Solution 1:

Every time I get a Working copy locked error I run a "Clean up". After that everything is back to normal.

On the command line you can execute svn cleanup which also removes lock files.

Note: Perform this operation on one level up directory and that should resolve most of the times.

Solution 2:

To anyone still having this issue (Error: Working copy '{DIR}' locked.), I have your solution:

I found that when one of TortoiseSVN windows crash, it leaves a TSVNCache.exe that still has a few handles to your working copy and that is causing the Lock issues you are seeing (and also prevents Clean Up from doing it's job).

So to resolve this:

Either

1a) Use Process Explorer or similar to delete the handles owned by TSVNCache.exe

1b) ..Or even easier, just use Task Manager to kill TSVNCache.exe

Then

2) Right click -> TortoiseSVN -> Clean up. Only "Clean up working copy status" needs to be checked.

From there, happy updating/committing. You can reproduce Lock behavior by doing SVN Update and then quickly killing it's TortoiseProc.exe process before Update finishes.