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Cannot access my control panel, computer, anything on my startup menu?

Anonymous
2013-10-27T23:20:39+00:00

Suddenly, one day last week, I became unable to access my control panel, any of my libraries, computer desktop, etc.  I get an explorer.exe error message - "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."  I am, and always have been, the sole user of this computer, and have always had access to everything on it.  Any suggestions I have read, or the useless help I didn't get from Microsoft so far, have told me to go to Start, then the Control Panel to change my settings.  EXCEPT I CAN'T GET TO MY CONTROL PANEL!!!!!!!!.  Can anyone here explain to me what is going on and how I can get to my own files again.  I have tried system restore but it won't let me create a date prior to this problem starting (10/15).  HELP!?  The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T19:13:40+00:00

    None of these worked.  When I right-click on Control Panel in any way to access it, all that comes up are "Open, create shortcut or delete".  Can't even access thru the Start menu, search - all that comes up is the same error message.  I am still at the same point, cannot access any of my libraries or anything else like Control Panel.  Any other suggestions are welcome, please.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T22:48:35+00:00

    I am the only user and sole administrator on this laptop.  As I explained, I can log on, go online, do most other functions as before, but sometime last week I tried to access my control panel (as I had done the previous day to access my music files) and got the error message above.  I cannot connect to any of the files/folders on the right side of my startup menu, all get the same message.  I made no changes to anything, hardware or software, recently had my e-mails hacked, and run an AOL cleanup every week.

    I will check the link you gave me and see if anything happens.  Thanks.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T13:14:59+00:00

    Hi,

    1. Did you make any recent hardware or software changes on your computer prior to this issue?

    Are you logged in as an administrator?

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

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

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-28T13:01:54+00:00

    Hi,

    You may try creating a new user account and then check if the issue persists there.

    Create a user accounthttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Create-a-user-account

    If it works in a new user account then you need to fix the corrupt user profile. You may visit this link for the steps:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T19:14:26+00:00

    None of these worked.  When I right-click on Control Panel in any way to access it, all that comes up are "Open, create shortcut or delete".  Can't even access thru the Start menu, search - all that comes up is the same error message.  I am still at the same point, cannot access any of my libraries or anything else like Control Panel.  Any other suggestions are welcome, please.

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