Please Help! Can't Run .exe Files "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file."

[Clint2k]

Good day community,

I've been having trouble trying to fix this error "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." for 2 days and none of the solutions I've tried so far on the internet worked for me :-(

I've noticed that i'm only getting this error when i try to access any .exe that's located on my external hard drives, if i copy the application to one of my internal hard drives it works!

I do have Full Permission to run the Application and it has not been blocked by WIndows. I also disabled my Windows Defender as well as my Firewall.

I'm using Windows 10 Anniversary Update

 

[hang-the-9]

You can't just copy an exe file to an external drive and have the program run unless that file contains the full program. What exactly are you trying to run here?

 

[Clint2k]

YES, it's full Programs, Any executable file format on my portable drives gives me that error.

E.g i tried running Steam from my External thn i got the error "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." Thn i tried Installing Battle.net-Setup from my External, i got the same error and i also tried running GTA V.

But when i copied the STEAM, BATTLE.NET & GTA V from my External to one of my Internal Hard Drives, it works 100%. I also connected my external to a different PC and everything worked.

 

[hang-the-9]

YES, it's full Programs, Any executable file format on my portable drives gives me that error.

E.g i tried running Steam from my External thn i got the error "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." Thn i tried Installing Battle.net-Setup from my External, i got the same error and i also tried running GTA V.

But when i copied the STEAM, BATTLE.NET & GTA V from my External to one of my Internal Hard Drives, it works 100%. I also connected my external to a different PC and everything worked.

You can't just copy things back and forth like that. You will be missing a bunch of files and links where the installation can't find them. Also the drive letter of the external drive may change even if you actually installed the program on the external drive. If you want to install programs on the external drive, which is not a good idea for many reasons, then re-run the setup of the program again and chose the drive as the source. When you run the program make sure the drive letter is the same as it was when you installed it.