diff --git a/Server/Controllers/DownloadController.cs b/Server/Controllers/DownloadController.cs
index c173f70ee..c0f7a2655 100644
--- a/Server/Controllers/DownloadController.cs
+++ b/Server/Controllers/DownloadController.cs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public IActionResult Download()
         if (System.IO.File.Exists(file) == false)
             return NotFound();
 
-        return new FileStreamResult(System.IO.File.OpenRead(file), "application/octet-stream")
+        return new FileStreamResult(FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(file), "application/octet-stream")
         {
             FileDownloadName = zipName
         };
diff --git a/Server/Controllers/PluginController.cs b/Server/Controllers/PluginController.cs
index 749e70066..83715094a 100644
--- a/Server/Controllers/PluginController.cs
+++ b/Server/Controllers/PluginController.cs
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ public FileStreamResult DownloadPackage([FromRoute] string package)
 
         try
         {
-            return File(System.IO.File.OpenRead(file), "application/octet-stream");
+            return File(FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(file), "application/octet-stream");
         }
         catch(Exception ex)
         {
diff --git a/Server/Helpers/Gzipper.cs b/Server/Helpers/Gzipper.cs
index 6d1aa54a7..8605d1a59 100644
--- a/Server/Helpers/Gzipper.cs
+++ b/Server/Helpers/Gzipper.cs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ public static bool CompressFile(string inputFile, string outputFile, bool delete
             if (File.Exists(outputFile))
                 File.Delete(outputFile);
 
-            using (FileStream originalFileStream = File.Open(inputFile, FileMode.Open))
+            using (FileStream originalFileStream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(inputFile))
             {
                 using FileStream compressedFileStream = File.Create(outputFile);
                 using var compressor = new GZipStream(compressedFileStream, CompressionMode.Compress);
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public static bool DecompressFile(string inputFile, string outputFile, bool dele
             if (File.Exists(outputFile))
                 File.Delete(outputFile);
             
-            using FileStream compressedFileStream = File.Open(inputFile, FileMode.Open);
+            using FileStream compressedFileStream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(inputFile);
             using FileStream outputFileStream = File.Create(outputFile);
             using var decompressor = new GZipStream(compressedFileStream, CompressionMode.Decompress);
             decompressor.CopyTo(outputFileStream);
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public static void CompressToFile(string file, string contents)
     /// <returns>the decompresses file contents</returns>
     public static string DecompressFileToString(string inputFile, int lines = 0, int bytes = 0)
     {
-        using FileStream compressedFileStream = File.Open(inputFile, FileMode.Open);
+        using FileStream compressedFileStream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(inputFile);
         using MemoryStream outputStream = new MemoryStream();
         using var decompressor = new GZipStream(compressedFileStream, CompressionMode.Decompress);
         
diff --git a/Server/Server.csproj b/Server/Server.csproj
index a85aa98a5..c04cb1598 100644
Binary files a/Server/Server.csproj and b/Server/Server.csproj differ
diff --git a/Server/Workers/WatchedLibrary.cs b/Server/Workers/WatchedLibrary.cs
index f3fb60ab5..16193a55f 100644
--- a/Server/Workers/WatchedLibrary.cs
+++ b/Server/Workers/WatchedLibrary.cs
@@ -791,7 +791,7 @@ private async Task<bool> CanAccess(FileInfo file, int fileSizeDetectionInterval)
 
             checkedAccess = true;
 
-            using (var fs = File.Open(file.FullName, FileMode.Open))
+            using (var fs = FileOpenHelper.OpenForCheckingReadWriteAccess(file.FullName))
             {
                 if(fs.CanRead == false)
                 {
@@ -924,4 +924,4 @@ private bool QueueContains(string item)
             return QueuedFiles.Contains(item);
         }
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileDownloader.cs b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileDownloader.cs
index 1792e3714..fee18e99c 100644
--- a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileDownloader.cs
+++ b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileDownloader.cs
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ public async Task<Result<bool>> DownloadFile(string path, string destinationPath
                 logger?.ILog("Content-Length header is not present in the response.");
             }
 
-            using FileStream fileStream = File.OpenWrite(destinationPath);
+            using FileStream fileStream = FileOpenHelper.OpenWrite_NoReadLock(destinationPath, FileMode.Create);
             
             int bufferSize;
             
diff --git a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileHasher.cs b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileHasher.cs
index e05a6598b..7be3e5852 100644
--- a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileHasher.cs
+++ b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileHasher.cs
@@ -19,21 +19,21 @@ public static async Task<string> Hash(string filePath)
             var fileInfo = new FileInfo(filePath);
             if (!fileInfo.Exists)
                 return string.Empty;
-            
-            using(var stream = new BufferedStream(File.OpenRead(filePath), 1200000))
+
+            using (var stream = new BufferedStream(FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(filePath), 1200000))
             {
                 // The rest remains the same
                 var sha = SHA256.Create();
                 byte[] checksum = await sha.ComputeHashAsync(stream);
                 return BitConverter.ToString(checksum).Replace("-", string.Empty);
             }
-            
+
             using var hasher = SHA256.Create();
             byte[]? hash;
 
             if (fileInfo.Length > 100_000_000)
             {
-                using var stream = File.OpenRead(filePath);
+                using var stream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(filePath);
                 const int chunkSize = 100_000_000; // 100MB chunks
                 var buffer = new byte[chunkSize];
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public static async Task<string> Hash(string filePath)
             }
             else
             {
-                await using var stream = File.OpenRead(filePath);
+                await using var stream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(filePath);
                 hash = await hasher.ComputeHashAsync(stream);
             }
 
diff --git a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileUploader.cs b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileUploader.cs
index e1317cba6..a66f6498a 100644
--- a/ServerShared/FileServices/FileUploader.cs
+++ b/ServerShared/FileServices/FileUploader.cs
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ public async Task<(bool Success, string Error)> UploadFile(string filePath, stri
             url += "?path=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(serverPath);
             logger.ILog("Uploading file to URL: " + url);
 
-            await using var fileStream = File.OpenRead(filePath);
+            await using var fileStream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(filePath);
             var content = new StreamContent(fileStream);
             HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, url);
             request.Headers.Add("x-executor", executorUid.ToString());
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ public async Task<(bool Success, string Error)> UploadFile(string filePath, stri
     /// <returns>The computed SHA256 hash of the file as a byte array.</returns>
     private static async Task<byte[]> CalculateFileHash(string filePath)
     {
-        await using var stream = File.OpenRead(filePath);
+        await using var stream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(filePath);
         return await SHA256.Create().ComputeHashAsync(stream);
     }
 
diff --git a/ServerShared/Helpers/FileHelper.cs b/ServerShared/Helpers/FileHelper.cs
index f42242b25..d5ea79c4d 100644
--- a/ServerShared/Helpers/FileHelper.cs
+++ b/ServerShared/Helpers/FileHelper.cs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ namespace FileFlows.ServerShared.Helpers;
 /// </summary>
 public class FileHelper
 {
-
     /// <summary>
     /// Removes illegal file/path characters from a string
     /// </summary>
@@ -46,7 +45,7 @@ public static string CalculateFingerprint(string file)
             }
             else
             {
-                using var stream = File.OpenRead(file);
+                using var stream = FileOpenHelper.OpenRead_NoLocks(file);
                 hash = hasher.ComputeHash(stream);
             }
 
diff --git a/Shared/Helpers/FileOpenHelper.cs b/Shared/Helpers/FileOpenHelper.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..463339013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Shared/Helpers/FileOpenHelper.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+using System.IO;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Helper class for file open operations
+/// </summary>
+public static class FileOpenHelper
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a file for reading without a read/write lock
+    /// This allows other applications to read/write to the file while it is being read
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="file">the file to open</param>
+    /// <returns>the file stream</returns>
+    public static FileStream OpenRead_NoLocks(string file)
+        => File.Open(file, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a file for reading and writing without a read/write lock
+    /// This allows other applications to keep reading/writing the file while it's being opened
+    /// This is useful to check if CanRead/CanWrite is true on a file
+    /// Actually writing to the file with this stream might have undesired effects
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="file">the file to open</param>
+    /// <returns>the file stream</returns>
+    public static FileStream OpenForCheckingReadWriteAccess(string file)
+        => File.Open(file, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.ReadWrite);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a file for writing without a write lock
+    /// This allows other applications to read the file while it is being written to
+    /// </summary>
+    public static FileStream OpenWrite_NoReadLock(string file, FileMode fileMode)
+        => File.Open(file, fileMode, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read);
+}
diff --git a/Shared/Helpers/HttpHelper.cs b/Shared/Helpers/HttpHelper.cs
index 85df7db99..d078329a8 100644
--- a/Shared/Helpers/HttpHelper.cs
+++ b/Shared/Helpers/HttpHelper.cs
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ public static async Task DownloadFile(string url, string destination)
 
             using HttpResponseMessage response = await Client.GetAsync(url, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead);
             await using var streamToReadFrom = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync();
-            await using var streamToWriteTo = File.Open(destination, FileMode.Create);
+            await using var streamToWriteTo = FileOpenHelper.OpenWrite_NoReadLock(destination, FileMode.Create);
             await streamToReadFrom.CopyToAsync(streamToWriteTo);
         }
         catch (Exception ex)