A quick overview of all five troubleshooting methods of access denied when copying files
Reliable Solutions
Solution Details
1. Take the Ownership of the File or Folder
Open «Windows Explorer» and locate the file/folder, right-click on it and select «Properties». Read More>>
2. Change File and Folder Permission
Right-click the file or folder, then click «Properties». Click the «Security» tab. Read More>>
3. Decrypt the File or Folder
Right-click the file or folder, and then click «Properties».В Click the «General» tab, then click «Advanced». Read More>>
4. Run CHKDSK Command
Press the «Windows» key and type cmd. Right-click «Command Prompt» . Read More>>
5. Use Data Recovery Software
Under the Specify a location section, click «Browse» on Select Folder to choose the location where you lost the folder . Read More>>
«When I try to copy or open the files from my C drive Windows 10, I get an access denied error message: error copying file or folder, access is denied. Is there any way to deal with this situation?»
If you are faced with an access denied file or folder error in your Windows system, you are not alone. Many Windows users have got it. This usually occurs when they are accessing or making changes to a file or folder. Sometimes the error appears when copying files or upgrading from a previous version of Windows.В
Part 1: What Causes This Access Denied Error
Before you are going to solve this problem, find out what causes this error will do you a favor.
Folder ownership has changed.
You do not have the appropriate permissions.
The file is encrypted.
The file is corrupted
There are bad sectors on the drive
From the factors above, we can fix the error respectively.
Part 2: How to Fix Access Denied Error When Copying Files (5 Solutions)
This annoying issue stops you from opening or copying the file or folder. And there may be some important data in that folder but you can’t access them now. But not to worry. Here are useful solutions that can help you fix this error or save your data:
Solution 1: Take the Ownership of the File or FolderВ
If you recently upgraded your computer to Windows 10 from an earlier version of Windows, some of your account information may have changed. Therefore, you may no longer have ownership of some files or folders. You might be able to resolve this issue by restoring your ownership of the files and folders.
For Windows 10/8 users to take the ownership:
Step 1: Open «Windows Explorer»В and locate the file/folder, right-click on it and select «Properties».
Step 2: Go to Security and clickВ «Advanced», go to the «Owner» tab.
Step 3: If you want to change the owner to a user or group that is not listed: Click «Change»В > «Other user and groups», and type the name of the user or group in «Enter the object name to select», then click «Check Names»В >В «OK».
Step 4: If you want to change a user or a group that is listed:
Click new owner in theВ «Change»В to box and make changes.
Step 5: If you want to change the owner of all sub-containers and objects within the tree: Select «Replace owner on sub-containers and objects» box.
Try opening or making changes to the file or folder and see if the access denied error disappears.
For Windows 7 users to take the ownership:
Step 1: Right-click the problem file or folder. Then select «Properties».
Step 2: Click the «Security» tab, and then the «Advanced» button. This will open the Advanced Security Settings for this file or folder.
Step 3: Click the «Owner» tab. Then click the «Edit» button to change the owner.
Step 4: Click the «Other users or groups» button to choose the user manually.
Step 5: Type the account name to the box under. Enter the object name to select. Then click the «Check Names» button (to let the computer to enter the complete object name for you). After that, click «OK».
Step 6: Check «Replace owner» on the sub-containers and objects If you want to take the ownership of all the files and subfolders. Then click «OK». Click «OK» to apply the changes. Check and see if the error disappears.
Solution 2: Change File and Folder Permission (Give Full Control)
This error may be related to permission. Permissions determine whether you can access or change files and folders. You can try to get yourself permission:
Step 1: Right-click the file or folder, then click «Properties».
Step 2:В Click the «Security» tab.
Step 3:В Under Group or user names, click your name to see the permissions that you have.
In the «Group or user names» box, click your account name. Then, in the Permissions for Users box, select the «Allow» checkbox of «Full control» (this will allow you to have full control to access and modify this file or folder). After that, click «OK» to apply the changes.
You can open or modify the files or folders to check if this method works.
Solution 3: Decrypt the File or Folder
Encryption can help protect files and folders from unwanted access. You cannot open an encrypted file or folder without the certificate that was used to encrypt it. When you are unable to copy files, you can check whether they are encrypted by following these steps:
Step 1:В Right-click the file or folder, and then click «Properties».
Step 2:В Click the «General» tab, then click «Advanced».
If the «Encrypt contents to secure data» checkbox is selected, you have to decrypt the file or folder to be able to open it.
Solution 4: RunВ CHKDSK CommandВ
If your hard drive has bad sectors, you may also encounter «access denied while copying files» error. Thus, you are suggested to run the CHKDSK command. It marks the bad sectors and prevents data corruption by fixing file system errors.В
Step 1: Press the «Windows» key and type cmd.
Step 2: Right-click «Command Prompt» and choose «Run as administrator».
Step 3: Enter the following command: chkdsk e: /f /r /xВ («e» means the drive letter of the partition you want to repair).
Step 4: After the process, try to access your folder to see whether it works or not.
CHKDSK Alternative
If you don’t have any technical know-how and want to minimize data risks, using third-party software could be a better choice. The Command line is suitable for computer professionals since wrong commands can cause severe problems. Therefore, we strongly recommend you try an automatic command line alternative.
EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It’s a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to solve your computer issues.
To fix file system error or disk error:
Step 1: оњљ DOWNLOADВ EaseUS Tools M forВ Free and install it.
Step 2: Open the software and select the «File showing» option.В
Step 3: Choose the drive and wait for repairing. After the operation completes, click the «View» button to check the drive.В
Solution 5: Use Data Recovery Software to Access the Files
Corrupted files cannot work properly and these files can be of any file type like pictures, documents, system files, etc. Many corrupted files cannot be repaired or accessed. But you can still try EaseUS file recovery software to scan the location and restore as many files as possible. EaseUS has many highlights:
Recover deleted, formatted, and inaccessible data in different data loss situations.
Recover photos, audio, music, and emails from any storage effectively, safely and completely.
Recover data from the recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorder.
Try this software and access your files now.
Step 1. Select a location and start scanning.
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover on the location(hard drive partition, external HDD, Card devices) where you lost data, then click «Scan».
Step 2. Preview and select the files.
Wait until the scanning completes. If you need to double-click the item to preview the file, then select the data you attempt to recover.
Step 3. Recover lost data.
Click «Recover», choose a location to save the recovered data, then click «OK». You should store the data in another place instead of the original one.
To Sum Up
The solutions above are worthy of trying, no matter what causes this «access denied when copying files» error. What’s more, the solutions can also solve other similar issues like LOCATION IS NOT AVAILABLE error.В
Fix: You need permission to perform this action error
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Getting a You need permission to perform this action error on your PC? The issue is probably caused by your security permissions, and today we’ll show you how to fix this problem.
In Windows 10, like in any other versions of Windows you might notice that you can’t access all the files from your device. Now, this might happen because you don’t have the right permissions or because there is a conflict between multiple files from your system.
If you want to fix these issues and if you want to grant yourself full file permissions, take a look below and learn how to troubleshoot your Windows 10 device.
Getting error messages like File Access Denied or You need permission to perform this action are quite annoying especially when you want to run a movie or a game and you can’t do it due to unknown reasons.
Also, the same alerts might be displayed when trying to install or delete files or programs from your Windows 10 computer thus gaining file permission on your device is a must have.
If you don’t know how to enable permissions on Windows, then don’t hesitate and use the guidelines from below and try the troubleshooting solutions described during the present tutorial.
File Access Denied error? Fix it with these solutions:
Change the owner of the directory
Change the security permission without changing the ownership
Use Command Prompt to change security permissions / ownership
Check your antivirus
File Access Denied error message can cause problems on your PC, and in this article we’ll show you how to fix the following issues:
Windows 10 Access Denied administrator – Sometimes you might get this message even if you’re a computer administrator. To fix the problem, simply change the ownership over the problematic file and check if that solves the problem.
Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action – This error can occur if you don’t have the necessary permissions to access the file. To fix this problem, you just have to give Full control to the desired account.
Can’t delete file Access Denied – This error message can prevent you from deleting certain files. However, you should be able to fix this problem by using one of our solutions.
File Access Denied copy paste, rename – Several users reported this error while copying or renaming their files. However, you can easily fix this problem by changing your security settings.
File Access Denied external hard drive, USB – This issue is relatively common with external hard drives and USB devices, and if you’re having this problem, be sure to try some of our solutions.
File Access Denied Cannot take ownership – Few users reported that they are unable to take ownership over the selected file. If you have this problem, you might want to try changing the ownership using Command Prompt.
File Access Denied steam_api.dll, Google Chrome – Sometimes this error can appear while trying to run certain applications such as Steam or Chrome. If you’re having this problem, reinstall affected applications and check if that helps.
Solution 1 – Change the owner of the directory
First of all, find a file which can’t be accessed. Right click on the same and select Properties.
Pick the Security tab and from Group and user names click on Administrator.
Click the Advanced button at the bottom.
Click on Change in the Owner section.
In Select user or group window choose click on Advanced button.
Then from Advanced Settings click on Find now button and select which group should have full file permission on your computer. Click OK to close this window.
Up next navigate towards the Permissions tab and click on Add button.
Click on Select a principal.
Repeat Steps 5 and 6 to select the desired user or group.
Set Type to Allow and check Full control option. Now click on OK to save changes.
After doing that you’ll have the ownership over the selected file and you’ll be able to edit without any restrictions.
Solution 2 – Change the security permission without changing the ownership
Sometimes in order to access a certain file you don’t need to have ownership over it, you just have to have the appropriate permissions.
Changing the ownership on sensitive files can cause issues to appear, so it might be better just to change the security permissions.
If you’re getting File Access Denied error message, you can change your permissions without affecting the ownership by doing the following:
Locate the file or directory that you can’t access, right click it and choose Properties from the menu.
When the Properties window opens, navigate to the Security tab. Check the list of available users and groups and click the Edit button.
Check if the account you want to change permissions for is on the list. If not, proceed to the next step. If the account is available, go to Step 7.
Click the Add button.
Select Users or Groups window will appear. If you know the exact name of the user or the name of the group, you can just enter it in Enter the object names to select field and click on Check Names and OK button. If you don’t know the exact name, click on Advanced.
Click on Find Now. You should now see the list of all available users and groups on your PC. Select the desired group or user from the Search results field and click on OK to save changes. Now click the OK button once again. The desired account will now be added to the list, and you should be able to change its security permissions.
Select the desired account from Group or user names section. Now in the Permissions section on the bottom select Full control in Allow column. Click Apply and OK to save changes.
After granting the Full control privileges to the selected user or a group, you should be able to access the problematic file or directory without any issues.
If you don’t know the exact name, click on Advanced.
