> I opened one instance of FoxPro 5.0 and issued OPEN DATABASE {name} > > I then issued the command USE {name}.DBC, and got the "File is in use" > error. > > I then opened a second instance and issued USE {name}.DBC, followed by > BROWSE, and everything worked. > If it let another instance open it, it means it's not open exclusively, so you should try sele 0 USE {name}.DBC again alias anything_else_just_not_the_same_name Works for me, even while the .dbc is still open in the database designer window.