Permmision issues on windows programms, not affecting most 3rd party programms.

Question

I can open most 3rd party apps but as soon as i try to open This pc, file explorer a image etc they will not open and only say "windows cannot access the specified path or file. you may not have the appropriate permissions" if i click on anything in the taskbar it either does not do anything or give the error previously stated. This started after i restarted my computer after loging in to another microsoft account so i could download so.e already owned applications. I can still open cmd regedit and powershell also i can open all with admin privileges.

Can anyone help me? Could i format a usb drive on another pc and use the repair tool when booting into windows? What should i do? Also in regedit all permissions are set to the deafullt state.

Answer 1

Long time no see my friend!

I tried to reproduce your problem through three different laptop devices.

Of the three laptops, two Windows 11 one Windows 10. the Windows 10 one is my personal computer, so I've been working on this issue in my free time as well.

Thank you very much for the details provided in your reply and I will answer your query in a top to bottom manner.

First is the picture and informations you provided with the mention in your last reply.

(1) When granting administrator privileges to a local account, the error “error 5 has occurred” usually indicates that access has been denied, which means that there are no privileges or access to the relevant system resources that caused the problem.

(2) This also corresponds to the image you provided, which shows a similar Account Unknown account. This could be because the account has been deleted, never created, or is not visible in the network environment.

(3) In this case, it is possible that something in the registry has been accidentally changed.

Unfortunately I can't seem to open your video at the moment due to internet reasons, but I've gotten a general insight into your situation through text messages.

I've been testing it for the past two days and will offer you some other solutions that you can try first, but since I'm on a different computer environment than you are whether or not it works depends on your computer environment. If the problem persists after you try it, you may need to solve the problem by making Windows installation media.

Option 1: Do you have a habit of backing up your registry on a regular basis, or do you back up your registry before you open it to try to modify or view it? Because if you have a backup, you can try to restore it.

Please note: If you have another Windows 10 device, you can also try to restore the registry by exporting the registry of another Windows 10 device and then importing it to the problem device. In most cases this will fix the problem, but some of the changes you have made will be overwritten.

Option 2: You can try to scan and repair the system via command line, in my personal computer, when I try to modify the registry intentionally and repair it, sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't work. But it should still depend on the size of the problem.

Click “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> Type “cmd” in the search bar and open it with administrator privileges -> Please enter the following commands

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC /Scannow

Please note: The above commands may need to be repeated 4-5 times to scan for problems, especially with SFC.

Option 3: I have been writing different .reg files to try to reset the registry. I ended up writing and keeping only one way to reset registry permissions that you can try to use.

But please note: Make sure you backup the registry when you make this change!

(1) Open Notepad

(2) Copy the following text that I edited into Notepad

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory]

(3) Change the file extension to “.reg”

Double click and run the file. (This may also depend on the situation, some devices may not be compatible, resulting in failure to run)

Option 4: If you have a restore point on your computer, you can try to restore your system to a point before the problem occurred.

A restore point will only remove new applications, drivers, and Windows updates that were installed after the point in time of the restore point, and will not affect your personal files.

I think this way is a bit easier and more convenient than making Windows installation media.

You may refer to: Use System Restore - Microsoft Support.

If the problem still exists after you try the above solution, you can perform it by making Windows installation media, which is the way I have used in my personal testing. However, I personally recommend that you upload your data to a cloud drive or backup it via an external storage device to avoid accidental data loss!

I sincerely hope that my efforts, which have taken a great deal of time, have been successful in helping you!

Looking forward to your good news my friend!

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hey, i would like to add one thing, when i was followign a tutorial on the permission changes i was talking about i did not realise that it was only meant for windows 11 and not windows 10. So im guessing its most likely my fault is there anything i could do in windows before i will just create a bootable windows 10 thumbdrive (with another pc) and repair the system and keep all my files that way.

The tutorial i was following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG-Z1IMrXaE 

im just checking if there is acctually anything that can be done before i make a bootable thumbdrive, so that i dont waste alot of time setting everything up again.

Answer 3

Thank you very much for your reply so that I can learn more.

I may need to do some testing for a while based on the information you gave and you may have to wait a while, but I will be sure to get back to you with a new solution as soon as possible!

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 4

Thanks for trying to help me!

I am not able to fix this issue still even with your help, i will start answerng all your questions in order below.

I still have the account and the login information when i logged into another it also changed my windows sign in password. I also would like to add that earlier that day i was checking if i had all the right permissions in the registry editor, i dont recall changing anything and i was just checking if something was out of the ordinary while following a youtube tutorial but i could have of course missclicked on something by accident. I have gone through all the permmisions in the hives but everything looks fine according to the internet.

Option 1 did not work since pressing Windows + i did not do anything but using some other shotcuts still work. Option 2 did also not work since when opening up properties on something there is no security tab, i have tried multiple files types but no success. Now option 3 worked about 50% i was able to create a acount but when i tried to give it admin permissions it just said " System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied. ". I was able to log into the other account but the issue still occured which makes me belive its a system problem leading me to more strongly belive i could have accidentally clicked on something in registry editor earlier. I can link what it currently says in registry editor but this might not help so much anyway since its 23 images and my computer is set to swedish of course the symbols are the same and you can still basically tell whats what (linked here: https://imgur.com/a/vicU2nZ).

From everything i have read here and my troubleshooting im going to draw a general conclusion that there is some system error most likely caused by me in registry editor, logging into another account on microsoft on the same day was just a coincidence making me belive thats the issue due to it also changing my sign in password to the microsft accounts password. What could i do now? Could making a bootable usb thumb drive and using the repair function and then choosing the keep all user files option work?

P.S I completley forgot to state that my michrophone and headset wont work while using any of theese 3rd party apps. please ask if you need more info pictures etc i will try to provide.

Kind Regards

Felix Himmelroos

Answer 5

Hi felix Himmelroos1

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that after you logged into another Microsoft account and restarted your computer, you are currently unable to open system level paths and file, it will indicate that you do not have permissions, and I understand very well how you feel!

Do you still have the account you were using?

As you thought, generally speaking the inability to open system level paths and files is a result of permissions issues.

So I'm going to give you some solutions based on my understanding and guesses first, and hopefully that will solve your problem successfully. Since the first reply may not have in-depth information, if the problem still exists after your attempts, please let me know in your reply and provide me with more information (pictures would be great!). Thank you very much!

Option 1: Please check if the Microsoft account you are currently logged in to is an administrator.

Please allow me to explain, because this is a personal use environment, in general non-administrator account when clicking to open with administrator privileges, the system will temporarily escalate the account to administrator privileges during the use of the application, and the privileges will expire after closing.

“Windows Logo Key+ i” to open Settings -> Select "Accounts" -> "Your Information" -> At this point you can see whether the account under the display of "Administrator"

If not, you can change the permissions of the current account to “Administrator” by going to “Accounts” -> “Other Accounts” -> Change the permissions of the current account to “Administrator” (this may require logging in to a previously used account, or you may be able to do it directly. It varies from device to device.)

At this point, you should be able to open system-level paths and files normally after logging in again or restarting your computer.

Option 2: You can try to right click the system level folder -> select “Properties” -> select “Security” in the upper tab -> there should be no current account in Group or user names, click “Edit” -> “Add” -> “Advanced” -> “Find now”, all accounts in your computer will be listed, find your Microsoft account and add it -> go back to “Security” and give full control rights in “Permissions for SYSTEM”.

Please note: This step may also require the use of a Microsoft account that was previously accessible.

Option 3: Create a new local account with administrator privileges from the command line and log in.

Click on “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> Type “cmd” in the search bar and open it with administrator privileges -> Please enter the following command

net user USERNAME PASSWORD /add 

net localgroup administrators USERNAME /add 

Please note: USERNAME PASSWORD can be replaced by your desired account name and password, if you don't need a password you can leave out the PASSWORD.

(1) After you have successfully created and logged in, please try to open “This computer”, “File Explorer” and so on through this local administrator account. Check whether there will be the same error message. (The main purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is due to an account problem or a system problem.)

(2) If can, you can re-execute Option 2 through this account to give full control privileges to the Microsoft account that is unable to open system level folders. Log in to the Microsoft account again to see if the problem disappears.

I sincerely hope that the above solution will solve your problem. Please feel free to contact me if you have any problems or still can't solve them. (Photos related to the question would be great!) .

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist