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virtual disk - access denied

Anonymous
2017-11-11T17:01:33+00:00

I cannot access my external hard drive/

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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-11T17:12:19+00:00

    Press Windows key + X

    Click Disk Management

    Is a drive letter assigned to the drive?

    Right-click the partition or drive that you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

    Do one of the following:

    •To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.

    •To change a drive letter, click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.

    •To remove a drive letter, click Remove, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove it.

    Change, add, or remove a drive letter

    Option 2:

    Open Start, type: CMD

    Right click CMD

    Click Run as administrator

    At the command prompt type:

    takeown /F (external drive letter) and press Enter.

    Type : CACLS (external drive letter) /G Administrator:F and press Enter.

    Restart the computer and test the issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-11T17:21:37+00:00

    We are volunteers willing to help you try to resolve this issue.

    This could be the Windows setup for the hard drive or even the hard driver itself or the USB platform. So the possible solutions range from simple to very complicated.

    So if you Right Click on the drive in the upper box of Disk Management

    Change Drive Letter and Path is not available?

    External Drive Not Recognized? This Is How To Fix It In Windows <-- check this very thoroughly

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/external-drive-not...

    Find Your Missing USB Drive in Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista

    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-...

    There could be an issue with the BIOS and chipset drivers so check with

    your System/Motherboard maker to ensure you have the latest available.

    Are you using a 3rd party antivirus? If so uninstall it and run its maker's

    removal tool. Reboot - then try the previous method. Use Windows Defender which in Windows 8/8.1/10 is a full antivirus and very compatible.

    List of anti-malware program cleanup/uninstall tools

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/wiki...

    Uninstallers (removal tools) for common antivirus software

    http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&am...

    You may need to check with your external drive's maker, maybe there is an issue with its Windows 10 compatibility.

    Please let us know the results and if you need further assistance.

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