terraform statefile is locked how do I unlock it

Question

I am trying to use basic terraform commands like plan, but cannot because the terraform state is locked (see below.)

I know I am the only person or process interacting with this terraform instance, and see my name in the Who line of the lock below. I think this probably happened when I pressed Ctrl-C on a terraform prompt.

How do I unlock it?

$ terraform plan
╷   
│ Error: Error acquiring the state lock
│   
│ Error message: ConditionalCheckFailedException: The conditional request failed
│ Lock Info:
│   ID:        xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
│   Path:      xxx 
│   Operation: OperationTypePlan
│   Who:       xxx 
│   Version:   1.3.4
│   Created:   2022-11-15 19:51:21.368168706 +0000 UTC 
│   Info:           
│   
│   
│ Terraform acquires a state lock to protect the state from being written
│ by multiple users at the same time. Please resolve the issue above and try 
│ again. For most commands, you can disable locking with the "-lock=false"
│ flag, but this is not recommended.
╵

Can you edit your question to share the full error please? – ydaetskcoR Jan 06 '21 at 12:51 — ydaetskcoR, Jan 06 '21 at 12:51

score 57 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '21 at 15:55

57

You can manually unlock the state using the force-unlock command :

terraform force-unlock LOCK_ID

The lock ID is generally shown in the error message.

It may not work if your state is local and locked by a local process. If it is the case, try killing that process and retry.

answered Jan 06 '21 at 15:55

Jean-Philippe Bond

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Can you please explain the way to kill the process ?? And when error is occurred, as you said we are not getting the lock Id So, what is the solution in that case?? – Amit Sharma Jan 07 '21 at 03:34
Is your state local? – Jean-Philippe Bond Jan 07 '21 at 12:59
YES, My state is local – Amit Sharma Jan 08 '21 at 06:36
Is there any solution for that ? – Amit Sharma Jan 08 '21 at 07:15
@AmitSharma just try kill process or terminate the shell as Local state files cannot be unlocked by another process. – star Aug 24 '21 at 03:50
If it is local process, you will need to kill the process (from task manager in case of windows)and delete the state file from your local folder terraform.tfstate. This will help to remove the lock – Rajeswari Mar 24 '22 at 12:33
How to programmatically retrieve the LOCK_ID? – Sam Lee Aug 12 '23 at 01:14
@SamLee If the state is Lock, you should see the lock id in the terraform cmd output when you execute a command that affect the plan. – Jean-Philippe Bond Aug 12 '23 at 20:32

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 19 '23 at 05:39

5

To unlock the state without having to type confirmation:

terraform force-unlock -force LOCK_ID

edited Feb 19 '23 at 05:39

Suraj Rao

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answered Feb 19 '23 at 05:37

AlexRak

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terraform statefile is locked how do I unlock it

2 Answers2