the lock.

UPDATE:  Knucklehead move, linked to Compress instead of Compact documentation.

[ChrisDonohue__GISP]

The Compact (Data Management) geoprocessing tool also can be handy to employ as one of the side effects of its processing is that it releases locks.

To keep track of locked datasets, ArcGIS places *.lock files in the file geodatabase folder. When a process terminates, the .lock files associated with it are automatically deleted. In some cases, however, such as when a process ends prematurely, .lock files may be left behind in the geodatabase folder. These .lock files are eventually removed by ArcGIS in future sessions as new locks are taken. They are also removed whenever you run the geoprocessing Compact tool or copy and paste the data in the Catalog tree.

File geodatabases and locking—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

Note that the similar-sounding tool in ArcCatalog (Administration, Compact Database) does not have the same lock-releasing capability.

Chris Donohue, GISP