Error Windows cannot access the specified device

Error Windows cannot access the specified device

Hi Cody,

Will it be safe to assume since the drive letter that I saw in the .gif attachment is E: that it only happens with .exe files that you are trying to install from a particular location in your computer. Sometimes I encounter this kind of error message myself after reinstalling windows on my system. I figured later on that it might have something to do with file ownership. Here is how you can take ownership of a folder:

Right-click the folder where your files are located and then click Properties. Go to the Security tab, click Advanced, and then go to the Owner tab. Click Edit. You might get a prompt that ass you to enter administrator password or simply a confirmation just type in your password or just confirm. Click the name of the account you want to give ownership of the folder to. Tick the check box where it says Replace owner on subcontainers and objects. Then Click OK.

Most of the time changing the permission works out for me. So just try that first. Now the only other way you might still get denied access is if the file is encrypted. You can check if the file is encrypted. Open Windows Explorer, right click anywhere on the blank space in the window and then click Details on the View menu to view the details of the folder's contents.

Now on the right click on the top of any column then click "more". Tick the Attributes check box inside the pop up window to add file attributes in the column. You can remove this additional column later on. Now if you see a letter "E" in the Attributes column for that file that you are trying to access, it means the file is encrypted or got encrypted.

Now that's the problem, because the only way to decrypt the file is by using the certificate used by the account that encrypted the file. It never really boils down to this in my case. Just an additional piece of information that you might want to know about.

You can also try a system restore. You can find the system restore program on All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore. You mentioned you had installed some desktop theme or software prior to this problem. So check if there's an available restore point earlier than that. Just read through and follow the prompts.

If you want to know if there are missing files or corrupted system files on your computer as you were trying to fix your registry, you can use sfc or the system file checker. Just open a command prompt window, you can find it in the Accessories, and type in sfc /scannow. It basically scans all protected system files, and then replaces incorrect versions automatically. If there are files that could not be replaced that may lead to a new scenario. Just try to read more on setting ownership permissions and I'm pretty sure you'll get this problem fixed. Anyway good luck!

Paul