Windows 10: The file cannot be accessed by the system

Ran a clean rebuild of my system on SSD (Creators Update) , now cannot access any exe's on HDD (Drive D).
I get "the file cannot be accessed by the system". Tried changing permissions so admin user has access and run takeownership but no joy.

:)

 

File in a sub folder cannot be accessed, but the same file transferred to other folder is accessible in Windows 10.

I have not been able to copy, cut, move or anything with the offending folder since the problem was first detected.

I did Analyze and defragment the drive but the problem still exists.

After defragging I tried to copy, delete, drag to another partition, all without success. I still get the same messages as the first post.

 

File in a sub folder cannot be accessed, but the same file transferred to other folder is accessible in Windows 10.

Hello,



Thank you for replying with the status of the issue. We apologize for the delay in response.



The above issue can occur if any of the following scenarios exist on your PC:

• 
  You do not have permissions to the file or the file location.
  
• 
  The file is on a location that is not currently accessible like a network location or an external drive that is not currently connected to the PC.
  
• 
  The file has been moved or deleted.
  
• 
  The file or shortcut is corrupt.
  
• 
  The file may be blocked by Windows.
  
• 
  Your anti-virus software may be blocking the file.
  

Refer to the link below on “Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file” error when you try to install, update or start a program or file and check if it helps.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2669244



Write to us with the status of the issue for further assistance. Your reply is most important for us to ensure we assist you accordingly.



Thank you.

 

I've never liked the solution but it's something I've learned to live with over the last 20-some years. The issue is the "clean install", all Windows-based programs have to be installed [or reinstalled] so as to create their Folder/s, copy support files to where needed by Windows, create the shortcuts in menus and write information to any of the 5 Hives [text files] that make up the Registry so Windows knows how to deal with things. The solution has always been to simply reinstall the errant programs. The "clean install" wiped out/replaced the Registry losing all track of those programs.

 

Thanks for your reply but these are standalone exe's that do not have registry entries. I have tried to restore a Macrium Reflect backup of the entire disk (the HDD) and get the same failure during the restore.
The failure also occurs when playing music files off the HDD
All the exe's were working prior to the rebuild.

 

Did you have any extra protection installed before clean install? Google search indicates possible disk corruption etc,
but I would suggest simple solution. (If sfc /scannow and other actions indicates healthy system).

You have Macrium image. Instead of restoring image, mount image and copy files to HDD.

 

Have you taken ownership of the folders not the files can you copy the files are there a lot of files one way to solve it is to convert the disk to fat32 which removes all security

 

Even copying the files from a mounted image fails both to the original disk and to another volume

 

This is really strange. Just for the purpose of testing. Extract one of these problematic files to fat32 formatted USB drive (or make new partition on HDD formatted as fat32 - like Samuria suggested)

Have to ask again... Did you have any security/ server/ Cloud system installed on system before clean install? And by clean install, do you mean deleting previous partition with system, or installing over it?

 

Thanks for all your suggestions.
To recap:-

Formatted drive C (SSD) and installed Win 10 creators
Then found I could not access files on drive D (HDD). Tried to restore from Macrium backup but had errors (0x80070780). Tried to mount backup and copy files , same error. Reformatted drive D as NTFS ,same problems with copying or restoring files.
I have just formatted a USB stick as Fat32 and still getting same result.

Prior to the rebuild of drive C , nothing special in the way of security affecting C or D, I was running Malwarebytes V3 and Bitdefender.

 

search on this problem shows two main scenarios: running Windows server with deduplication or drive containing symlinks (in Onedrive folder), what is strange, your problem is with .exe files... Other files are fine?

Can you show us picture of file properties?

 

Took screenshot of properties of one of failing exe's and noticed it has 0 size on disk, any ideas how this can be fixed?

 

Details tab please - to see attributes. You can check them yourself and post

Did you run any server stuff with that disk (media server??)

Check this link www.happysysadm.com | error-0x80070780-reading-from

 

One thing I noticed and haven't otherwise come across is all the periods/dots in the file name/path. Usually only the period preceeding the extension [as in thisfile.exe] is needed, could be the many periods are the problem. Also noted is the file size shown is incorrect, should be larger for the file type, suggests there is corruption of the file or it is not all there/incomplete.

 

Details tab of bad exe





Also noticed that I cannot open an ISO file , details of file below