Windows 10: Any idea how to fix "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not...

A while back I bought gamepass. I played Total War Warhammer without problem. I eventually tried downloading other games. It always said "windows cannot access the specified file. You may not have appropriate permissions". not a perfect quote but you get the idea Near the end of that gamepass ownership I also had that happen to Total War. I just rebought gamepass today to see if that would fix the issue. It did not. I still have the ability to download games, just not to run them. I'm not certain if this problem is related specifically to the xbox app or if it is related to the files on my c

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Microsoft Photos can't access specified device, path or file

Hello Suraj,

One of the possible reason why you are getting an error message "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item",
may be due to the corrupted shortcut, if the file needs a permission or
error if the shortcut or installation is attempting to access a location that is not currently available such as a networked or a removable drive. In order for us to assist you better, we'd like to ask the following:

• Did you make any changes to your computer before experiencing this issue? If yes, tell us more about it.
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?
• Have you checked if you are using the administrator access? If yes, do you have any guess or standard profile on your computer?
• Which application are you using to access photos? Is it an application that you download from the Microsoft Store?

Meanwhile, we recommend checking the article about "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file" error when you try to install, update or start a program or file
on this link. It's applicable to Windows 7, this is to guide us to
isolate the main issue why you are unable to access the photos on your device.

We are looking forward to your reply.

 

cannot access the specified device path or file error

Hello Henry, my name is Alexander. I'm an Independent Advisor and I'm happy to assist you!

Henry, I suggest you refer to the following article and check if that works for you.

"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file" error when you try to install, update or start a program or file’

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/266924...

Best regards,

Alexander B.

 

'Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.' Error.

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you receive an error, ‘'Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item’ when trying to access one particular file. I’ll certainly assist you with the issue.



However, please let us know:

• Are you trying to access the shortcut of the file?
  
• Which anti-virus are you using on the computer?
  

I would suggest you try running the application as an administrator and see if that helps. To do this, right click on the file and select
Run as administrator.



You may also want to refer the troubleshooting steps mentioned in the article
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or
file" error when you try to install, update or start a program or file



Note: The above mentioned article is for Windows 7, however, holds good for Windows 10.




Alternatively, you can also try enabling hidden admin account and check if you are able to access the file in hidden admin account.



Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Type command prompt in the search bar on the
   Taskbar.
   
2. Right click on the command prompt icon and select
   Run as administrator.
   
3. Type in the following commands one by one and hit
   Enter:
   
   net user administrator /active:yes
   
4. After enabling the hidden admin, try accessing the file.
   

Note: Make sure to disable hidden admin by using the command
net user administrator /active:no after performing the troubleshooting steps.



Let us know how it goes.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator