Trending December 2023 # Fix: Windows Cannot Access The Specified Device, Path Or File # Suggested January 2024 # Top 12 Popular

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Fix: Windows Cannot Access the Specified Device, Path or File Your antivirus might be blocking the file you are trying to open

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Many users reported Windows cannot access the specified device error message.

If you’re unable to access your files, perhaps specialized recovery software might help.

Certain applications can cause this issue as well, so you might want to disable them.

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When you use, download, or install different devices or files, they can be opened right away, and sometimes you might get Windows cannot access the specified device message.

Fixing this problem is simpler than you think, and in this article, we’re going to show you a couple of solutions that will surely fix this problem for you.

How can I fix the Windows cannot access the specified device error? 1. Recover deleted, corrupted, or removed file

Sometimes, you may have deleted or removed the file, or your file is corrupted. As a consequence, this will activate the Windows cannot access the specified device error.

Regardless if you have accidentally deleted that file, or maybe you have lost it after a computer crash, these situations can be solved easily with professional third-party software.

We recommend you Recuva, a smart solution that allows recovering your deleted files fast and easily.

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2. Disable your antivirus

If you are trying to open your chúng tôi file or other folders and keep getting the Windows cannot access the specified device error, it might be due to your antivirus software.

The solution to this is to disable your antivirus temporarily.

3. Check file location

Expert tip:

If the path is missing before the Target option in Step 3 above, you will not be able to access the file.

4. Gain permissions for your file

If you don’t have permission to access a file, you will encounter the message that Windows cannot access the specified device. In this case, you need to grant read and write access to the file.

5. Unblock the file

To protect your computer, sometimes, Windows will block certain files. Similar to antivirus, sometimes your operating system will offer you false notifications.

Then, it will block whichever file you want to access or modify. Use the above-mentioned steps to unblock your file.

There you have it; everything you need to fix the Windows cannot the specified device error. You only need to follow the instructions carefully, and things should be back to normal.

If you are facing other issues, like the system cannot write to the specified device error, check our detailed guide to fix it.

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“The System Cannot Open The Device Or File Specified” (Fix)

If you encounter the error “The system cannot open the device or file specified” (sometimes accompanied by an error code such as 2755) when running an installer in Windows 11 or 10, especially a .msi extension installer, this post will provide you with some possible solutions. While it can be difficult to identify the cause of this error, which is related to the Windows Installer and setup, the following are some of the most common causes and solutions.

The most common reason for the “The system cannot open the device or file specified” error is due to the file being encrypted. Therefore, it’s essential to verify if the installer and its directory are encrypted or not. Disabling the content encryption would usually resolve the issue. Follow these steps:

Under Compress or Encrypt attributes, uncheck the “Encrypt contents to secure data” option.

Repeat step 1-3 for the directory where the installer is located. For example, if the installer is in C:/Download, ensure that the Download folder is not encrypted.

Try running the installer again.

If you cannot change the attributes of the directory because it’s encrypted and you’re not allowed to make any changes, try moving the installer to another directory or drive and run it again.

If you have previously created a symbolic link or directory junction for the C:WindowsInstaller folder to save space on your system drive, this might be the cause of the issue. Some msi installers may have difficulty recognizing the symlink and causing the error. Therefore, if you have created a symlink for the C:WindowsInstaller folder before, move the files back to where they should be and remove the symlink. To learn how to do it properly, see this guide.

Note: If you have no idea what a symlink or directory junction is and don’t recall ever creating one for the WindowsInstaller folder, please skip this fix and do not attempt to make any changes to the Installer folder. Changing or deleting the Installer folder may cause serious issues to your system.

Sometimes, your antivirus program may prevent your system from opening or accessing installer files, causing the “cannot find file specified” error. This issue is especially common if you’re using Trend Micro, Avast, AVG, or Kaspersky Free as your antivirus software. Try temporarily disabling the shield or your antivirus entirely and rerun the installer again.

Before an installer can install files onto any directory of your choice, it first extracts its files into a temp folder, which is usually in your system drive by default (C: drive). If the temp folder or your C: drive doesn’t have enough space, it could cause the “The system cannot open the device or file specified” error when running the installer. To remove temporary files in the temp folder, follow these steps:

Press the Win + R keys to open the Run window.

Type in %temp% and hit Enter to open the temp folder.

Select all files and press Shift + Del to permanently delete all temporary files.

Alternatively, you can clear up some space on your system drive if it clearly has less than enough space for what you want to install. Once you have sufficient space, try running the installer again. Also, ensure that your drive is not encrypted (refer to fix 1).

Here are some other possible fixes for the “The system cannot open the device or file specified” error:

Check if the installation is being run over a Terminal Server or mapped network drive. Try running the installer in a local location and see if the issue can be resolved.

Try re-registering Windows Installer by opening command prompt (cmd) with administrative privileges (run as administrator) and typing the following commands followed by Enter key after each line:

MSIEXEC /UNREGISTER

MSIEXEC /REGSERVER

Re-download the installer. If you’ve tried everything else and nothing works, a corrupted installer could also cause the error 2755. Downloading a new installer may sometimes fix the issue entirely.

Find Last Directory Or File From A Given Path

Overview

We often use shell scripts or work with Linux commands when handling paths. Extracting the last part of a given file name is a fairly common task.

For example, if we’re trying to access /tmp/dir/target, then we want to be able to access target as a file name.

Yes, this looks easy enough. But there might be some edge cases that could cause us to fail.

We’ll take a close look at this problem and explore some common solutions.

Discussion of Common Solutions

We know that Linux file systems don’t allow slashes (/) to be parts of filenames or directories.

So, if we consider the input path string as a list of comma−separated values, then we can simply use the last element to solve the issue.

We can use various commands to accomplish our tasks, including grep, which helps us to filter out certain lines from text files; awk, which allows us to manipulate text files; and so on.

$ sed 's#.*/##' <<< "/tmp/dir/target" target $ awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' <<< "/tmp/dir/target" target $ grep -o '[^/]*$' <<< "/tmp/dir/target" target

We can use Bash’ s parameter expansion to solve the problem.

$ INPUT="/tmp/dir/target" $ echo ${INPUT##*/} target

There might be lots of other similar CLI tools out there but are they really stable enough for production use?

If you use /tmp/dir/target/, then none of the approaches above will work because they assume that the last character is not a slash.

$ sed 's#.*/##' <<< "/tmp/dir/target/" ( empty output ) $ awk -F'/' '{print $NF}' <<< "/tmp/dir/target/" ( empty output ) $ grep -o '[^/]*$' <<< "/tmp/dir/target/" ( empty output ) $ INPUT="/tmp/dir/target/" $ echo ${INPUT##*/} ( empty output )

We might want to fix the solutions above so they handle both slash and backslash cases. For example, we could modify the awk solution to be something like −

$ awk -F'/' '{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/target" target $ awk -F'/' '{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/target/" target

A fixed awk one-line command could be used for most situations but there are still edge case scenarios where it might not work.

Let’s now take a closer examination of them.

Looking Into the Corner Cases

We’ve seen that a Linux file system can be represented by a set of paths. Now, we’re going to look at some other possible patterns for these paths.

First, in Linux / is the topmost directory. It contains all other directories and files. Therefore, / is a valid path string for any file or directory.

Furthermore, most Linux filesystem types allow spaces to be used as part of filenamestrings or directorynames. Therefore, it‘s also a valid path if a file or adirectory is called by “”.

Let’s now look at all the possible patterns for a Linux path and see if we get the correct output.

Input

Expected Output

“/tmp/dir/target“

“target“

“/tmp/dir/target/“

“target“

“/“

“/tmp/dir/ “

” “

“/tmp/dir/ /“

” “

We could still extend the awk command to cover all the cases, or write a bash script for the task.

We’ll use an awks one-liner here as an example −

$ awk -F'/' '$0==FS{ print $0; next }{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/target" target $ awk -F'/' '$0==FS{ print $0; next }{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/target/" target $ awk -F'/' '$0==FS{ print $0; next }{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/" / $ echo "^$( awk -F'/' '$0==FS{ print $0; next }{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/ " )$" ^ $ $ echo "^$( awk -F'/' '$0==FS{ print $0; next }{ a = length($NF) ? $NF : $(NF-1); print a }' <<< "/tmp/dir/ /" )$" ^ $

We use ^ and $ to indicate where the expected results are printed.

We can see that the awk one-liners works for all the cases but comparing them to the first version ( awk -F’/’ ‘{printf “%s”,$NF}’), they are quite complex now.

Actually, the coreutils packages provide a convenient command for solving our problem.

Using the basename Command

The basename command strips off the directory names from a given path string.

Furthermore, it’s fairly stable and covers all the edge case scenarios. Let’s now do some testing with different input values.

$ basename "/tmp/dir/target" target $ basename "/tmp/dir/target/" target $ basename "/" / $ echo "^$(basename '/tmp/dir/ ')$" ^ $ $ echo "^$(basename '/tmp/dir/ /')$" ^ $

The basename command solves the problem by renaming the file.

You may want to mention that the basename command (which strips off the final component) has a sibling named dirnme (which removes the first component).

$ dirname "/tmp/dir/target" /tmp/dir

If we want to handle paths, we can first think about whether basename and/or directory name can solve our problems. Usually, solutions using these two commands are stable, and they’re easier to read.

Awks are powerful tools, but they don’t always cover every case. If you’re using them in scripts, be careful not to overlook any edge cases.

Conclusion

We’ve explored the issue of extracting the last component from a path string.

The simple problem has multiple solutions. We’ve found a single awk one−liner that covers all those cases.

We’ve also discussed a simpler way to solve the problem: using the basename function

Powerpoint Cannot Insert A Video From The Selected File

Several Microsoft PowerPoint users have reported that it doesn’t let them insert a video into their presentation slides. They keep getting the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error and the video won’t be added to their presentation. Here is the full error message that you are likely to get when this error is triggered:

PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file. Verify that the necessary 64-bit codec for this media format is installed, and then try again.

Some users have reported getting the following error message:

PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file. Verify that the path and the file format are correct and also try installing the latest version of Apple QuickTime player, and restart PowerPoint and then try again.

Why can’t I insert a video into a PowerPoint presentation?

You might be unable to insert a video into your Powerpoint presentation due to various reasons. One of the primary reasons is an unsupported file format. If your video file format is not supported by Powerpoint, you will experience the above error. Microsoft Powerpoint supports a set of video formats that you can add or play in your presentations. So, do check the file format before you proceed. It is recommended to convert your video to WMV format and then add it to the presentation.

Besides that, if the video path doesn’t exist or is changed, this error might occur. Another common reason for this error is the fact that the necessary video codec is missing on your PC. Other than that, there can be other reasons for this error including media compatibility issues, outdated or faulty video controller drivers, and corruption in the Powerpoint app.

Now, in any case, if you keep getting the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error message in Powerpoint, we got you covered. This guide discusses all the potential solutions that you should follow to resolve this error message. So, let us check out!

PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file

If you are encountering the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error while trying to insert or play a video into your Powerpoint presentation, use the below methods to fix it:

Check your video format.

Check the path of the video file.

Make sure your video file is not corrupted.

Use the Optimize Media Compatibility option.

Install a K-Lite Codec Pack or some other third-party codec.

Enable Windows Media Player Controls in PowerPoint.

Update video controller driver.

Convert your video to WMV format.

Repair Microsoft Powerpoint.

1] Check your video format

The first thing you should check is the format of the video you are trying to insert into your Powerpoint presentation. It might be the case that the said video file format is not supported which is why you are getting the error at hand. Hence, do check the video format and make sure it is supported by Powerpoint.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 and newer versions support quite a lot of video formats to add and play in your PPT slides. These include ASF, AVI, MP4, M4V, MOV, MPG/ MPEG, and WMV. But, PowerPoint 2010 32-bit version can only play MP4 and MOV video formats if QuickTime Player is installed on your PC. Hence, it is recommended to convert them to WMV format in case you are using an older version of Microsoft Powerpoint.

Once you make sure the video file that you are adding to your presentation is in a supported format, you can move on to the next solution.

Related: PowerPoint Cannot Play Media

2] Check the path of the video file

This error might be caused if the video file in question is no more available at the specified location. The video file path might be wrong or the file might have moved from the specified path to a different folder. Hence, you need to make sure that the path of the video file that you have inserted is correct. Open File Explorer and check if the video existed at the given path or not. If not, re-add the video from its correct location and then see whether or not the error is fixed.

3] Make sure your video file is not corrupted

It might also be the case that the video file you are trying to insert into Powerpoint is corrupted. Hence, ensure that your video is not corrupted or damaged. You can try opening the video in some other video player on Windows like Media Player, VLC, etc., and see if it plays correctly or not. If not, your video file must be infected or corrupted.

If your video file is corrupted, you can repair your video using different methods. You can use free video repair software like Meteorite, Get My Videos Back, DivXRepair, etc. Or, you can also use VLC Media Player to repair your corrupted video file.

In case your video file is not corrupted, move on to the next fix to resolve the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error.

See: How to fix the PowerPoint can’t save file error?

4] Use the Optimize Media Compatibility option

You can also use the Optimize Media Compatibility option available in Microsoft Powerpoint. If this error is caused due to compatibility issues with your media file, it will optimize your media files and fix the error at hand. Here’s how you can do that:

Firstly, open Microsoft Powerpoint and your presentation.

Next, you will see an Optimization Compatibility button next to the Optimize Media Compatibility option; just tap on it.

After that, you can try inserting your videos and Powerpoint will start optimizing the added videos.

See if the error has stopped now. If the error still continues, apply the next potential fix.

5] Install a K-Lite Codec Pack or some other third-party codec

This error could very well be facilitated due to missing or outdated video codecs. Hence, you must install the required video codec to be able to add and play videos in your PowerPoint presentations. There are various third-party codecs available on the web that you can install. Microsoft Support team recommends you download and install a K-Lite Codec Pack. Here’s how.

Now, move to the K-Lite Codec Packs page and download the Standard pack.

You can set up the pack as per your preference or accept its default settings.

When the pack is installed, restart your computer and open Powerpoint to check if the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error is fixed or not.

If the error is still the same, we have some more working fixes that you can use.

Read: The file is corrupt and cannot be opened in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

6] Enable Windows Media Player Controls in PowerPoint

You can also try activating the Windows Media Player controls in PowerPoint and then check if the error is fixed or not. Here are the steps to do that:

In the next window, go to the Customize Ribbon tab.

Now, under the Customize the Ribbon section, tick the Developer checkbox and press the OK button.

Next, choose the More Controls option and enable Windows Media Player Controls.

Finally, try loading your video file in Powerpoint and see if the error at hand is fixed or not.

7] Update video controller driver

You might be receiving this error if the video controller drivers on your computer are outdated or corrupted. Hence, you can try updating your video controller driver manually and see if the problem is fixed. Here’s how to do that:

First, open Device Manager from the Win+X shortcut menu.

Now, scroll down and expand the “Sounds, video and game controllers” category.

From the appeared context menu, choose the Update driver option.

Let Windows update the driver and once done, reboot your PC and check if the error is gone.

See: PowerPoint can’t open this type of file.

8] Convert your video to WMV format

If you are using an older version of Powerpoint, it is recommended to convert your video files to WMV format and then insert them into your PPTs. There are many free online video converters using which you can convert a video to WMV format, like CloudConvert, Zamzar, chúng tôi Convertio, and many more. You can even use a free desktop application to convert videos like HandBrake, Any Video Converter, etc.

9] Repair Microsoft Powerpoint

In case none of the above solutions worked for you, we recommend you repair your Microsoft Office package. There might be some corruption in Microsoft Powerpoint which is why you keep getting the “PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file” error. Hence, repair the app and then see if the error is fixed. Microsoft has made it easy to repair corrupted Office apps. You can simply use the Settings app to repair your apps including Office. Here’s how:

First, press the Win+I hotkey to open the Settings app.

After that, from appeared options, select the Modify option.

A new window will open up; choose the Repair option and press the Continue button.

Windows will now start repairing your Office apps.

Once done, reboot your computer and then open Microsoft Powerpoint to check if the error is fixed or not.

Hope you won’t experience the PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file error now.

How do I insert an mp4 video into PowerPoint?

Now read: Fix PowerPoint found a problem with content.

How To Access Exfat File System In Ubuntu

Linux (or Ubuntu, in particular) comes with support for many file systems. If you plug in your USB drive, chances are your Linux system will recognize it immediately and mount it in your file manager. However, if your external hard disk is in the exFAT format, your system won’t be able to detect it since it doesn’t support it natively. Here is how you can access, with read and write permission, to an exFAT file system in Ubuntu.

Installation

The Ubuntu repository does not come with any package that supports exFAT. To enable access to exFAT, we need to install from a third-party PPA.

In your terminal,

sudo

add-apt-repository ppa:relan

exfat

sudo

apt-get update

sudo

apt-get install

fuse fuse-exfat exfat-utils Usage

Once you have installed the exfat-utils packages, whenever you plug in your exFAT external drive. It will be detected by the system and automount. It comes with read/write access so you can copy to and paste from the drive.

In the event that your system doesn’t automount the external drive, here is what you can do to mount it manually:

sudo

mkdir

media

exfat

sudo

mount

-t

exfat

dev

sdb1

media

exfat

Replace the “/dev/sdb1” with the exact file path to your external hard drive.

To unmount the exFAT external drive:

sudo

umount

media

exfat Why isnt’t exFAT supported natively in Linux?

The main reason why exFAT is not supported natively in Linux is because exFAT is developed by Microsoft and it comes with a restrictive license, which doesn’t allow free or open-source operating system to implement it natively.

Even though the exfat-utils package allows you to read/write to a exFAT file system, you can’t format your external hard disk to exFAT format yet. To format to exFAT file system, the only (and easiest) way now is via Windows. If you are running a Windows virtual machine, you can do so in the VM as well.

Damien

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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Fix: We’re Sorry The Page You Requested Cannot Be Found

FIX: We’re sorry the page you requested cannot be found

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Try Outbyte Driver Updater to resolve driver issues entirely:

This software will simplify the process by both searching and updating your drivers to prevent various malfunctions and enhance your PC stability. Check all your drivers now in 3 easy steps:

Download Outbyte Driver Updater.

Launch it on your PC to find all the problematic drivers.

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We provided a few workarounds to get your Windows 10 copy in no time. Make sure to check them out below.

Can’t download Windows 10 installation as the page cannot be found? Use these solutions 1: Make sure the website isn’t restricted

If you’ve tried purchasing Windows 10 from the web store and the error occurred, there are some things you can do. Firstly, make sure that you’re in a region which allows purchases. The second concern we need to eliminate is a possible restriction on the website. Make sure that your system isn’t blocking the download firstly.

Furthermore, we suggest disabling the online protection temporarily. Especially if the security tool comes with the firewall of its own. Disable browser extensions as well. You can enable them later on. After that, try accessing the link again. If the problem is persistent — don’t worry. There are alternative ways to get your hands on Windows 10 installation.

2: Use the Windows Upgrade Assistant

Let’s get to alternatives. The first Microsoft’s tool is fully automatized and it even allows you to install Windows 10 directly from your desktop. It’s a simple procedure and it even provides the compatibility check to determine your system (Windows 7 or 8) is eligible for an upgrade to Windows 10. The complete process is intuitive but can be lengthy.

Follow these steps to install Windows 10 with the Upgrade Assistant:

Run the tool as admin and follow the steps closely.

3: Use the Media Creation Tool to upgrade directly

Microsoft’s main tool for digital distribution of Windows 10 is the Media Creation Tool. This tool allows you to upgrade to Windows 10 directly from the UI or create an external bootable drive and install Windows 10 in a standard manner.

Either way, it’s the best and the easiest way (might be the only way) to get the installation files. The product registration comes in later, so you don’t need to worry about that. If you have the license, everything is smooth and fast.

Expert tip:

Follow these steps to install Windows 10 with just the Media Creation Tool:

Back up all your essential data to the non-system partition or an external drive.

Download the

Media Creation Tool,

here.

Run the tool and accept the Terms.

The tool will firstly download the setup files (it can take some time) and the installation should commence afterward.

4: Create a bootable media drive with the Media Creation Tool

Finally, the safest and the best way to install Windows 10 is with a bootable media drive. Especially a clean installation which includes formatting your HDD completely.

Lots of issues we covered here in a last couple of years were there because users have chosen upgrade over a clean installation. On paper, both stand firm. But, in practice, the problems emerge. Especially with the third-party programs, driver, and after major updates.

READ ALSO: Download the Windows 10 April Update ISO files

For that reason, we suggest creating the installation media and installing Windows 10 cleanly. The license is directly connected to your Microsoft Account you made the purchase with. So, just a simple log-in will activate Windows 10 upon the installation is completed.

Follow these steps to create a bootable USB drive and install Windows 10 with it:

Plug in a USB flash drive with at least 6 GB of free storage space. Have in mind that the following procedure will format your drive, so backup your data.

Download the

Media Creation Tool,

here.

Run the tool and accept the Terms.

Select the USB flash drive option.

Wait until the drive is created and you can safely boot from it and install Windows 10.