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Access is denied when connecting USB drive

Anonymous
2018-03-31T02:11:04+00:00

I am running WIn 10 Pro on an HP ProDesk 400 G4. When I attach a thumb drive or Western Digital Passport hard drive to the USB port, the drive is assigned a letter, but if I try to access it, I get the message “You don’t currently have permission to access this folder. Click Continue to permanently get access to this folder.” When I click the Continue button, the next message that appears says “You have been denied permission to access this folder. To gain access to this folder, you will need to use the security tab.” When I click on the security tab link, the Properties of the drive are displayed, but there is no Security Tab displayed, only General, Tools, Hardware, Sharing and Customize tabs. I am logged in as an administrator, so I am not sure why I am being denied access. I have plugged the drives into other systems (including Win 10 machines) and have had no problem accessing the drives and data. Only on this desktop system, which because my old desktop system crashed, had become my primary machine. I also found that if I boot into Safe Mode (via MSCONFIG), I can access the drive and data fine. So how can I fix this so I can access my USB drives in normal mode? I appreciate all suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-06-01T17:26:32+00:00

    Fyi, the following steps resolved my issue on my HP laptop when trying to access an external USB hard drive and receiving "you have been denied permission to access this folder" and no Security Tab appears when clicking on Properties...

    • Open HP Client Security (click on icon in system tool bar in bottom right of screen)
    • Select Device Permissions (in Device box)
    • Select Settings (at bottom center of screen)
    • Locate the drive that is assigned to the external drive, and unselect "Use Access Manager to control access to this drive"

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-25T21:14:56+00:00

    windows is forbidding me to access a known good thumb drive. I have admin privileges but when I escalate privileges access is denied. I also don't have permission to format the drive. This isn't some fancy drive, it's formatted fat32. 

    I'm coming from Linux mint and I'm beyond frustrated with windows 10. Let me get this straight: Windows allows admin accounts to become corrupted? really? That's insane! This is a new computer with a new account and I'm going to be pissed if windows hosed itself on first run install! Your referenced article about manually taking ownership is completely useless because there is no security tab available! Also, why aren't my admin privileges sufficient? why in God's name doesn't windows give the admin actual administrative privileges? This kind of bs is why I left windows to begin with!

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-10-10T19:19:28+00:00

    Brilliant fix!  Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-07-30T03:38:43+00:00

    Worked like a charm!!

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  5. Greg Carmack 24,770 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-03-31T02:29:26+00:00

    I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

    There are problems with the security permissions on the account. There are some fixes that sometimes work, and if not what almost always works is to test a new Admin Local Account and if there are no problems move your files over and when ready delete the old account.

    For some it can be resolved by simply taking ownership of the drive. The Easiest way to do this is by installing the Take Ownership SHortcut to your right click context menu to use when needed: https://www.askvg.com/add-take-ownership-option...

    Or you can do this manually in the file or folder Security Settings: https://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-take-ownersh...

    If this doesn't work then the account is corrupted badly enough I'd replace it by creating a new Local Admin user account, sign into it to test it out, if it works then move your files over. Later you can delete the old account - if necessary first changing a MS Account to a Local Account to delete it, then affiliate the MS Account with the new User Account:

    http://www.kickiteasy.com/add-a-new-user-accoun...

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-tip-swi...

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5375-switch...

    I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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