The Best Guide on How to Fix Drive Is Not Accessible, Access is Denied in Windows

By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: November 4, 2022

Have trouble with your windows computer? Are you not able to access your drive and is giving you an error message that says your access to your drive is denied? If so, then we are going to show you some solutions on how you can fix when the drive is not accessible, access is denied in Windows occur.

When you are unable to access some folder on your PC, it is annoying, but when you get those access denied notice from your hard drive, that looks much scarier. But do not worry because when this happens to you, you will be able to solve this in no time. Why? Because this kind of issue is one of the most common issues that you will experience with your windows computer. And that is what we are going to show you in this post.

Part 1. Need to Know Facts When Drive is Not Accessible, Access Denied in Windows Part 2. How to Fix Drive is Not Accessible, Access is Denied on Windows Part 3. The Best Way to Recover Lost Data on Computer Part 4. Conclusion

Part 1. Need to Know Facts When Drive is Not Accessible, Access Denied in Windows

Now, before we go ahead and show you some solutions to fix the problem, here are some good-to-know facts about when the drive is not accessible. This might help you as well in understanding the problem and solving them.

What is Access Denied Error All About?

When you receive an error that says our drive is not accessible, access is denied in windows, this indicated that there is something wrong with the hard drive of your computer. And in some worst cases, this could cause your data to get lost from your hard drive.

And this problem happens in any type of situation and can also happen in different types of the operating system. And when this happens, it only means that the data stored on your drive is somewhat corrupted.

And with all these being said, we have indicated below some solutions that you can do on your windows computer in order for you to solve this problem. Go ahead and try to apply them for you to fix the problem.

Part 2. How to Fix Drive is Not Accessible, Access is Denied on Windows

Now that you have known the basic things you need to know when you get such errors, here are now some fixes that you can do on your windows to fix it.

Checking If The Hard Drive Accessible

Fix #1. For Windows 10

If you are using a Windows 10 computer, here are the steps that you should follow.

Do a right-click on the drive that you cannot access anymore.
And from the pop-up menu, simply click on Properties.
And then, choose on Security.
From there, click on the Edit button
Then, the Permission for New Volume (E) will be shown on your screen.
From that window, go ahead and click on Add button.
Then enter a new username and name it as Authenticated User and click on the OK button.
And on the permission window, set “full control” on your newly added user and then click on the OK button.
There will then be a dialog box that will appear on your screen. From there, just go ahead and click on Continue and then Cancel on the last part. And you are all done.

Fix #2. For Windows 7 Users

If you are using a Windows 7 computer, then here are the steps that you need to follow.

Open your Windows Explorer
Then right-click on the drive that you can no longer access.
Then click on Properties.
And then select the Security option.
From there, go ahead and click on the Advanced button.
Then, click on the Edit button from the Owner tab on your screen.
Then, change the ownership that you want.

And in case that you cannot access files on your Windows 7 computer drive, then here are the steps to fix it.

Right-click on the file that you can no longer access.
Then choose on the Properties option.
And then select on Security option.
And then choose your name from the Group or from the Username. Doing this will then give you some permissions that you need for you to access your file and your folder.

And in case that the drive is still not accessible, here is another alternative that you can do on your Windows 7 computer.

Go ahead and replace the letter of the drive that you cannot access.
And then, use the command chkdsk /r l
Then, have your computer be on safe mode and then select your HDD.
You can also try to access the HDD on your Windows 7 Ultimate and on Home Premium.
And from here, you will be able to access your drive and the chkdsk command will then delete all files that are causing the problem.

Fix #3. For Windows Vista

The drive is not accessible, access is denied in Window problem could happen even if you are using a Windows Vista computer. And if that happens, here are the steps that you should follow for you to fix it.

Check the Permission of files or folders

Go ahead and click on the Properties.
And then, choose Security.
And from the username or Group, go ahead and check for permission by clicking on your name.

Check if the problem happens because of an encrypted file

Right-click on the file that you can no longer access.
Then, choose Properties.
And then, select on General tab and choose Advanced
And from there, see if they encrypt checkbox is selected or not.
If you see that the checkbox is selected, what you need to do now is to get the certificate that is used for the encryption in order for you to open the file. This can be seen in the person who created the file.

In this case, you will be needing to get the encryption key for Windows Vista wherein the EFS or Encrypting File System is not supported. And once that you have done this, just go through the steps below.

Launch your Command Prompt.
And then, type in Cipher.exe/d for you to decrypt the file.
Then, go ahead and change the encrypted file
After that, go ahead and copy the decrypted file from your hard disk.
Then import keys and as well as the EFS certificate that you have.
Then, launch the Command Prompt again.
And key in Cipher.exe/r for you to be able to back up the EFS certificate and your keys.

Fix #4. For Windows XP User

If the drive is not accessible, access is denied in Windows problem happens to you and you are using a Windows XP computer, then here are the things that you need to do. But, you have to remember that changing the version of your operating system, also changes the Security ID of its user. Here are the steps below on how you can do this.

Launch the My Computer tab.
And from there, go ahead and click on Tools, select on Folder and choose View.
After that, go to the Advanced Setting.
From there, go ahead and clear the Use Simple File Sharing box option.
And then click on the OK button.
After that, go ahead and right-click on the folder that you want to access and then click on Properties.
And then choose on Security tab.
Then click on the OK button from the security message that will show up on your screen.
And then choose the Advanced button and click on the Owner tab on your screen.
Then choose your username from the list on your screen.
Then hit on the OK button.
If an error message shows up on your screen, just click on Yes.
Then choose the OK button.
Then, go ahead and enter the permission and as well as security settings.

Part 3. The Best Way to Recover Lost Data on Computer

Now, as we have mentioned earlier, in a situation like the drive is not accessible, access is denied in Windows, there is a possibility that your data on your computer might get lost because of the error happening. That is why we are going to introduce to you one of the best software that you can use in order for you to get back your precious data. And that is no other than the FoneDog Data Recovery.

Free Download Free Download

The FoneDog Data Recovery is software that will help you get back the data that you lost such as your files, videos, photos, and so much more. By using the FoneDog Data Recovery, you will be able to get back your lost data from different hardware such as your memory card, hard drive, flash drive, and even from the trash bin.

You can easily restore data after a factory reset on your PC. And the great part of this is that you will be able to use the FoneDog Data Recovery on both a Mac and Windows computer.

Now, since you have lost your data from the hard drive of your Windows computer, then the FoneDog Data Recovery is the best tool you can use. And with that, here is a quick guide that you can follow.

Step 1. Download and Install

First is of course, you have to download the FoneDog Data Recovery on your Windows computer. And then, have it installed as well.

Step 2. Choose Data and Storage

Chosing Data to Recvoer When Drive Is Not Accessible

Once that you have installed the FoneDog Data Recovery, launch the program so you can begin on using it. On the main page of the program, the FoneDog Data Recovery will ask you to choose the type of data that you wish to recover and its last location. Choose any type of data you want from the given choices and on the storage, simply click on the hard drive that you are not able to access earlier.

Step 3. Scan Your Computer

Scanning Data When Hard Drive Is Not Accessible

Once that you have chosen the data and the storage where you want to recover it, the FoneDog Data Recovery will ask you to process a scan. Here, all you need to do is to click on the Scan button. The program comes with two ways of scanning. One is the quick scan and the other one is the deep scan. Choose either of the two-scanning methods. However, if you choose the deep scan process, this will take some time.

Step 4. Preview and Select Data to Recover

Once that the scanning process is complete, The FoneDog Data Recovery will show you all of the deleted items from your hard drive. From there, all you need to do is to preview the files on your screen and then choose which of them that you would like to recover and click on them.

Step 5. Recovery Your Data

Recovering Data When Access to Hard Drive Is Denied

Once that you are done choosing the files you want to get back, just go ahead and click on the Recover button at the bottom of your screen. Here, all you need to do is to wait for the process to complete.

Part 4. Conclusion

As you can see, when you receive an error that says your drive is not accessible, access is denied on Windows, there are a lot of ways on how you can fix it. Depending on the operating system of your Windows computer, you can choose to follow the easy solutions that we have shown you above.

Free Download Free Download

And since that losing data is one downside when you have this error, we have highly recommended that you make use of the FoneDog Data Recovery. This is one safe and easy software that you can use in order for you to get back those files that you have lost during the process of fixing the error. This has been proven and tested by many users and they were successful in getting those lost data back to their Windows computer in no time.

> Recovery > The Best Guide on How to Fix Drive Is Not Accessible, Access is Denied in Windows