Receiving cannot access file errors even though the file is present

Question

This question concerns 64-bit Windows 10 system (version 2004; OS Build 19041.685).

I am struggling to figure out what could be causing the following error for both operating system and application files:

Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.

This above error appears in a modal dialog.

This error is produced, for example, when attempting to run Task Manager from the task bar, or when double-clicking on it in Explorer, which gets to the heart of the mystery: since I'm double-clicking on the file in Explorer, it is obviously there. Additionally, this error is regularly produced for applications located in the C:\Program Files\WindowsApps directory.

I checked the effective access controls for C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe and the user I am running as has read and execute privileges.

I don't regularly use the machine this error is occurring on, so I don't know exactly when the error started, but I don't see any obvious examples of installed updates that could be the cause of the error.

I successfully executed

• dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth;
• dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth; and
• sfc /scannow

without error.

After the problem persisted after executing the above programs, I executed chkdsk /r, which found no filesystem or disk errors.

The final, potentially unrelated, piece of the puzzle is that when I attempted to logon using another account with administrator access, I discovered that I was unable to logon due to an error from OOBESETUP that prevents the graphical logon process from completing (I am able to logon as that user in safe mode or by restarting in command prompt mode).

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I appreciate the efforts taken by you in resolving the issue. I understand that receive an error when trying to access applications on your computer. I’ll certainly assist you with the issue.

As you have mentioned that you are able unable to access login to another user account, one of the things I would suggest you is to try enabling Hidden admin account and check if the issue persists in Hidden admin account. Refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Type command prompt in the search bar on the Taskbar.
2. Right click on the command prompt icon and select Run as administrator.
3. Type in the following commands one by one and hit Enter:

net user administrator /active:yes 4. After enabling hidden admin login to the Hidden Admin account, refer the article on How to switch users (accounts) in Windows 10.

Note: Make sure to disable hidden admin by using the command net user administrator /active:no after performing the troubleshooting steps.

If the issue doesn’t occur in hidden admin, I would suggest you create a new user account from hidden admin. Refer the article on Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator